4 ms·

Well, the people of NC are getting exactly what they deserve. They voted for this. And spare me the whining about gerrymandering. The Governor is elected by

Well, the people of NC are getting exactly what they deserve. They voted for this. And spare me the whining about gerrymandering. The Governor is elected by everyone in the state; gerrymandering has no effect on that election. If this were really an issue of gerrymandering, we would have seen a crappy bill passed by the Legislature, and sent to the governor, and promptly vetoed because the governor more closely represents the average people in the state. That didn't happen.

throwaway5752 11y ago
Well, technically not. A roughly 50/50 turnout resulted in one party controlling the general assembly around census/redistricting time. You cannot make an honest case that it wasn't an aggressive redistricting based on a thin majority, and the governor wouldn't have had to veto anything if this bill didn't make it out of the house (which if would not have, in the pre-redistricting NCGA). The governor is at high risk to lose his reelection to the state AG later this year because of this and his perception of being in the pocket of his former employer (Duke Energy) because of his behavior in several high profile coal fly ash pond industrial accidents. He positioned himself as a social moderate and business friendly, and he has spent all his capital and then some on this. edit: Not sure how this comes off as whining. I am giving an honest account of this bill/the NC political background as I can. You're obviously right, the voters own this in the end.
gecko 11y ago
McCrory campaigned as a middle-of-the-road moderate Republican. He immediately instead delivered on Tea Party values, and once the Republicans won a narrow majority in 2012, they gerrymandered the crap out of the state to cement their control. Not that I voted for McCrory in the first place, but I don't think anyone got what they were expecting out of McCrory, either.
JeremyNT 11y ago
There are two NCs. One is currently in power; the rural, poor, uneducated. The other is more modern. We live in cities and we want our homes to be good places to live for all people. You can view maps of this state and how it votes, and the places this law will negatively impact (places where modern industry might have otherwise come) did not vote for this. There is a war here: rural versus urban. The rural counties are in control and they siphon off tax revenues from the cities. They strip the cities of any local autonomy (not just in this issue) both fiscally and socially. You can say "the people voted for this" but the people who voted for it are not negatively impacted by it (except that there will be less tax revenue in the cities they can siphon off of). I'd point out that California has had first hand experience in this regard as well - with Proposition 8. The happy ending to that story defied the will of the Californian people. Lament the laws of NC, but don't paint us all with the same brush.
- draw_down 11y ago
  Is it really "painting with the same brush" to say the people of NC voted for this? In your Prop 8 example, the people of California voted for that.
- Grishnakh 11y ago
  The problem is that you're all part of the same State, so your votes are all equally counted (more or less; for Governor, they are). So I have to paint you all with the same brush: that's just the way the system is set up. Sorry. I do realize (as should anyone) that not everyone in any given State is the same, and that every state has different regions where people think differently. This rural vs. urban fight isn't confined to NC, it's happening in most states now. (Maybe not Wyoming or Montana...) But you had to realize before moving to NC that that state was like that. Like every Southern state which votes "red" in the Presidential elections, there's a large number of conservatives there, and the conservatives in the South tend to be even more religious than the average conservative. So I don't think it's quite fair to move to urban NC and then complain about the rural voters giving you shitty laws: there was never any indication that this state, overall, voted more progressively. If you want a state that really is more progressive overall, you have to go someplace like New York or Massachusetts or Connecticut or Washington (state). But of course, the cost of living isn't as low in places like that as it is in the South; that's the price you pay.

throwaway5752 11y ago

Well, technically not. A roughly 50/50 turnout resulted in one party controlling the general assembly around census/redistricting time. You cannot make an honest case that it wasn't an aggressive redistricting based on a thin majority, and the governor wouldn't have had to veto anything if this bill didn't make it out of the house (which if would not have, in the pre-redistricting NCGA). The governor is at high risk to lose his reelection to the state AG later this year because of this and his perception of being in the pocket of his former employer (Duke Energy) because of his behavior in several high profile coal fly ash pond industrial accidents. He positioned himself as a social moderate and business friendly, and he has spent all his capital and then some on this. edit: Not sure how this comes off as whining. I am giving an honest account of this bill/the NC political background as I can. You're obviously right, the voters own this in the end.

gecko 11y ago

McCrory campaigned as a middle-of-the-road moderate Republican. He immediately instead delivered on Tea Party values, and once the Republicans won a narrow majority in 2012, they gerrymandered the crap out of the state to cement their control. Not that I voted for McCrory in the first place, but I don't think anyone got what they were expecting out of McCrory, either.

JeremyNT 11y ago

There are two NCs. One is currently in power; the rural, poor, uneducated. The other is more modern. We live in cities and we want our homes to be good places to live for all people. You can view maps of this state and how it votes, and the places this law will negatively impact (places where modern industry might have otherwise come) did not vote for this. There is a war here: rural versus urban. The rural counties are in control and they siphon off tax revenues from the cities. They strip the cities of any local autonomy (not just in this issue) both fiscally and socially. You can say "the people voted for this" but the people who voted for it are not negatively impacted by it (except that there will be less tax revenue in the cities they can siphon off of). I'd point out that California has had first hand experience in this regard as well - with Proposition 8. The happy ending to that story defied the will of the Californian people. Lament the laws of NC, but don't paint us all with the same brush.

draw_down 11y ago
Is it really "painting with the same brush" to say the people of NC voted for this? In your Prop 8 example, the people of California voted for that.
Grishnakh 11y ago
The problem is that you're all part of the same State, so your votes are all equally counted (more or less; for Governor, they are). So I have to paint you all with the same brush: that's just the way the system is set up. Sorry. I do realize (as should anyone) that not everyone in any given State is the same, and that every state has different regions where people think differently. This rural vs. urban fight isn't confined to NC, it's happening in most states now. (Maybe not Wyoming or Montana...) But you had to realize before moving to NC that that state was like that. Like every Southern state which votes "red" in the Presidential elections, there's a large number of conservatives there, and the conservatives in the South tend to be even more religious than the average conservative. So I don't think it's quite fair to move to urban NC and then complain about the rural voters giving you shitty laws: there was never any indication that this state, overall, voted more progressively. If you want a state that really is more progressive overall, you have to go someplace like New York or Massachusetts or Connecticut or Washington (state). But of course, the cost of living isn't as low in places like that as it is in the South; that's the price you pay.