Careening recklessly toward authoritarianism
Vote *Red.*
Yep. That’s the slogan we got bombarded with during the recently completed election. The color red has long been associated with communism. Is that where the GOP hierarchy wants us to go?
No, The RED and BLUE designations were established by the media. RED is a color long associated with radical leftism. But the drive-by media wanted to shield their comrades in *the struggle* from the unpleasant — though, accurate — associations. So, folks registered with the (R) are Red and folks registered with the (D) crowd are referred to as blue.
It’s hard to dismiss conservatism and libertarianism as THE KEY in rejuvenating the GOP in North Carolina and so many other states.
There was a lot of talk about restoring things like personal freedom and limited government during the 2010 GOP takeover in Raleigh. But that’s about as much as we got. TALK.
Spending. Since the *revolution* kicked off, we’ve been seeing state spending increases by the billions with the passage of each budget by NCGA Republicans.
Thom Tillis – as a rookie NC House member – brought our state subsidies and mandates for solar panels and the solar business. Solar and wind power are more expensive than traditional electrical power. (They’re also less reliable than traditional electrical power. )
That expense drains more money out of our home budgets, and increases the cost of producing goods and transporting them to market. Like the stuff you need from the grocery store. The next time you go grocery shopping and see those outrageous prices, be sure to thank Thom Tillis and his fellow BIG GOVERNMENT Republican pals. They got their pockets filled with lobbyist money. We’re getting our pockets (and wallets) drained just trying to get by.
Taxes. Again and again, we’ve seen surrender on the idea of tax-cutting. We’ve STILL got one of the biggest gas taxes in the nation. And our *conservative revolutionaries* won’t lift a finger to give us relief at the gas pumps.
Oh, the politicians will show you income tax rates that appear to be decreasing. But there is a growing pile of evidence to suggest we’re shelling out more and more of our money (*fees, etc.) to the state AND the *conservative revolution.*
Transparency, Decentralizing Power, Open Meetings, and Big Government. Our elections are a mess. They’re still counting votes one month after Election Day. The state employee health plan is threatened with insolvency.
Yet our legislators thought it was most important to consolidate political power into the hands of senator Phil Berger and his goons in Room 2007.
What’s the point in all of us voting on legislators if ALL the power is in the hands of one guy who only gets voted on by the folks in Rockingham County? (I’m old enough to remember Raleigh Republicans whining and moaning about ONE GUY from Dare County holding all of this power.)
Berger & The Boys control all the recruiting and funding of state-level GOP judges. (Berger’s son sits on the state Supreme Court.)
Earlier this year, legislators voted to make it tougher for the public to see legislators’ emails and other work-related documents. Now, we have state judges — put in to power with funds and other infrastructure controlled by Phil Berger — okaying secret meetings by local elected officials using government employees and resources to plot political shenanigans against political foes.
What happened to limited government and returning power to the people? WHO actually is looking out for US ???
We appear to have state judicial majorities now who owe their careers and political livelihood to certain legislative leaders and their staffers. Not quite what you pictured, or hoped for, in 2010, eh?
Folks, we keep getting played for suckers. Mindlessly reelecting these grifters and liars does no good toward fixing the problem. Stay informed about what they’re doing in Raleigh and DC. Get in — and stay in — your legislators’ faces. And if you have to, FIRE THEM.
Continuing to bury your heads in the sand will not make it get better or go away.
NC conservative revolution: Basnight for Berger – Whoop-de-doo.
Brant, you are spot on about political colors and the media designating the GOP as having the color of the left, red, and the Democrats having the color of the right, blue. Those poltiical color associations have long been established internationally. The lefty media in the US was playing games when they “reversed the colors” for America, and Republicans are stupid enough to fall for it.
Blue was established as the color of the right by the British Conservative Party in the 1700s, and has been used internationally by the right since then. In Germany, some factions of the right in the 1800s adopted black, and so Bismarck’s coalition in the German Reichstag in the 1870s for two decades was known as “the blue-black block”.
Red, on the other hand became the color of the left internationally, when it was adopted not only by communist parties but also socialist parties in the late 1800s, and that is international. The British Labour Party adopted red as its color when it was organized in 1900.
Yellow is the historical color of classical liberat parties around the world, first adopted by the UK’s Liberal Party.
In the US, blue and white were Reagan’s colors, and it is stupid to surrender them to the Democrats just because the MSM tries to dictate that to us. It gives me a sick feeling in my stomach every time I hear the GOP described as “red”. Anyone who knows the history of that color in politics should feel the same way. I am similarly sick to my stomach for the same reason when I hear the Democrats described as “blue”.