North Carolina GOP- Harbinger or Prognosticator of Cruel Republican Governance

Americans have a rare opportunity to evaluate how Republicans would govern our nation if they received unbridled access to change laws, intimidate minorities, control the democratic voting process and limit women's access to quality health care. Never in the history of mankind has government had the opportunity to evaluate a governance crucible, whereby people can study the outcome of compounding a Republian dominated governement by mixing conservative social policies with rigid right wing politics.

North Carolina is like a political crucible of right wing extremism. The state's government made it possible for Ameicans to see how extremism impacts on people, when given the chance to create poisonous right wing public policy that excludes minority voters. 

This US Southern state was taken over by right wing Republicans, starting at the top with the governor and the legislature. Both executive and legislative branches are supporting ramroding a conservative Republican agenda on the state's people, regardless of how minority groups, women voters or Democrats feel about the issues.

This take over of the state is a chilling example of how right wingers would run the USA given the chance.

North Carolina is led by Republican Governor Pat McCrory. He previously served a record 14 years as the 53rd Mayor of Charlotte from 1995 to 2009, and as a city councilman. He was born in 1956, in Columbus, OH. Unfortunately for moderate voters, the state's legislature is also a Republican majority. Therefore, there's little regard for any challenge to the right wing legislation, which is simply voted into law, without regard for moderate points of view.

Even some North Carolinians who voted for the majority GOP one party rule are having second thoughts. 

John Frank writes in www.newsobserver.com about an impending political sea turn:  

Maggie Hampton, 37, works the cash register at the small convenience store. She carpools to work to save gas money and closely watches her money. Hampton doesn’t pay much attention to what happens three hours east in Raleigh, but she knows how the recent legislative session affects her. She worries about the elimination of the back-to-school sales tax holiday next year. Her husband recently left his job as a special education teacher at the local high school after years without raises and job security. And her son’s sixth-grade homeroom class is packed.

“I cannot imagine he is getting the best education possible with 35 kids in a class,” she says. “But they can’t hire teachers to alleviate that.”

A year ago, Hampton voted to send Republicans to Raleigh, saying the state needed a change. But now her support is wavering.

“If it continues this way, absolutely,” she says about switching her vote in the next election. “It’s important for your kids to have a good education. And if you continue to cut, you cannot have a good education.”

Whether talking education or the economy, her sentiment echoes a familiar refrain from voters across North Carolina. The historic legislative session – in which Republicans controlled the state’s entire lawmaking process for the first time in a century – brought major shifts to the right. GOP lawmakers say it was the change voters demanded; Democrats argue the ruling party overstepped.

In interviews with dozens of voters in three legislative swing districts, it’s clear the upheaval left moderate voters wavering, even as the GOP agenda energized the polar ends of the political spectrum.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/09/07/3174098/across-north-carolina-voters-opinions.html#storylink=cpy

Bill Moyers reports "State of Conflict: North Carolina" - "First it was Wisconsin. Now it's North Carolina that is redefining the term 'battleground state'. On one side: a right wing government enacting laws that are changing the face of the state. On the other: citizen protesters who are fighting back against what they fear is a radical takeover. This crucible of conflict reflects how the battle for control of American politics is likely to be fought for the foreseeable future: not in Washington, DC, but state by state." 

Frankly, I somewhat disagree with  Moyers conclusion. In my opinion, when American voters observe right wing extremism in action, they will reject this form of uncompromising government at the federal level.

Right wing Republicans are cruel and undemocratic. They're cruel in their one minded approach to passing harmful public policy that harms poor and minority people, especially women. They're undemocratic because they pass their agenda without regard for minority points of view.  

Nevertheless, the problem with the North Carolina crucible is how little national press pays attention to how people are harmed by the Republican extremism.  

North Carolina Republicans are ruling like a society of despots. They're harbingers of how Republicans will govern at the national level, given the  opportunity to govern as a majority In fact, House Republican Speaker John Boehner is already governing like he's living in North Carolina.  It's absolutely urgent for moderates and Democrats to look to North Carolina as a prognosticator of the dangers of allowing Republicans to control our government.  

Let's throw away the North Carolina experiment and get back, instead, to living in a Constitutional Democracy.