Ideologues drive the train

[caption id="attachment_2548" align="alignleft" width="150"] Senator Bob Rucho[/caption]

by Thomas Mills, Politics NC, March 3, 2015.

The GOP’s makers-and-takers narrative is alive and well in North Carolina. Ned Barnett’s profile of state Senator Bob Rucho (R-Mecklenburg) highlights the victim mentality that defines the modern Republican Party. We saw it in the Tea Party protests and now we see it in the legislation being passed by the General Assembly.

In the narrative Rucho and his fellow travelers promote, the wealthy and big corporations have been under assault by government. High taxes and over-regulation  took hard-earned money out the pockets of poor, beleaguered millionaires to subsidize the good life for no-good layabouts living off of government checks. 

In their world view, we’ve made being poor too comfortable. If we just take away support like unemployment insurance and food stamps, all those lazy people will go out and find jobs. As Bill O’Reilly astutely noted, most poor people have refrigerators, microwaves and TVs. Really, if people here were truly poor, they would be cooking rotten food over open fires.

In a more reasonable era, Bob Rucho would not be taken seriously. He said that “Obamacare has done more damage to the USA then the swords of the Nazis, Soviets & terrorists combine.” In his delusional world, he claimed, “JFK could have been founder and leader of the Tea Party movement.” And when he doesn’t get his way, he’s prone to temper-tantrums and drama. He should be a laughing stock. Instead, he’s Senate leadership. 

And that’s the problem with the current breed of Republicans. They’ve let ideologues instead of pragmatists rule. The North Carolina Republicans are ridiculed by the press both here and nationally. In Washington, they can’t even fund the Department of Homeland Security at a time when terrorists are killing people in Europe. 

Republicans like to blame the liberal media for their bad press. But it’s not that the press is too liberal; it’s that they are too moderate and pragmatic. Most reporters, like most educated people, believe in climate change and they believe that it’s impractical to deport 12 million people. They see that wage stagnation is harmful to working class families. They understand that income inequality is real and having adverse affects on our economy and social structure. Instead of looking for solutions, the Republicans ideologues driving the train are denying the problems.

In North Carolina, the GOP often points its fingers at Democrats, criticizing them for their years in power. But the North Carolina Democrats were never ideologues and, as much as the GOP denies it, the Democrats invited conservatives to the table. Dave Phillips, Jim Hunt’s Commerce Secretary, is now one the GOP’s largest donors. Phil Kirk, a former Republican legislator who was Chief of Staff for two Republican governors, chaired the state school board for Hunt. C. D. Spangler, another big Republican donor, was president of the University system.

The GOP in North Carolina is seeking ideological purity, purging pragmatic leaders like UNC President Tom Ross. Within their own party, they suppress the voices of moderation and reason like Senators Jeff Tarte and Fletcher Hartsell. Instead, we get embarrassments like Bob Rucho. What a shame.