#ncga: Tim Moore, religious freedom, the NCGOP and NC’s “brand”
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So, the speaker of the NC House is concerned about how protecting people’s religious freedom will affect “our brand” in North Carolina. What is this “brand” that he speaks of? What is he soooo afraid of? The leftists screamed and howled about the marriage amendment to the state constitution. The sky did not fall. Their predictions of doom did not materialize. So, they ran to a friendly federal judge to make up a reason to overturn the will of the people of our fair state.
The left is running the same play with the debate over the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. It is sad — but necessary — that we have to affirm the fact that we are free to practice our religions without interference from the government.
It’s been three years since the marriage amendment passed. People are still moving to North Carolina in droves. McCrory and the legislature are still handing out bribes to relocating and expanding businesses. The amendment didn’t harm us. How will the passage of the RFRA do so?
RFRA gives average Americans some protection from being hounded out of business and into bankruptcy by Stalinist, Orwellian “human relations” commissions, committees or commisars over perceived slights against groups with most-favored status. It gives you a basis to claim in state court that complying with heavy-handed demands — like catering a gay wedding or allowing drag queens into your ladies locker room — violates your firmly held moral or religious beliefs. Bill Clinton and Chuck Schumer helped push the federal version through a Democrat Congress. Nearly three dozen states already have similar laws on the books. Why is the left so scared? Stuff like this makes it harder for them to shove their authoritarian agenda down our throats.
Is Moore talking about the GOP brand? He comes from a part of the state that has been Republican since Lincoln’s days. They sided with the Union, and were Republican JUST BECAUSE. Thanks to the philosophy and principles of people like Jesse Helms, Barry Goldwater, and Ronald Reagan it gradually became cool for conservative Democrats in the rest of the state to vote GOP. The cute little elephant logo didn’t win people over. The message did. The Democrats were seen as the party of crime and the dirty hippies. The GOP was seen as the refuge for the honest working person seeking a decent place to raise their family and earn an honest wage for an honest day’s work. The difference was clear. The people saw it. And the GOP benefited.
Jesse Helms, Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan are all dead now. And apparently, the memory of what they did and stood for is fading fast too. There is way too much talk about marketing the GOP like a consumer product as opposed to fighting the good fight for individualism and freedom. “Our guys and gals” are busy talking about raising taxes a little less than Democrats did, spending a little less than Democrats did, regulating a little less than Democrats did, and not being as rude while ignoring the church people as the Democrats were.
Our founding documents make it crystal clear that the government shall respect individual religious beliefs. If Mr. Moore, Mr. McCrory, Mr. Burr and Mr. Tillis continue down the road of tossing these “church people” overboard, they’ll quickly return North Carolina to the days when the GOP’s representation was packed into one or two congressional districts in western North Carolina. (The state House GOP caucus — at one time — could have met in a phone booth.)
There’s an old saying about dancing with who brought you to the party. Conservatives worried about the erosion of individual freedoms and the trashing of our economy put Mr. Moore & co. in charge to get the ship back on course. These are the folks who brought you to the dance.
It was never about “getting something done” or ”working across the aisle”. It was about rolling back the mess that has been made in our state and national capitals.
Dance with the ones that brought you, huh?
The ONLY state leader that has consistently and aggressively worked to lead NC in a conservative direction is Senator Berger. And how did all the WONDERFUL (some prefer spoiled-brat-like) tea party people treat him?
Worked their asses off to defeat his son, a true conservative in his own right last year in the GOP primary to elect Walker. HOW HAS THAT WORKED OUT FOR YOU?
Then watched the same spoiled brats talk about trying to primary Senator Berger the next time (2016). So TIRED of the same unhappy, out of control people running around threatening people, acting like babies and putting their pride and THEIR friends ahead of working for the conservative common good.
WHY DONT YOU GET THE LT. GOVERNOR TO PRIMARY MCCRORY? Dan will PISS his pants if the tea party pushes him to do that.
Anyway, we reap what we sow. Please stop sowing stupidity. Thank you.
Actually, Berger, Jr. turned out to be not as astute or as conservative a candidate as his father. Berger, Jr.’s super PAC that launched stink bombs against all the other candidates pretty well assured that whoever was left standing would take down Berger, Jr. in the runoff, because that put them all in an ”anybody but Berger” mood. Berger, Jr. also had the Boehner mafia behind him, which was not a plus last election year.
I don’t recall anyone suggesting primarying Berger, Sr., who indeed has been the main conservative stalwart in Raleigh.
I have never been a big fan of Walker. The social conservatives who are not well grounded in other issues often turn our to be duds. There were one or two better choices in the primary than either Walker or Berger, Jr.
We need more Republicans who will stand on the principles of the platform and fewer who are in the hip pocket of the liberal and corrupt crony capitalists at the Chamber of Commerce. We need to primary the phonies like Renee Ellmers, but NOT the stalwarts like Berger, Sr.
I am never surprised by anything McCrory says or does, but Moore ought to have better judgment. After all, Moore purports to be a lawyer and should know that religious freedom is the birthright of every American and is enshrined in the Constitution. Anyone who claims that “erotic freedom” somehow trumps “religious freedom” is just plum ignorant. Pass this bill now to protect our state from this radical leftist nonsense!
Now, Arkansas has just also passed a Religious Freedome Restoration Act. Good for them!
What brand is our Speaker so worried about? Does he want NC to become another San Francisco? Homosexuality is a mere behavior, and mere behaviors should NEVER be protected classes. If they get away with it, that will just encourage pedophiles, practitioners of incest, polygamy, bestiality and all sorts of other deviant behaviors, not to mention pyromania, kleptomania, etc.
The whole reason for this new wave of passage of laws to protect religious liberty is the wave of bullying of Christian businesses by the homofascist thugs of the Gaystapo.
Muslims also abhor homosexual marriage and would also likely reject serving them, but the Gaystapo leaves them alone. The reason is simple, a Muslim baker or florist would likely have friends who could leave a few of the Gaystapo without their heads.
What this position from Moore shows is that a Republican Speaker should never hire a Chapel Hill liberal who for years consistently voted in Democrat primaries as his chief of staff. That represents too much liberal influence in his office.
The Archbishop of Westminster, head of the Catholic Church in the UK warned that when homosexual marriage came up in that country that passing it would lead to a greater persecution of Catholics than occurred under Henry VIII. He was clearly right about this byproduct of homosexual marriage, but the US is feeling it first rather than the UK.