Reuters published a July 10 opinion piece by Grover G. Norquist and Patrick Gleason of Americans for Tax Reform in which the national pundits ask if North Carolina is “the new Wisconsin.” Here’s some excerpts:
“Nowhere is the battle between liberal and conservative visions of government fiercer,” wrote David Graham of The Atlantic, “than North Carolina.” NBC Political Director Chuck Todd cited Graham’s piece as “a good argument that the best — and most important — political story that no one has probably heard about is taking place in North Carolina.” …
Heated rhetoric aside, however, close examination shows a vocal minority is overreacting to Republicans implementing the fiscal policies they ran on — and that a majority of voters agreed were needed to make the state economically competitive. …
North Carolina’s punitive tax rates put the state at a competitive disadvantage in attracting employers and investors. Small businesses, responsible for a majority of job creation, are also held back due to the onerous tax code. …
Like Walker in Wisconsin, McCrory and the North Carolina state Republicans inherited a budgetary mess from their Democratic predecessors. Rather than raising taxes, and bleeding more revenue from the private sector, as was standard operating procedure under decades of Democratic rule, these Republicans changed course — putting spending in line with revenues. This is what North Carolina voters elected a new Republican majority to do.
“This is what North Carolina voters elected a new Republican majority to do.”
Hard to justify that claim when more NC voters cast votes for Democratic candidates than Republicans.
BSummers,
I wanted to advise that I believe more Republican received votes in NC as this has been the trend for some time. NC has consistently moved over to the Red column and will continue to do so as liberal policies from the West Coast and the Northeast continue to invade our daily lives. It is not to say that these folks make poor political decisions and that all the liberal ideals are bad, only that we live in a Republic, which so many Democrats and Liberals refuse to admit or embrace. What is good for NC is not always what comes out of San Francisco, Boston nor Washington, DC. Let’s just hope that what is best for NC does come out of Raleigh! The Truth is, that is still under debate! Thx!