Carolina Crybabies

“Political opposition is a normal part of democracy. Stripping your opponent of power is a normal part of fascism.” -Jennifer Victor. Associate professor at George Mason University.

Fascism seems to be all the rage with Republicans lately. While Donald Trump wants to limit press freedoms, defile the Constitution, and bully anyone who dares criticize him, the Grumpy McGrumpersons and sore losers who comprise the Republican party in North Carolina are literally stripping powers from their next governor. This isn’t just a state fight, this is national. The Resistance is especially important as the GOP is showing other states, and the future Trump administration, how to dismantle democracy and strip the rights away from any opposition.

Why would the North Carolina legislature want to strip power from their next governor? Oh yeah. It’s because, Roy Cooper the incoming governor and Mr. Rogers lookalike, is a Democrat and the Republicans want to make every a bad day in the neighborhood. They’re upset he won and he’s not even a black guy. It’s kinda like when the U.S. Senate says they’re not going to hold hearings or vote on Obama’s Supreme Court nominee because it’s not fair he’s still president while that opening occurred, and dammit, they just don’t want to. It’s called being a sore loser.

While the U.S. Senate ignores the law, the N.C. Legislature is rewriting them. They’re very upset that despite Trump winning their state, their Republican governor, Pat McCrory, lost his re-election bid to Mr. Rogers, er, Cooper. In fact, they didn’t even want to acknowledge they lost the governor’s mansion and spent weeks trying to fight the election results. The GOP is seriously bummed about losing their homophobic governor who was a champion of protecting bathrooms from nobody. Rewriting the laws of the executive branch after the election because you don’t like the winner is just one step short of a coup.

The state legislature is really powerful in North Carolina. They have the numbers required to be veto-proof despite the state not being solid red. North Carolina might be the best example of a divided nation as her rural areas are in a tug of war with the cities (where the educated people live) over political influence. Obama won the state in 2008. Romney won in 2012 and Trump won in 2016. Each of those were squeakers.

Did I mention the legislature is powerful? The Legislature called a special session, as if a Democrat being elected is an emergency. In most states the governor is the one who calls special sessions (they cost money).

So what are they taking away from their next governor? They are limiting the number of employees the governor can hire (down from 1,500 to 425), how many people he can appoint to the State Board of Elections, and strips the governor of his ability to name members of the boards of state universities. They also changed the state court system, making it more difficult for the losers of some superior court cases to appeal directly to the Democratic-controlled Supreme Court. Perhaps the biggest change is that the governor’s cabinet appointees now have to be approved by the State Senate. Being governor in North Carolina is like being married. You can do whatever you want, as long as your wife says it’s OK.

The Republicans are stacking the decks with their troglodytes so they won’t lose influence as the state continues to turn blue. They’re taking gerrymandering to an all new level. They are true pioneers and innovators when it comes to partisanship, hate, and bigotry. It’s kinda like they’re legalizing corruption.

Of course the out-going governor, McCrory, has signed most of the new laws (so far). That’s kinda like spray painting on all the walls and taking dumps in the closets before you move out of a rental property. Let the next tenant find those surprises. Mr. Cooper might wanna check those after he moves in.

There have been protests at the state capitol and many people have been arrested despite there not being any violence. Most of them were arrested for knocking on the door of the viewing gallery in the Capitol building.

North Carolina Republicans are shoving these changes down their constituents’ throats and they don’t even want them to have the right to complain about it.

It’s the normal part of fascism.

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