North Carolina’s Republicans ended their legislative session with fiddling, dancing and ice cream on the floor of the House of Representatives, apparently oblivious to or unconcerned with the fact that only 35 percent of their state approves of the job they are doing…. “It was the final death knell to the progress made by years of social justice and civil rights advancements,” writes SadTimesinNC, who posted the video filmed by Carol Edward on CNN’s iReport. While Republicans are proud of their accomplishments, what they’ve done reads like a prescription for reversing decades of progress for women, minorities and the working poor.
Once again, just when I begin to think- or at least hope- that Republicans couldn’t possibly sink any lower…well, I’m reminded just how horribly naive I can be. Floriduh may be just plain weird, Texas may be dominated by Teh Stoopid, but it seems that Republicans in North Carolina will take a back seat to no one on the GOP crazy train. I’d be having all sorts of fun at the Tar Heel State’s Republicans and their attempt to turn their empire domain into a laughingstock…except that their lunacy will have very definite real world effects. The litany of “accomplishments” compiled by the Republican-dominated legislature is as disturbing as it is indicative of Republican dishonesty, self-interest, and lack of integrity. It’s as if they’ve realized that they can’t win based on the strength of their ideas, so they’ve done the next best thing: cheat.
Let’s face it, y’all…if the only way you can win is by lying, cheating, and disenfranchising minorities, your ideas suck. Not that this truth stood in the way of North Carolina Republicans making good on their pledge to make the Tar Heel State safe for good, God-fearing, gun-loving White Christian males. Knowing that the strength (or lack of same) of their ideas won’t put them over the top, they did the only thing they know how to do: they passed legislation that codified into law their belief that Conservative White men by rights own the world; the rest of merely exist at their pleasure. After all, who’s going to bring them their martinis and steaks?
Their work complete, they demonstrated their belief that they really are doing God’s work by thoroughly embarrassing themeselves on the floor of the House of Representatives. Someone in the North Carolina GOP probably should have pointed out the “Nero fiddling while Rome burns” theme…but that presumes they actually care about symbolism.
And what, you may ask are they celebrating?
— The worst voter suppression laws in the country;
— “Disturbing” cuts to unemployment insurance;
— Huge cuts that will wound the state’s respected education system;
— Rejecting Medicaid expansion, which would have covered up to 500,000 working people and created as many as 25,000 jobs;
— New women’s health restrictions they sneaked into bills about motorcycle safety and Sharia law that will likely close 15 clinics—laws the governor promised not to sign just months ago;
— The end of public financing for judicial races to please one millionaire donor;
— The repeal [of] the Racial Justice Act, which tried to keep racial bias out of administration of the death penalty;
— A new requirement for more useless drug tests for anyone receiving public assistance…
— while giving the governor’s staff generous pay increases.
Kudos to the sheeple of North Carolina for electing a legislature full of thugs, cheaters, racists, and misogynists. Your elected representatives are clearly a reflection of your values…and you have exactly the quality of leadership you deserve. I had NO idea the standards of voters could be so low.
