John Hood. (Just WRONG.)
This weekend — like a handful of other North Carolinians — I tuned in to NC Spin to see what the Inside-The-Beltline 
crowd was babbling about. John Hood — apparently the only conservative-leaning person the show’s bagman, Jim Goodmon, knows — was front and center again, showing everybody just how smart he thinks he is. I braced myself for another high-brow dissertation from M. Hood on the 18th century philosophical writings of Lord FancyPants of Downton Abbey.
I was surprised to see Little John come out with fangs bared. The panel delved into senator Apodaca’s comments about how irrelevant Gov. Pat is to what goes on at Jones Street. Hood lambasted Apodaca’s comments as “characteristic, silly, and self-destructive.”
Dude, here is the senator’s contact info. GO SAY THAT TO HIS FACE. (I would pay to watch that. Big Money.)
Hood has stepped off the conservative plantation before. He and his organization were big-time in favor of paying government reparations to the families of the state eugenics program subjects. Hood has also endorsed the idea of everyone getting a government-issued GPS for their car, for the purpose of assessing your tax bill.
This week, like so many other GOPe types, Hood took the leftist bait about the *importance* of eliminating the Sons of Confederate Veterans license tag. He dismissed claims from defenders of the plate that it is really about free speech:
[…] ”The Supreme Court has said no, states can regulate the content to some extent. So, I think it’s appropriate to do that in this case. If people want to honor the Confederacy with a battle flag, which I don’t favor, they can put a sticker on their bumper. They can put a license plate on the front of their car. They can do something privately. When you are talking about a license plate, you are talking about a government forum.” […]
I think what the Court was talking about was situations like this, when nimrods try to get all kinds of vulgarity, profanity and inanity on their license plate. In this case, you’ve got a legitimate private group that got its copyrighted logo approved for placement on a license plate just like over 100 others. To obtain a special plate, you have to pay a special fee above and beyond what everyone else pays for regular license tags and — in many cases — you must have prior approval from the private organization that you qualify for possession of that particular plate. The plates are produced in limited runs. So, it is not like these people are mooching off the other taxpayers. They are paying extra for this particular privilege.
Like M. Hood, there are many others in the Raleigh ruling class tut-tutting over this whole fuss over the battle flag. *There they go again, those silly people in the sticks.*
If history has taught us anything, give statists an inch – and they take a mile. Remember, social security was started as a crutch to help old people make it through The Great Depression.
Let’s look at the logic employed by M. Hood and his Raleigh friends. Let’s say the very sight of the Confederate flag inspires racists to go kill black people. Will the UNC license tag inspire a wave of academic dishonesty? Will 
the Amran Temple plate ignite a wave of jihadi violence?
If Raleigh’s John Hood is not careful — his beltline friends may force him to change his name. It is awfully similar to that of Confederate general John Bell Hood. *Like the battle flag, that association could gin up painful memories for minorities.*
As we’ve reported before, the Democrats are planning to use this issue to demagogue the GOP agenda for 2016. Killing off that plate won’t accomplish anything but really teeing off some die-hard GOP voters you need to come out in 2016. It’s not going to turn the economy around. It’s not going to put people back to work. It’s not going to put a dent in crime — violent or otherwise.
Stop playing the statist game. Let’s get back to kicking their tails and returning this state and nation to greatness.
(Oh, we almost forgot. At the end of the show, John offered up ”something we didn’t know.” In fact, we already knew it. We had it on this site a month ago. )
Excellent post! Hood is simply one of the GOP “Elite” who think they are so much smarter than the rank and file conservative voters. As I recall, Hood also lectured us for supporting the Marriage Amendment. He clearly has no understanding of free speech, southern heritage, the proper limits of government, and the impressive contributions of the Sons of Confederate Veterans since the organization’s founding in 1896. The Republican Establishment is no friend of conservatives; in fact, they despise us except on election day. They are as politically correct as the leftist Democrats. Come 2016, many of us will stay at home or vote for a third party candidate.
Thank you Jackson for nailing the head on the nail. I absolutely agree. Right now we don’t have many choices within the GOP. I’ll bet my money on Trump,at least he loves this country.
And Hood is blind to the N.C. Press Association Monopoly Protection Act otherwise known as public notice laws. The millions wasted every year having to put notices in paid papers but the Internet can suffice it is 2015 not 1949. None of them will talk about it at all.
What’s a paper? I put paper in my printer is that what you are talking about
What’s a paper? no need to explain to a first grader.
Well done Brant.
I was so glad to see this jerk leave the Locke Foundation. Hood has no common sense whatsoever, and cannot apply his ivory tower concepts to real life. Thus he often ends up taking the liberal position on issues without realizing it is the liberal position. Stupidity like abolishing runoff primaries is the sort of crap one gets from Hood, when democracy is best served by requiring an absolute majority to avoid a runoff.
Now this buffoon Hood is acting like Al Sharpton in white face. He wants to dishonor our Confederate veterans in order to please the race pimps and race hustlers. Hood needs to be tarred and feathered and run out of North Carolina on a rail.
Great article! John Hood is Pat McCrory part 2 but even more insufferable with his self righteousness. Do not forget his undying love for Common Core and all things Chamber. We can sit here and intellectually complain about this arrogant man and all his Establishment cohorts until we are blue in the face. But until we offer upon conservative alternatives NOTHING will change. We have reaped what we have sown. Sad and pathetic.
I think Hood needs to stick to economic issues. That is really more his wheel house as his group actually analyzes things deeper than other outlets.