Raleigh desperately needs nonpartisan think tank
Published August 5, 2016
by Patrick Gannon, The Insider, published in The Asheville Citizen-Times, August 2, 2016.
Attention millionaires and billionaires and anyone else with extra money who wants to spend it in a meaningful way in North Carolina.
Raleigh desperately needs a nonpartisan, independent think tank to examine important issues from a neutral perspective and bring some level of clarity to debates dividing this state.
This topic comes to mind often, and did so again as the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals recently ruled the General Assembly’s voter ID legislation unconstitutional. Over the course of two days, I received countless press releases about the ruling – all from either politicians or conservative or liberal interest groups. Having seen so many news releases over the years from these same senders, I could have almost written them myself.
I didn’t receive a single email from any group that could claim any sort of political neutrality on this issue, and that’s almost always the case.
In other words, the voter ID debate – along with many other important discussions going on in the state capital these days – goes on without substantive input from any organization that could honestly claim political neutrality.
Isn’t that the job of the media? Maybe to some extent. But it’s the media’s job to report on issues fairly, giving both sides an opportunity to make their points. Most media organizations don’t employ trained scientists, economists, tax or education experts either.
That’s where a nonpartisan, independent think tank could serve an important role in informing our politicians and challenging both sides to make decisions in the best interest of all North Carolina’s residents.
North Carolina already has partisan think tanks, like the conservative John Locke Foundation and the liberal NC Policy Watch, among others. They do a good job examining issues, but their opinions are widely known and predictable. Our elected representatives and senators in the General Assembly know this, and my guess is they rarely even read the opinions and research that come from the other side. And they take the research and opinions that come from their side as gospel.
This only serves to divide our legislature even more.
This is where a trusted, independent organization could play a vital role in ensuring that legislators have as much information as possible before them when making important decisions about the future of the state.
Such an organization would offer its research and opinion based on what is best for North Carolina, not what’s best for a certain fraction of society based on political ideology. If nothing more, it would give lawmakers another source to consider in making decisions, one that isn’t tainted by political pressures or donors’ money.
This wouldn’t be easy. To be successful, such a think tank would have to prove over time that it is truly above the political fray. It would have to be transparent about its donors. It would have to hire the right people.
In the end, we could only hope this think tank would become a trusted source of reliable information for legislators, regardless of political affiliation.
We could only hope that Republicans and Democrats would see that their respective sides aren’t always right on the complex issues facing our state.
And act accordingly.
Patrick Gannon is the columnist for the Capitol Press Association. Reach him at pgannon@ncinsider. com.
August 5, 2016 at 1:52 pm
Bruce Stanley says:
Difficult to define what are non-partisan, independent positions, to say the least. Kumbaya!
August 6, 2016 at 10:59 am
Norm Kelly says:
Agreed; maybe to some extent. But their job is reporting, except on the editorial page. Challenge we have is that too many media types express opinion in all stories, claim they want to change the world, and are die-hard, thoughtless libs!
Nor do most media organizations employ non-partisan folks. Most media organizations are run by single-minded, close-minded libs and this is the type of person that they hire. Most media organizations look to support their own biases. Is this to be expected? Do most people like to associate with like-minded individuals? Yes, we should expect it, and it's normal. But it's not good journalism, news reporting. It's cherry-picking. And deceitful.
Take, for instance, the issue with Hillary's continued telling of lies. She claims to be telling the truth now about her previously telling the truth. How many media types report that Hillary is lying now about the lies she has previously told? How many media types, supporters of Hillary, report that the FBI director said she was 'not telling the truth' when she spoke under oath with Congressional hearings? 'Not telling the truth' is the politically correct, liberal, way of saying 'she lied her a@@ off!'. But we are not allowed to say that about a lib pol, so we obfuscate the answer. Satisfied?
'This is where a trusted, independent organization ...' So, is this a new thought process? Is this a new thought only since Demons were put to pasture by voters? Or has this thought been hanging around for a while, say for part of the 100+ years demons ruled? Kinda like the 'non-partisan' districting idea. When libs ruled Raleigh, they despised the idea of allowing someone to draw districts that just might not favor lib pols. They refused to even consider it! But now that demons are in the minority, seems every lib out there, especially media-type allies of demons, come out of the woodwork, like roaches, to claim to want non-partisan redistricting. But where were they when demons ruled? Then again, what about voter ID laws that are perfectly valid, but demons apply different rules to NC than any where else in the nation? Why is it that libs tell NC blacks they are second class citizens in comparison to ANYONE else in the nation, and not only do libs celebrate the decision, but blacks and their thoughtless leaders also celebrate? What part of this was good for blacks or demons? If ANY Republican had made the same claim that libs & lib judges made about NC blacks, that Republican would have been tarred & feathered, and fired from whatever job they had. Probably would have been prosecuted, had their retirement stolen, and multiple other bad things would have happened. But some lib judge(s) claim NC blacks are inferior and all of libdom seems to celebrate.
MORE proof that lib-dom is a brain-dead, thoughtless, biased, racist, economic-disaster-creating, scheme foisted upon the ill-educated by the elite self-serving minority. With platitudes and pay-offs that convince the low-information types that these elitist pols are actually working 'for the children'. Libs can steal lots from me, but they can't stop me from being able to think logically. When more people start thinking again, we'll have a viable Libertarian party that can win most elections. If this doesn't happen soon enough, there will be no Republic to save! Socialism is destructive by nature.
