#ncga: McCrory, Moore and the “manufactured” threat to religious liberty
Our Republican governor made it clear he is thoroughly unimpressed about the current debate on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act:
Gov. Pat McCrory appeared on WFNC radio in Fayetteville Thursday morning and reiterated his effort to prevent North Carolina from being swept into the political maelstrom that engulfed Indiana and Arkansas over religious freedom and gay rights.
“Let me criticize both the left and the right: I think it’s a manufactured controversy on both sides,” McCrory told host Jeff “Goldy” Goldberg on the Good Morning Fayetteville talk show. They are using it for their fundraising efforts, he said.
“I don’t think it’s a bill you need, and I think it’s an overreaction to a bill you don’t need,” McCrory said. The constitution already protects religious liberty, he said. […]
Manufactured, huh? We just had legislators attempting to wipe out a religious exemption for vaccinating children. Out west, you’ve got “human relations” bureaucrat-nazis trying to bankrupt a florist, a baker, and a photographer for daring to refuse to participate in gay marriages. A driveby interviewed an Indiana pizza parlor owner who dared to say: “We’ll serve anybody who comes in here with money to spend, but no we will not cater a gay wedding.” The owner and his staff started getting death threats within 15 minutes of the airing of that news report. The pizza restaurant had to shut down. 
Their Christian beliefs don’t seem to matter to the tolerance crowd. Yes, the First Amendment is still in the Constitution. But we’ve got examples all over the state and country of leftists trying to eat away at it or wipe it out altogether.
The politicians, the consultants, and the drivebys are doing their best to try and kill this discussion off with disinformation and outright lying. The Democrats pushed a Religious Freedom Restoration Act through at the federal level in the early 90s. Their motive at the time? To allow an Indian tribe to smoke peyote — as part of their reported religious practices — without running afoul of federal drug laws. Back then, this law was a wonderful idea.
A court case came along suggesting that people filing in state courts could not claim the RFRA as part of their defense. So, state legislatures began passing their own RFRAs. More than half of the states in our union have these laws on the books or are in the process of passing them.
Now, when the law is being used to protect Christians (as opposed to legalizing drug use in certain cases), the left is BENT OUT OF SHAPE. Talk about something coming back to bite you in the tush.
It appears that the boy speaker of the NC House has also caught the boy governor’s foot-in-mouth disease:
[…] The bill appeared to be set to speed through the House. On Tuesday, Republican state House Speaker Tim Moore put the brakes on.
He didn’t kill it, but said it needs careful review before it advances.
“The religious freedom bill, of course, is important because it’s important to a number of members of my caucus,” Moore said. “My thought, is though, that the high priorities we have right now are about job creation, improving our roads, improving education. I want to find out how this bill accomplishes those objectives. And what does it do to move North Carolina’s brand forward? And so it’s going to require some discussion.” […]
It’s important because it’s important to some members of his caucus? Seriously ???
Moore appears to disqualify the bill because it does not fit the categories of “job creation, improving our roads, [or] improving education.” Okay. Here is the House calendar from April 2. Take note of how many things on this calendar do not fit Moore’s categories.
And, as far as “mov[ing] North Carolina’s brand forward” goes, I would think that taking a major step to protect North Carolina residents’ deeply-held religious beliefs (and First Amendment Rights) from being trampled upon by the government leviathan would greatly enhance North Carolina’s reputation and overall quality of life.
Our Republican elected officials need to remember that the Pilgrims came over on the Mayflower to escape persecution for their religious believes and to find religious liberty. They did not come over on the Gayflower to start a new Sodom and Gamorrah.
They also need to remember that the national polls show that 57% of Americans believe that a Christian baker or florist or photographer should not be forced, against their religious convictions, to participate in a homosexual wedding. Since that poll is national and includes places like the northeast and the left coast, the number of those supporting protection of Christian beliefs is undoubtedly higher in places like Indiana, Arkansas and North Carolina. Our elected officials need to stand up for the common sense majority, not a militant radical fringe of deviants.
Under our weak kneed politicians, the term ”religious convictions” may acquire a sinister double meaning. The Archbishop of Westminster, head of the Catholic Church in the UK warned that adoption of homosexual marriage there would lead to a greater persecution of the Catholic Church than occurred under Henry VIII.
Religious liberty is one of the cornerstones of American freedom and it is time for our elected officials to stand up for it.
Raphael, spot on could not have said it better. I keep telling friends and family that they need to pay attention to what is being handled or mishandled in Raleigh.
I hope a lot of delegates are prepared to be the “Party of No More” at the convention come June.
Even the Europeans are amazed by the arrogance of the left and impotence of the right on this issue. Here is the Daily Telegraph of London, one of the UK’s largest newspapers on the subject:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-politics/11515453/American-Way-The-swift-denunciation-of-the-religious-liberty-law-is-nothing-short-of-remarkable.html
I still wish someone would explain to me the religious basis for wanting an exemption from vaccines.
The Republican Party will stand for nothing. They cave on every issue once they hear the liberal screams. How much longer will conservatives support this worthless shell of a party?
Conservatives either have to take over the GOP party structure or create another one. Neither is easy, but the former is easier than the latter.
The problem is the leaders (Boehner, McConnell, Priebus) and those weak kneed politicians who follow their lead. The old Russian proverb that the fish stinks from the head holds true in this case. We need to change the leadership. It is telling that polling showed even before the sellout on amnesty funding, that 60% of Republican voters want Boehner replaced, and only 18% wanted to keep him as Speaker.
We need more primary challenges like the one that dethroned Eric Cantor, and more conservatives turning out at conventions to elect conservative leadership. It is worth noting that the defeat of Cantor himself was preceded by conservatives defeating Cantor’s flunky as the district Republican Party chairman.
Conservatives do not need to cut and run and go sulk in the neatherworld of Unaffiliated status. We need a viable plan to take control of a functional platform to nominate and elect conservative candidates. The easiest way to do that is to elect conservatives to control of the GOP.
And don’t forget the big prize, the race that has already started for president. Ted Cruz’ candidacy may be the last chance to save the country. Conservatives do not need to go AWOL on Ted Cruz by sulking as Unaffiliateds. If you do, you will do nothing but help unacceptable suckweasesl Jeb Bush by your absence from the fight.
I heard a new Marist poll on Rush Limbaugh today. It seems that the conservative / Republican / Christian position of protecting religious liberty beats the liberal / Democrat / homosexual position of suppressing religious liberty in favor of the homosexuals. And it isn’t even close – 65% to 31%. Since that is a national poll, the numbers are likely to be even more lopsided in North Carolina.
Why then do we have some of our elected leaders grabbing the short end of the stick? Why are they throwing a significant part of the GOP base under the bus to placate a small minority that is unlikely to vote Republican anyway?
With Governor McCrory, I suspect that he is still acutely feeling the loss of Jack Hawke. Hawke was a savvy enough strategist that he would not have let a client stake himself out on such a major issue without getting a handle on the polling, and if things were moving too quickly for that (they weren’t here in NC), he was prone to go with the position of the GOP base, as he was a believer in the old political rule that you do not piss on your base.
Who knows who McCrory relies on for political advice these days, but it is clear that they are not even close to the level of competence of Jack Hawke who ran his last two campaigns. That concerns me since, in spite of the all too frequent disappointments with this administration, in the overall scheme of things, conservatives are still better off with its continuation rather than the election of the rabid leftist who is his likely opponent. Indeed, if Jack Hawke had lived, I suspect his influence would have headed off at least some of those policies which have disappointed conservatives.
As to Moore, I suspect we are seeing the influence of that Chapel Hill liberal with a history of voting in Democrat primaries who he has as his chief of staff. .