# New lows in legislatures: the NC edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 22, 2023, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-lows-in-legislatures-the-nc-edition/990547 "2023-09-22T15:48:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-lows-in-legislatures-the-nc-edition/990547/1 "2023-09-22T15:48:11Z")
Rather than bump my [7-year-old thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-legislature-at-it-again/774772) on the topic, I figured I’d post a new one. Speaker of the North Carolina House Tim Moore got sued recently for having an affair with a married woman (yeah, NC laws are weird). A fellow legislator pressed for an investigation. How has Moore responded? He moved the legislator’s office to a closet in the basement and sent him the world’s sneeringest letter. While the letter is clever, it’s so far beyond the bounds of decorum that even my rock-bottom expectations were thoroughly broken. Here you go. > **[NC Republican House Speaker moves Democrat to basement office](https://www.cbs17.com/news/capitol-report/nc-republican-house-speaker-moves-democrat-to-basement-office/)** > > In a letter to Rep. Everitt, Moore said the decision came after he heard there was “an altercation” between Everitt and another Democrat earlier in the week. We have got to figure out a way to vote these jokers out. I cannot see how anyone can find this behavior the sort that moves our state forward. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-lows-in-legislatures-the-nc-edition/990547/2 "2023-09-22T18:28:18Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > We have got to figure out a way to vote these jokers out. I cannot see how anyone can find this behavior the sort that moves our state forward. While I’m utterly sympathetic, I think we’re too far gone for that. Driven by Trump’s pandering to hate, and Fox’s unending propaganda in support, the whole “moves our state [or nation] forward” is now RINO, just shy of Democratic speak as far as the current Republican party works. Compromise is bad, don’t ya know? And it works for them, because for years they were having a hard time accomplishing anything as they abandoned ever more of their theoretical platforms. But owning the libs doesn’t require them to do anything, just pass laws that get tossed in courts (for a while longer, but probably not MUCH longer with the way the fix is in), toss insults, and wrap themselves in the flag or the worst passages of the Christian Bible. That is what their base has now been trained to accept - an unending culture war as everything else slides towards a collapsed infrastructure and eventual heat-death of the planet. Anyone who actually cared about moving forward has been outcast as a RINO or retired. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-lows-in-legislatures-the-nc-edition/990547/3 "2023-09-22T19:00:37Z")
So then, what do we do? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-lows-in-legislatures-the-nc-edition/990547/4 "2023-09-22T19:14:43Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > We have got to figure out a way to vote these jokers out. Are you kidding me? He was owning the libs in the most epic way possible. He can probably set his sights on elevating to the national stage based off that. How pathetic our politics are. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-lows-in-legislatures-the-nc-edition/990547/5 "2023-09-22T19:22:37Z")
Work on getting a foreign passport? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-lows-in-legislatures-the-nc-edition/990547/6 "2023-09-22T19:30:13Z")
I recently heard an interview with a Black Florida professor facing new racist laws about education in her state. She talked with her dad about maybe moving to a different state, and he was like, “Our family doesn’t leave, we stay and fight, that’s what we’ve done for generations.” So she’s staying, and fighting. I kinda figure if she doesn’t leave, I got no excuse. (It’s more complicated than that, but that story stuck with me) ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-lows-in-legislatures-the-nc-edition/990547/7 "2023-09-22T19:45:59Z")
I respect those who are willing to fight, and who are far more risk than I in terms of passing for the ever shrinking ‘majority’, but for those of my friends and family that live in less . . . sane states, mostly Texas, I keep suggesting the moment that family doesn’t bind (friend’s ill mother, kids in public school) that they move. I feel that’s the best option right now, barring a sudden outbreak of sanity. TBH, I am hoping on two things. One, that the next wave of lawsuits against Fox will push them towards being a bit more careful, and at least a semblance of factual reporting (I know, fat chance). More importantly, while there are plenty of Trump-wannabees, very few of them seem to inspire the rabid loyalty. It is remotely possible that once Trump drops dead, for whatever reason, all those who would want to embrace his mantle tear each other apart, and the Republicans become to busy infighting to get in the way. Neither is a great hope, but hey, you know the trope: [![](https://y.yarn.co/77daac3a-8ee4-4f02-b5cf-13f68cae89a3_text.gif) ](https://y.yarn.co/77daac3a-8ee4-4f02-b5cf-13f68cae89a3_text.gif) ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2023, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-lows-in-legislatures-the-nc-edition/990547/8 "2023-09-23T18:16:05Z")
I think I posted this before, but Tim Moore has been a garbage human since way back. He tried to defund Gay and Lesbian clubs when he was speaker of the Summer Student Congress when he was a junior at University of North Carolina. He’s only gotten worse since then. > **[The daily Tar Heel. (Chapel Hill, N.C.) 1946-current, May 23, 1991, Page 1,...](https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073228/1991-05-23/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1991&sort=date&date2=1994&searchType=advanced&sequence=0&lccn=sn92073227&lccn=sn92073228&lccn=sn92068245&lccn=sn92073230&index=13&proxdistance=5&rows=20&words=Moore+Tim&andtext=%22Tim+Moore%22&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=14)** > > The daily Tar Heel. (Chapel Hill, N.C.) 1946-current, May 23, 1991, Page 1, Image 1, presented by the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center in partnership with University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2023, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-lows-in-legislatures-the-nc-edition/990547/9 "2023-09-23T18:19:14Z")
What a tool, and how utterly unsurprising. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2023, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-lows-in-legislatures-the-nc-edition/990547/10 "2023-09-23T18:28:26Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > We have got to figure out a way to vote these jokers out. First, we’ve got to figure out a way to vote. North Carolina has been blue for years now, in terms of the actual population. It’s one of the places where the Republicans have only managed to stay in power through suppression of democracy. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2023, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-lows-in-legislatures-the-nc-edition/990547/11 "2023-09-23T18:30:03Z")
True that. I think what’s gotta happen is a surge of votes. With one good-enough election, we can roll back a lot of the nonsense of the last thirteen years, and hopefully put in place some measures to make it harder for that sort of awfulness ever to come back into our system. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2023, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-lows-in-legislatures-the-nc-edition/990547/12 "2023-09-23T19:08:52Z")
North Carolina and Wisconsin are prime examples of the power of a gerrymander to keep a shrinking minority in power. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2023, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-lows-in-legislatures-the-nc-edition/990547/13 "2023-09-24T01:33:46Z")
And I thought my state had reached an all-time low with the toilet debacle. 🤦‍♀️ It’s hard to remember that these people aren’t really the minority when you work in a place where folks are comfortable plastering Trump stickers on company equipment.