The GOP coup in North Carolina previews what were going to see everywhere

[DonViejo]

By Paul Waldman December 16 at 12:31 PM

There’s a kind of coup going on in North Carolina, one that tells us a lot about just how far Republicans are willing to go to hold on to power and undercut Democrats.

Here’s what’s happening: After a close election, Democrat Roy Cooper defeated Republican incumbent Pat McCrory to win the governorship. So the Republican state legislature decided to call an “emergency” session before Cooper takes office and strip the governor of as many powers as it could.

The bills Republicans are pushing through the legislature would, among other things, cut the number of appointments the governor can make by 80 percent; make his cabinet appointments subject to state senate confirmation; transfer authority for the state board of education from the governor to the superintendent (a Republican ousted a Democrat this year in the election for that seat); move the authority to appoint trustees of the University of North Carolina from the governor to the legislature; and dilute the governor’s control over the state board of elections and mandate that the board will be chaired by a Democrat in odd-numbered years (when there are no elections) and a Republican in even-numbered years (when there are elections).

And they’re barely bothering to pretend that if a Republican governor is elected in four years they won’t just reverse most or all of these changes.

This isn’t just hardball politics. This is a fundamentally anti-democratic approach to government, one that says that when we win, we get to implement our agenda, and when you win, you don’t.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/12/16/the-gop-coup-in-north-carolina-previews-what-were-going-to-see-everywhere/?utm_term=.9eff21b182bf&wpisrc=nl_popns&wpmm=1

[mnhtnbb]

1. I am despairing all over again here in NC. The one bright spot for us

in this giant mess that is about to unfold as Trump's regime takes power in DC was Cooper beating McCrory.

And these anti-democratic, mean, bigoted motherfu*king Republicans here have pulled this shit!
Instead of repealing HB 2--which they should have done--they've doubled down with this crap!

I really am despondent.

[RiverStone]

4. What's really bizarre is the GOP admit they are doing it!

Bully politics to the extreme. I was hoping shining light on their power grab antics in NC would force the cockroaches into hiding.

Power to the NC protestors who see this for what it is, fascism!

[Boomerproud]

6. I saw midde-aged and elderly people in handcuffs.

It seems to be an outrage per day. This is America in 2017 folks, and no one cares.

[mnhtnbb]

34. They arrested a guy in a Santa suit, too.

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article121302433.html

[Sadie5]

2. How can this go unnoticed

We no longer live in a free Democratic society. Before we know it we will be treated as Putin treats his people. We must act and act fast against these pieces of s%^t.

[zippythepinhead]

3. email the bastards

and voice your opposition to their dirty partisan politics.

I did. Just go to www.nc.gov There is a list of the bastards who did this with their email addresses.

Pass the word.

[blm]

5. Dem party needs to make this their battleground in 2017, just as GOP put on the pressure in Mass

Last edited Fri Dec 16, 2016, 11:00 PM - Edit history (2)

in 2009-10 and ended up with Kennedy's seat. It set the tone for their takeover of Congress.

The courts have called for a revote in NC after districts are redrawn. If Dem party leaders don't target NC like a laser on this and use it to stand against the GOP, then they may as well stamp USELESS IDIOTS on their foreheads.

[RiverStone]

9. 1+

Agree!!!

[think]

18. This

[First Speaker]

7. Sooner or later, Dems are going to have to reconsider their response to this sort of thing...

...it is a blatant attack on democracy. Do we just spread our cheeks and take it forever, or do we actually do something about it? I know what the men--and women--of 1775, 1861, 1941...I know what they would have done. That spirit seems to be gone. The result will be a one-party plutocracy, and the end of liberal democracy.

[lastlib]

21. This is absolutely true!

Republikkkans don't want to govern, they want to RULE! We have to quit playing so nicey-nice to them, and GO NUCLEAR! Search and Destroy.

"We could fight 'em with conventional weapons......."

[Trust Buster]

8. Republicans have a super majority in the North Carolina legislature. That means that the majority

of North Carolinian's support this behavior. For reasons that I don't fully comprehend, this country is a center-Right country. Attack me if you wish but, over the last decade, Republicans have gained control of the vast majority of Governorships, state legislatures, the House, the Senate and now the presidency. Can we honestly debate that this country is NOT center-Right anymore ?

[First Speaker]

10. I disagree. Reagan, even Dubya, were "center-right"...

...the GOP of Trump and McCrory is right-fascist. The southern GOP literally wants to return us to the days of Jim Crow. And with the courts in their pocket, they see nothing to stop them. The only thing that might, in the long run, will be resistance in the streets.

[Trust Buster]

32. I don't see where we differ in our opinion.

[blm]

11. Not really true - they gerrymandered their way into it. Cooper got 300,000 more votes than they did

NC is a true swing state that leans Democratic.

That is why it was gerrymandered to such an extreme - as was Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ohio.

This is why Dem party MUST make NC their battleground in 2017.

[Ford_Prefect]

23. Not only gerrymandered, they shredded voter registrations for over 450,000 voters earlier this year

And when the Federal Court told them to put them back they delayed and lied and stalled until after the election most of those people are STILL not registered and could not vote. Most of those voters were Black and from Democratic precincts and were removed under a program very similar to Crosscheck that removed voters who were claimed to have moved from their registered precincts.

[Trust Buster]

33. I don't know where you came up with your 300,000 Cooper margin of victory number. My point is

that the Republican-controlled North Carolina legislature has been abusive for at least the past 4 years yet they manage to continue to enjoy a super majority. There is something seriously amiss in this country IMO.

[blm]

35. Difference between # of votes GOP legislators received vs # of votes for Cooper

And the big reason they control everything in NC is because of extreme gerrymandering. Extreme gerrymandering is why there is a court-ordered election for 2017.

[malaise]

12. Likw where -Michigan? n/t

[mountain grammy]

13. This state has been gerrymandered to the max..

the legislature is not representative of the people. This is fascism, pure and simple.

[elmac]

14. Its a fascist blitzkrieg

rules?, who needs them. Laws?, who needs them, fascist waking up every morning pinching themselves, can't believe that sniffles has finally opened the gates of hell. Oh, and their opposition, well, hell, what opposition??? This is 100% better that Reagan, pinch, pinch...

[Thekaspervote]

15. The new dem gov says he will see them in court

If a judge will order them to redo their districts, then I have some hope that they, the judge who hears the case will toss bathroom pat's overreach as well.

[certainot]

16. dems can protest 4 universities

North Carolina 8, North Carolina State 3, Duke 3, East Carolina 2 broadcast sports on 16 limbaugh stations. the stations get to use the uni s community cred and logos to attract advertisers. they pay to keep the stations up and running so they can blast NC all day with republican bullshit.

talk radio is essential to anything and everything republicans do.

protests at those universities to get the uni to look for apolitical alts would scare the crap out of gop, media would notice, and advertisers would flee - whether the schools did anything about it or not.

[Equinox Moon]

17. Unconstitutional.

I went to their state legislative website.
House - 80 republicans - 49 Democrats
Senate - 36 republicans - 18 Democrats

The republicans are ALL white women and men. The Dems are mixed ethnicity.

Also, there is an article in Huff. Post that Gov. Elect Cooper plans to sue the State reps, their actions and laws are unconstitutional.

This mess in NC is not even close to being American.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers!

[George II]

19. Don't the individual state constitutions prevent things like this from happening?

Will these bills ultimately be declared unconstitutional in the state?

[KamaAina]

26. Who controls the courts?

[hollowdweller]

20. Here's the problem I think

The democratic party is great at governing but not at winning.

When the GOP completely fucks it up and it falls into our hand rather than holding them down and running a sword thru them to finish them off we go back to governing like the GOP was like they used to be and that voters will be upset if we are too partisan.

We haven't figured out that voters don't care about civility anymore. The only way we get the GOP to be civil is to vanquish them and completely discredit their ideology. We SHOULD have done that in 08 but we were too dumb.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

22. Too bad we don't play hardball right back.

[mahina]

37. People might not know what to do. We don't have a hive mind. Check out Glenn Sharp's The Anti-coup

And the 198 Methods of Nonviolent Resistance. Free on the Albert Einstein Institution page. He was a peace studies prof here at UH Manoa and wrote some very useful and practical instructions for this kind of situation.

http://www.aeinstein.org

The Albert Einstein Institution works to advance the worldwide study and strategic use of nonviolent action. Our work on this topic has been translated into dozens of languages. Visit our online library to access all currently available digital resources.

http://www.aeinstein.org/free-resources/free-publications/english/

The Anti-Coup: http://www.aeinstein.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/TAC-1.pdf

I can't copy the text because it's a pdf but this is a valuable resource. Good luck to all of us.

[Ford_Prefect]

24. North Carolina has been a testing ground for all kinds of pernicious and nefarious GOP schemes.

[WestSeattle2]

25. Starve the beast. Absolutely refuse to do business with any North Carolina based businesses. If the

Republicans wish to be anti-American, we'll consider the state to be not a part of America. Forget about the cancellation of symbolic football bowl games, or NBA events - boycott anything and everything North Carolina. When NC businesses see their revenues drop by 25-35%, they'll rip the Republican party and its pathetic leadership a new Trump. When Republican voters start getting laid off because business is down - they'll have time to rethink their assholishness that brought personal misery down on themselves.

Yes, I realize there will be collateral damage - but what are the alternatives?

[KamaAina]

27. Is there another source of sweet potatoes?

Moloka'i, Hawai'i, grows a purple variety (!), but regulations make it difficult to export them to the mainland, and there aren't enough anyway.

[WestSeattle2]

28. LOL! Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana.....

[BREMPRO]

29. Seems like the GOP in NC would just find a way to blame

The Democratic governor for a boycott downturn, just like Obama is blamed for a "sluggish recovery" even though it was GOP obstructionism that was the root of the "not so sluggish considering" problem. Not to mention they caused the economic calamity in the first place.

[WestSeattle2]

30. All I can say is that the economic boycott of NC, small as it was, definitely affected

the reaction of NC voters to HB2. A wider, deeper, much more painful boycott just might bounce Republicans out of positions of power statewide - for a very long time.

[BREMPRO]

31. It might work as long as Dems can control the narrative

The target of a boycott would need to be clearly coordinatrd, articulated and widely reported to pressure NC GOP to back off their blatent power grab from the Gov. Can this be done in the era of the end of truth, where the loadest bully wins the propoganda war and controls the narrative? We would need to be noisy, principled and resolved for this to be effective.

[mahina]

38. Please check my post upthread and check out this page for the Anti-Coup and other Nonviolent

Resistance information.

http://www.aeinstein.org/free-resources/free-publications/english/

Courage, peace!

[littlemissmartypants]

36. Cross posted to NC group. TY. eom