Election campaigns are under way and the name-calling season is open. Names, labels and stereotypes can influence our opinions and our elections so it’s important to be aware them. Continue reading STICKS STONES AND STEREOTYPES
Category Archives: public education
Tough Love For School Boards And Legislators
Help wanted: Professional position, requires bachelor’s degree, Masters preferred. Starting salary is $33,000 – $36,300 depending on academic qualifications. Raises are dependent on multiple complex criteria that have little to do with how hard or well you work and are subject to change without notice. Employees are expected to bring their own supplies. Position title: Public School Teacher in North Carolina. Continue reading Tough Love For School Boards And Legislators
Does Underage Drinking Fuel Campus Assaults?
I got you in trouble in high school; but college, now that was a ball. You had some of the best times you’ll never remember with me – Alcohol.” (Brad Paisley)
The song masks pain and humiliation behind humor. Many college students arrive with established alcohol habits and binge drinking is popular recreation. Some parents allow pre-college teenagers to have alcohol at parties. Are they protecting their children by letting them learn to drink responsibly under supervision or are they increasing the chances that the children will become alcoholics? In some states that is legal and in others parents could face both criminal and civil penalties. Excessive drinking among teens is associated with academic failure, violence, and financial problems. Continue reading Does Underage Drinking Fuel Campus Assaults?
COMMON CORE STANDARDS
Apparently taking their cue from right wing talk radio and Fox News pundits, leaders of the North Carolina Legislature have begun an assault on the Common Core Standards for education. Some want to repeal the standards which our school systems have been working to implement since they were adopted in 2010 by you know who – the North Carolina Legislature.
What better way to finish demoralizing underpaid and underappreciated educators than to give them the monumental job of organizing to achieve specific goals and then, at the last minute, repeal the goals? The Republicans in charge at the legislature often argue that government should be more efficient and productive, like a successful business. Today it is those legislators, not the educators who need lessons in successful business practices. The idea that we can greatly improve (or damage) education by adopting a set of standards is foolishness. It is the actions taken to achieve the goals that will make a difference. As Russell Ackoff, a renowned professor from the Wharton School of Business put it, “The only problems that have simple solutions are simple problems. The only managers with simple problems are those with simple minds.”
For many years we have known that the educational achievement of American students is lagging behind the achievement of students in many other developed nations. Since public education is largely a responsibility of states, not the federal government, the National Governor’s Association commissioned a project to study the situation and make recommendations. It was strongly supported by governors from both parties and the funding was mostly from the private sector – especially from businesses and foundations which were concerned that American graduates were not prepared for the jobs of the future (or even the present). Educators, psychologists, business leaders and other qualified people worked for years to produce the Common Core Standards which were then adopted voluntarily by 46 states. Only after this was done did the federal government begin to use the standards too.
The Common Core Standards specify very little about curriculum (books, teaching techniques etc.) In fact, the standards anticipate that there will be variance across the country in that regard, and that there may be variance from one classroom to another based the unique styles of individual teachers or the needs of students. If there is to be standardization of curriculum or teaching techniques, it would be done by states or school districts.
How should those of us who are not educators think of the standards? I see them as mileposts for each student to pass on the journey of preparation for successful employment after high school or for college. That was also the goal of the National Governor’s Association and of the private organizations that paid for much of the research on which the standards are based.
One state, Kentucky, has led the way in implementing the standards and more recently they have begun testing to measure how they are doing. The bad news is that their educational performance still lags behind other nations. The very promising news is that in two years their test scores rose 2 percent while their high school graduation rate rose 6 percent. It is too soon to attribute that progress to the common core standards but certainly they can take pride in the achievement.
Edward Deming, who is often credited with introducing scientific process improvement as a business practice, said “Management by numerical goal is an attempt to manage without knowledge of what to do.” It is vital for legislators to understand that. The Common Core Standards provide a yardstick with which we can measure progress. They should be used for planning and improvement, not for appraisal of individual performance. Repealing them will leave educators no generally accepted and standardized measurement and will take away their ability to compare results from various school districts and teaching methods – leaving us in a situation where policy changes will be based on opinion rather than data. Replacing them with state standards will take away our ability to compare our results with other states and will present new opportunities for politicians to insert their personal biases into educational policy. That is the opposite of good business practices.
Rather than taking the goalposts off the field, the legislature can be most helpful by doing its own job – not the jobs of the educators. There is massive evidence that children, especially low income children, do best in nations that provide high quality public pre-schools. The legislature should study how best to create and fund that service. Many legislators (in both parties) want performance-based pay for educators. If that is the case, legislators and school boards must provide management education for whoever will do the performance appraisals and the ongoing communication and coaching throughout the year. Successful performance appraisals don’t surprise people – they are merely summaries of discussions that have been ongoing. They are based on multiple job expectations, not on the results of a single test.
The most critical factor in business success is hiring the right people. That means that we need to provide adequate salaries. We have some great teachers who are terribly underpaid. We have lost some great teachers who had to leave their chosen profession in order to adequately support their families. The legislature can help by funding salaries comparable to professions requiring similar levels of education, skill and stress.
So, legislature, what’s it going to be? Will you choose a businesslike approach to improving quality or more tampering based on the opinions of talk show hosts?
PUBLIC POLICIES AFFECT OUR INCOMES
Nine of the ten US States with the highest median household incomes voted for a liberal in the last presidential election. The only outlier among the high income states was Alaska. At the other end of the income scale, nine of the ten US States with the lowest median household incomes voted for a conservative. The only outlier was New Mexico. The same tendency is apparent when all states are considered. 80% of the states with household incomes above the US median voted for President Obama. 67% of states with incomes below the US median voted for Mr. Romney. For convenience I’ll go with the conventional names and call the more liberal states “blue” and the more conservative states “red”.
Reading down the list of states by income, it is clear that the leaders are blue states with moderate to liberal policies at the state level. In general they are the states which spend more on social safety net programs and public education. They also tend toward the moderate or liberal part of the spectrum on social issues like same sex marriage, abortion, and immigration reform.
Reading up from the bottom of the list of states by income, you will find red states that spend less on social safety net programs and public education. And they tend toward the conservative end of the spectrum on same sex marriage, abortion and immigration reform.
How can these patterns be explained and what can be learned from them? Here are some ideas. By focusing their resources on assuring good public education and access to health care for everyone, including those with low incomes, the blue states develop strong work forces that attract good paying jobs. Some will argue that many jobs have moved to the low-tax environments in the red states and there may be some truth in that. It should be noted that many businesses that talk about such relocations are not only seeking low taxes. They are seeking low wages. If there has been movement of jobs to red states, it appears to have perpetuated their low wage environment rather than improving it.
The relatively liberal social policies of the blue states seem open to more people regardless of sexual orientation or immigration status; and some people looking for such openness also have the economic and intellectual means to start businesses that create economic growth. They gravitate to places where their lifestyles and freedom are respected – bringing economic growth that benefits everyone. If my thinking is wrong, then how would one explain that blue state residents clearly have higher incomes?
It is our tradition to be a nation with regional cultural differences and that will certainly continue. And it has also been our tradition to learn from each other’s successes and failures. In 1789 North Carolina created the first State operated university. Other states saw how well the idea worked and copied it. Cincinnati created the first paid fire department in the US in 1853. The idea succeeded and was copied across the nation. Today hardly anyone thinks of public universities or fire departments as liberal or conservative ideas. They are simply accepted as ideas that work well and that contribute to the success of everyone in the community.
It is time once again to look across state lines and see which public policies are producing the best results. Blue states are leading the nation in median income, educational attainment, and life expectancy. Red states are leading in poverty-related problems including divorce, adolescent pregnancy, and shorter life expectancy. Low funding of education and safety net programs are not producing good results. Restrictions on the personal freedoms to control one’s own body and to marry the person of one’s own choice do not contribute to the success of a state or its citizens.
It’s time to look carefully at what works and what doesn’t and then move ahead with public policies that enhance personal freedom and encourage success. With that attitude and all of our other advantages, North Carolina can become the economic envy of the nation. Two things are required if we are to achieve that. First, we must pay attention to the management and effectiveness of our public policies – stop tearing down public institutions and government and begin making them more creative and efficient. Second, we must study what works (whether a “liberal” or “conservative” idea) and adopt the public policies that lead to success.
There is no question about our ability or our resources. We can be as great as we choose to be. The important questions are about our willingness to abandon hard line ideologies in favor of doing the things that produce the results that we want. Those choices will be made by voters. Without the willingness to adopt successful public policies we can be thankful for our friends in Mississippi. They will assure that we don’t finish last.
WHY NOT THE BEST EDUCATION?
My initial reaction to the recent performance of the Randolph County Board of Education was disbelief. They seem to want what is best for students and for the schools but how did people with good intentions make such a mess? There are, perhaps two underlying problems. One is that a majority of Board Members became so confident that they know what is good and right that they felt justified in imposing their personal values on students and faculty. The other is that a majority have become so complacent in accepting “how things are” that they are not attending to “how things could be”. There can be a happy ending to this story when the whole education team is working together toward a shared vision of excellence. First, here is a review of recent problems.
One Board Member defied the US Supreme Court, the Constitution and the advice of the Board’s legal counsel by offering sectarian prayer over the public address system prior to high school football games. That created a distraction from the School System’s responsibilities rather than advancing the cause of excellence in education. It does matter that some fans don’t want to be forced to hear his prayer in order to see a football game at a public school. Perhaps with good intentions, he imposed his beliefs and values on everyone in attendance and put the School System in a very difficult position.
In a separate matter, one parent complained about a book (The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison) on a suggested reading list given to her 12th grade son. The school system staff followed their established policy; inviting the parent to specify her concerns, then convening two teams of professional educators to reconsider the appropriateness of the book. Both teams affirmed that the book should remain in school libraries and on the recommended reading list. It had been carefully selected for sound reasons.
The Board of Education voted to overrule its teachers, librarians and administrators by not only removing the book from the reading list but removing it from school libraries. It won the national book award and is considered an American classic by most scholars but board members explained imposing their views on students, professional educators, and the executive team by describing the book as “filth” and “…of no literary value…”.
The 12th graders who received the reading list would within a few months be deemed sufficiently mature to join the armed forces, go away to college, sign contracts and vote. Great literature can help them think through their own values before they are faced with the immediacy of important life questions. A majority of the Board of Education, much like their colleague who imposed his religious views on everyone attending football games, enforced their personal views of a book and thereby deprived students of an opportunity to think for themselves about American culture and literature.
The Board’s responsibility is to create an educational system which enables students to study, think, and come to their own conclusions. Instead, they appear to prefer indoctrinating students with their own beliefs and values. After local and international outcries over their action, the Board reversed themselves but offered minimal explanation and no apology to staff or students. Despite clear recommendations provided to the Board by the review teams, one Board member blamed the staff for not providing adequate advice. Why would English teachers and librarians want to work for a Board which does not trust them to choose books?
Robert Kennedy, paraphrasing George Bernard Shaw, said “There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?” We need that attitude among our Board of Education. The Board’s role is to establish broad vision, strategies and policies; to select the executive leadership; and to support them in their work. The Board should distinguish their responsibilities from those of the staff by leading on issues such as, “What policies and governance practices are followed in nations that have the best educational outcomes?” “Which of those ideas would work well here?” “What resources are needed and how will we provide them?” “How will we prepare students for lifelong learning and coming to their own conclusions about the important issues of their lives?” “Why will the best teachers want to practice their profession in our school district?”
We should not be satisfied with what we have done in the past – not because it was bad; but because we need to do better. Our target should be public education as good as the best in the world because that is what our children deserve and because anything less will eventually produce a second class nation. Rather than school prayer or their opinions of individual books, we should hear from our Board of Education about their plan for excellence including educational strategies, projected human and financial resource requirements, recruitment, retention, nationally competitive salaries, facilities, a budget sufficient to provide classroom supplies (so teachers don’t have to purchase their own) and even the option of year-round school for students who are aiming for the stars. If the Boards and the public give our school systems the encouragement and support that they need and deserve, we will be thrilled with the great results that our students achieve.
NORTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN CHECKBOOK
If you want to know what is important to people just read their checkbooks and credit card bills. They are far more enlightening than press releases or diaries. The same is true of political parties. After about seven months of total Republican control, the values of that party’s leaders have become apparent in their tax reform law and their budget.
They eliminated the tax on estates of over $5 million so that the wealthiest North Carolinians will no longer pay it when tens of millions of dollars are passed from one generation to the next; and they reformed the income and corporate taxes so that those with the highest incomes will pay less than in the past. They are sure that they reduced the State’s revenue but they are not sure by how much. Good government requires matching tax revenue with necessary spending.
After reducing the state’s income they announced that they did not have enough money to budget a salary increase for teachers. Our teacher salaries were already extremely low and may well be the lowest in the nation after another year with no adjustment. Most state employees were treated little better. Republican leaders did not consider the state’s financial obligations and the needs of our schools before they cut taxes. That is not good government.
Probably the most troubled department in State Government is the Department of Health and Human Services which is responsible for Medicaid, all of our mental health services, and many other programs. To lead this critical area, the Governor picked Dr. Aldona Wos, a physician who has not been involved full-time in health policy or medical practice for many years. She is very wealthy and has been among the largest fund raisers for former President George W. Bush and for Governor McCrory in both of his campaigns for governor. President Bush rewarded Dr. Wos by appointing her as Ambassador to Estonia. Likewise, the Governor made her DHHS Secretary and she hired a young McCrory campaign staffer, Matthew McKillip, as the Chief Policy Officer of DHHS. At age 24, he has no previous health service education or experience but he has worked for a right wing think tank and now he is leading health policy development for the state.
After only a few months on the job, he has received a 35% salary increase. That is just one example of large raises for campaign supporters while there is nothing left over for teachers or other public employees. How might those other employees feel about this?
Republican leaders said that the state does not have enough money to maintain the unemployment compensation program so they cut the maximum monthly benefit by 35% and cut the maximum length of benefits from 26 weeks to 20. As a result of the change, we lost eligibility for over $700 million in federal funds intended for North Carolina’s unemployed workers while our unemployment rate remains one of the highest in the nation.
Then they turned down the Medicaid expansion which would have been totally paid by the federal government for the first 3 years and would have been over 90% federally funded thereafter. That expansion would have covered most of our low-income working people at federal expense. Through 2019 it would have brought $15 billion federal dollars to the state and created 25,000 new jobs (mostly in the private sector). That would have helped mightily with our unemployment problem. Our middle class and poor will have to pay the federal taxes to fund the expansion but we won’t get the health care or the jobs.
The inescapable conclusion is that the Governor and legislative leaders think it is more important to cut taxes for the wealthy than it is to provide health care for low income workers and fair salaries to teachers. You can read their values in the state’s checkbook. This is particularly sad, because these are not the values of most North Carolinians; and many Republicans also disapprove. Some must be wondering how their party got away from them. In retrospect, the answer seems to be that a few very wealthy people not only bought the election with incredible amounts of spending; they also bought the soul of a once proud political party. It’s quite a set of values: Take care of your wealthy donors and reduce their taxes then pay for it by denying fair wages to teachers and other public employees and by cutting back on the public education and health services which would help the poor improve their earning power. They may preach family values but support for families is not written in their checkbook.
After doing such things, the only sure way to stay in office is to prevent those who disagree and those you have harmed from voting. That is a subject for another day.
WORK AND MINIMUM WAGE
A few days ago I came across what seemed like just one more preposterous claim littering our political landscape: that Australia has a minimum wage exceeding $15 American dollars per hour and an unemployment rate of about 5%. The stunning thing is that when I checked this one out I found that it is true. For me, that raised the questions, “How did they do that?” and “Could we do it too?” This column is about some of the answers that I found.
Australia’s achievement is not unique. There are 9 substantial nations with minimum wages higher than ours: Australia, France, Belgium, New Zealand, Ireland, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan. Five of the nine have lower unemployment rates than the United States. They did not achieve this by running up their national debt. Of the nine, only Japan has a ratio of debt to GDP higher than the US. All the rest have less debt in proportion to their economic output. And although each of the nations is unique, they all have a stronger social safety net for human services than the US.
In my search for answers, I found that how they did it was not particularly relevant. They each found their own ways. The thing that distinguishes them is that they chose to do it. We have not made that commitment.
If we’re missing something, what is it? The surprising answer to that question may be that we are lacking Christian social values. When that thought occurred to me, I re-read Pope John Paul II’s “Encyclical on Work” which was published in 1981. While reading it, I recalled that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis while leading a campaign for economic justice. His concern about income inequality shaped his message that work must be respected with a fair and living wage. He famously said, “On the one hand we are called to play the good Samaritan on life’s roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”
Returning to the Encyclical I read that, “Work is a good thing for man-a good thing for his humanity-because through work man not only transforms nature, adapting it to his own needs, but he also achieves fulfillment as a human being and indeed, in a sense, becomes ‘more a human being’. … The key problem of social ethics in this case is that of just remuneration for work done. … Just remuneration for the work of an adult who is responsible for a family means remuneration which will suffice for establishing and properly maintaining a family and for providing security for its future.” He goes on to argue that the work of one adult should be sufficient to support a family and that society will suffer if children get inadequate nurture because both parents are working. Regarding the unemployed he added, “The obligation to provide unemployment benefits, that is to say, the duty to make suitable grants indispensable for the subsistence of unemployed workers and their families, is a duty springing from the fundamental principle of the moral order in this sphere, namely the principle of the common use of goods or, to put it in another and still simpler way, the right to life and subsistence.”
In my community the wages paid to a paramedic working full time and supporting a family qualifies the family for food stamps. Here in North Carolina, that is true for many hard working people in both the public and private sectors. I can only imagine the impossibility of supporting a family in any of our 50 states on a minimum wage job or “temp” employment with no benefits.
The other nations that I listed are providing a safety net for the unemployed and they have decided that anyone who is employed merits a living wage. Those nations have better overall school performance because fewer of their students live in poverty. For the same reason, they all have fewer of their number in prison. Too many of our underpaid and unemployed are unable to participate in our economy by earning or learning or spending. That brings up an important business lesson: It is easier to make a profit if your customers have money to spend.
All of this leads me to believe that the Christian social values taught by Pope John Paul II and Dr. King have merit; and if we adopt them we will find our communities, states and nation to be better and more prosperous places to live. Like the Australians, our choice will be driven by our values.
NORTH CAROLINA TAX REFORM
We create some of our own big problems when we act on our beliefs without checking to see if the beliefs are true. Governor McCrory and the North Carolina Legislature are about to do that as they reform our taxes. They have been cutting spending and now they plan to cut taxes with religious zeal based on two erroneous beliefs. One belief is that cutting taxes will stimulate creation of good jobs and economic growth. The other belief is that North Carolina taxes are too high.
First, let’s look at how much we are actually spending compared to other states. Counting all forms of state taxes including corporate and personal, we collected $2320 per person in 2011. That ranked us 34th highest among the 50 states. Gross State Product measures the total economic output within the state. Our combined state and local government spending as a percent of our Gross State Product ranked 44th among the 50 states. That means that the tax burden on our state economy was lower than all but six states.
Our spending on public K-12 education has been a hot topic. Our per pupil spending in 2011 ranked 44th among the 50 states and the legislature has already cut it below that level. As a percent of GSP, our per pupil spending ranked 46th. The K-12 tax burden on our GSP was 4.8%. Some states with low GSPs are trying to catch up with the rest of the nation. While we go backwards, low wealth states like West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina and Arkansas are placing a tax burden of 7% to 8.4% on their GSP to support K-12 education.
What about the other reason for cutting taxes – to bring more jobs and economic development? High wage employers will be looking for a highly educated and skilled workforce. That is the reason, for example, that tech industries have concentrated around Seattle, San Francisco and Boston. It is because strong public education K-PhD produces a strong workforce and because those regions provide the quality of life (some of which is tax supported) which attracts and retains highly skilled people. Here in North Carolina, the Research Triangle Park has been a viable competitor for those companies. A few other communities have made some headway, mostly in proximity to universities which help attract the workforce. A tech company might put a call center or data center in other parts of our state (and that would be a good thing) but the corporate headquarters and the R&D functions which provide the best jobs will be elsewhere.
If our taxes and wages are reduced enough, we may indeed attract some jobs because there are some businesses which consider small differences in tax rates as an important criterion when choosing a location. They are also typically looking for the lowest labor costs. They don’t need a highly educated and skilled workforce and they keep benefit costs low by using as many temporary workers as they can. Those are also the jobs which are most vulnerable to outsourcing and automation. Having a mix of jobs available is a good thing but if we can’t attract our share of the high wage jobs then why will our brightest and most ambitious children return home for their careers? Or will they migrate to other parts of the country (or the world) for better wages and the environment that they want?
My conclusion is that the legislature and the Governor have entered us in a race to the economic bottom and if they continue cutting taxes and spending we are likely to win that race. I hate waste and don’t enjoy paying taxes but I’m very willing to pay for excellence in public education from birth through college. And I’m willing to pay fair wages to public servants who make our lives safer and better, and for parks, arts, and other government programs which promote the general welfare. Business leaders already know, but may require an occasional reminder, that it is a lot easier to earn a profit when your customers have money to spend. For that to happen, we need high wage jobs and a high skill workforce and public education to support both.
Tax reforms to close loopholes, to begin taxing services, and to reduce corporate taxes may indeed be good things but the design of the changes should increase rather than decrease state revenue and the tax burden must not be shifted to the middle class and poor who are least able to bear it.
I am an optimist. I believe in the people of my community and my state – good people who are working hard toward better lives for themselves and their families. We need to see ambition and optimism from our leaders including an understanding of that phrase “promote the general welfare” from the US and North Carolina constitutions. Taxation is not a win-lose game and neither is good government. When we spend our resources wisely on education and enhancements to quality of life, we all win. When wages go up, so does demand for products and services. It is time now for North Carolina to reclaim our dual heritage as a pro-business and progressive state.
THE REPUBLICAN PORCH STEP
I had an uncle old enough to be my grandfather who cleared land, cut lumber, and built the home on his Tennessee farm with his own hands. As visitors approached, he warned them not to use the steps on the side of the porch. “Those are Republican steps.” he would say, “They look solid but if you trust them they’ll let you down.” Since handing over the legislature and the governor’s office to Republicans, a lot of North Carolina voters are learning what he meant. Republican candidates said it was time for a change after generations of Democratic control, pointing out numerous scandals and sloppiness in governance by one party. Republicans promised openness in government, less intrusion on personal liberties, lower taxes, improvements in public education and more jobs. Governor McCrory ran a campaign based on economic development and less intrusive government. Sadly, their actions don’t resemble their promises.
The actual Republican agenda appears to have three themes. First and foremost, hold on to power, even if that requires depriving citizens of their rights. The second theme is to financially reward supporters and punish opponents. The third is to impose the social and religious values of their extreme base on all North Carolinians.
Republicans are cementing their grip on power. By gerrymandering our districts they won 69% of North Carolina congressional seats with 49% of the votes. Now they are proposing laws designed to discourage voting by citizens they think are likely to support the opposition. They have proposed laws to:
- Take away the $2500 per dependent tax credit from parents of college students who vote where they go to college (and live for most of the year).
- Eliminate early voting on Sundays, which is especially popular among African American churches.
- Cut back early voting to one week.
- Restrict the number of early voting locations.
- End the practice of registering and voting on the same day.
- Pass a voter ID law, designed to deter voters who don’t have a driver’s license.
Republicans propose to financially reward supporters and penalize opponents. They want to cut corporate taxes, estate taxes, and income tax rates and pay for the cuts by expanding the scope and amount of the sales tax. By taxing food and other necessities then cutting taxes for corporations and those with higher incomes they can redistribute income from the working poor to the Republican base. There are proposed laws to reward generous Republican contributors by legalizing sweepstakes cafe gambling and payday lending (sponsored by our own Senator Tillman). They passed a law allowing hydraulic fracturing for natural gas while severely limiting the liability of companies for pollution of ground water and land, even if it is caused by intentional violation of safety regulations.
Then they punished the poor – perhaps with the notion that most poor folks either don’t vote or vote for Democrats. They reduced unemployment compensation for the long term unemployed and raised college tuition, making upward mobility for those with low incomes even harder than it was before. Their funding cuts increased financial problems for our public schools. Their solutions include allowing charter schools to hire uncertified teachers without even doing background checks (Senator Tillman again). They rejected $15 billion dollars of federal money to pay for Medicaid expansion through 2019. That punishes the poor who need health care along with the hospitals and doctors who are required by law to provide emergency services whether they are paid or not. The Medicaid expansion would create 25,000 new jobs, mostly in the private sector. Do Republicans think voters won’t miss those jobs or notice that we still have to pay our $15 billion in federal taxes? At one time we were fighting a “war on poverty”. Now it feels like Republican leadership is fighting an undeclared war on the poor.
The third element of the Republican agenda has been to impose the social and religious values of their extreme conservative base on the rest of the population. Randolph County’s own Allen McNeill co-sponsored a bill to exempt North Carolina from the US Constitution and allow government establishment of an official religion. You can find it on the legislature’s website or just Google “HJR 494”. One proposed imposition on personal freedom is a requirement to provide written notice to a spouse two years in advance and attend state approved counseling before filing for divorce – even in cases of domestic violence. There is a bill requiring doctors to get written consent from parents before providing pre-natal care to a pregnant minor or answering questions from minors about STDs or birth control. And one of the first acts of the Republican majority was to encourage a constitutional amendment which prohibits the state from recognizing same-sex marriages or unions – even those performed in states where they are legal. Soon they will be spending our tax dollars to defend that useless amendment in court.
As candidates, Republicans promised less intrusion on personal liberties, lower taxes, improvements in public education and more jobs but they are delivering something quite different. Like my uncle’s porch steps, they looked reliable but they are letting us down.