On the sort-of-opposite side of the spectrum, we’ve just found out that the Democratic mayor of Charlotte has accepted tens of thousands of dollars of bribes from undercover FBI agents. Thanks, Cannon, for blowing a big old hole in Dems’ chances of gaining ground in November.
I don’t think that hurts the electoral prospects of Dems in general, and the mayoralty of Charlotte is not much in the larger scheme of things.
I hope you’re right. But one of the narratives that’s helped the GOP, and that’s been to a significant degree true, is that the NC Democratic Party is infested with corruption. This feeds into that narrative, and feeding into that narrative goes a long way toward undermining the work of all the wonderful folks involved with the Moral Monday movement.
The Defense budget tends to be welfare for conservatives.
Well, the legislature is clearly paying attention to the Moral Monday protests–it’s good to know they’re listening.
First day back in session, they revived an obscure committee to pass rules restricting future Moral Monday protests.
On the one hand, c’mon guys, really?
On the other hand, I can’t see how this can possibly work out in their favor. The rules were passed in kind of a sketchy way, but they’re not terribly onerous, but they’re also clearly put in place to limit future protests of the sort we saw last year; given that plenty of Moral Monday folks have already shown a willingness to be arrested, this feels like a very unsavvy move on the Republicans’ part, handing a gift to the Moral Monday crowd.
It’ll be an interesting few months, of that I’m sure.
I’m surprised that some posters seem to think that disrupting the legislature’s activities is acceptable.
If we’d known the rules beforehand, we could have stopped ACA from passing.
The House Republicans were doing their best…
Using procedural rules. Not even close to the same thing. Disrupting legislative sessions seems to be a tactic solely of the left. Might be time for the right to start using that weapon too.
I’m not surprised that that’s how you misread what people posted, or that you think that a sit-in is a greater threat to democracy than strategic closing of polling places, the most gerrymandered districts in the nation, and sweetheart deals to give public jobs to major donors.
People in the observation deck of the legislature building can’t stop legislation from passing. They can make it annoying to the legislators, but the legislators can still do their jobs if they’re determined about it. The point isn’t to stop them; it’s to make it clear to them that the people don’t like what they’re doing. If as a result of that they choose to stop, that’s great, but they’re not forced to stop.
And, of course, the legislators always know they have to answer to the voters in their districts, not the demonstrators in the gallery.
Update: Moral Monday almost entirely failed. Republicans gained in the NC Senate, lost a few seats in the House. They still maintain veto proof majorities in both houses. That’s dominant.
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/gop-maintains-firm-hold-nc-legislature/nhzrn/
Given that we have seen similar results in Wisconsin, I have to wonder if this kind of thing turns off voters.