Unlike some Democrats, I’m not in despair about the Republican Party’s new power. It’s not just that I’m glad the GOP will share some – or bear all – of the blame for unpopular cuts. Rather, it’s time we finally decide how much government we want – and how much we’re willing to…
Read MoreIt’s predictable that some Democrats will implicate Sarah Palin and the Tea Party in the Arizona shootings. It’s predictable that Republicans will accuse those Democrats of seeking to exploit a tragedy perpetrated by a nut. The unfortunate truth is that in the history of our politics, as Rap Brown once said, violence is…
Read MoreTo cut spending Republican leaders in the General Assembly, the News and Observer reported the other day, are considering allowing Governor Perdue’s Cabinet Secretaries to decide what to cut in their departments. In other words the legislature will decide that, say, the Department of Transportation budget must cut $200 million to balance the budget,…
Read MoreA veteran of the legislature’s hallways and byways took exception to my sympathetic and OBX-centric view of Marc Basnight. Even the Charlotte Observer gushed, “It’s a testament to his place in N.C. politics that even his political adversaries spoke glowingly of him.” Here’s the legislative vet’s dissenting view: “Leaders from other areas of the…
Read MoreInstead of one of those periodic calamities where the economy stumbles then rights itself it looks like this time America’s economic engine may have ruptured and faces a long, slow convalescence. That takes a decade. Or, maybe, doesn’t happen at all. At a meeting of economists and businessmen and politicians this week UNC-President Erskine…
Read MoreMaybe there was more than I realized behind Senator Richard Burr’s vote to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Last week, I gave him credit for doing the right thing. But an astute Burr-watcher – not a partisan either way – noted that Burr took a different tack on what was arguably the key vote:…
Read MoreBev Perdue’s poll numbers have been upside down – meaning her ‘unpopularity’ is greater than her ‘popularity’ – almost since the day she took office. Twenty-seven years ago Jesse Helms faced similar ‘upside down’ poll numbers; his pollster Arthur Finkelstein gently explained the root of the problem was what he called a ‘character issue.’…
Read MoreLet others talk about what Marc Basnight did for the university system, clean water, open records, the Democratic Party, etc., etc. Those of us who love and live on the Outer Banks have selfish reasons to thank him. When Governor Hunt put Marc on the Board of Transportation in 1977, getting to Nags…
Read MoreWe’ve waited nearly 30 years, but it’s finally here. Thirty years ago this month, Ronald Reagan was inaugurated. He said government was the problem, not the solution. He promised that – finally – someone would really, really cut government spending. We’ve waited. And waited. And waited. Reagan didn’t cut anything big. Nor…
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