Thinking About North Carolina

By GENE NICHOL

Like a lot of Tar Heel Democrats, I still think a good deal about the election. I’ll concede I feel modestly more optimistic than I did two months ago, largely because Carolina did better, comparatively, than a lot of states. But electing Donald Trump is still, literally, the worst result I can imagine. And our thievingly partisan electoral districts continue to rob us of democracy.

Still, I’m proud of our divided status. Roy Cooper has proven, for two terns, to be a popular and effective governor – saving us from the worst possibilities. And the 2024 election of a Democratic governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, school superintendent and supreme court justice mark us as distinct. We pushed back at the darkness and managed a meaningful glimpse of the light. I’m confident it will grow. Maybe others aren’t but I am.

There is, of course, the question why. Why Democrats have, here, shown surprising might? I don’t have an answer. Some of it could be history. Our roots as a more moderate southern state are purposely exaggerated. But we did have Terry Sanford when Alabama welcomed George Wallace. And we haven’t forgotten everything.

There’s also, as ever, significant blood pumping in the North Carolina progressive, activist community. Moral Monday didn’t grow here by accident. Rev. Barber is a singular leader. But he found fertile soil, like others before him.

And there is much heroism in the N.C. Democratic Party ranks, new and old, high and low. I’m always inspired by the grit and the steel of its best soldiers; and the caucuses in Raleigh show more heart and nerve than they get credit for. I’m also much taken with Anderson Clayton and the other new officers of the state party. I’ve begun to think their brand of engaged, community-based politics might eventually merge movement and partisan efforts in the Tar Heel State. That would be something to see.

I’ve also begun to think more about North Carolina Republicanism – the folks who have ruled our General Assembly for 15 years. I’ve come to believe there’s a difference between them and the worst slates of Trumpists. My views, at bottom, would be neither welcome nor complimentary, I’m sure. But remember, they’ve been at this far longer than Trump has. They dominated North Carolina before he came down the absurd staircase. And I doubt Phil Berger ever thought he needed instruction from the 45th president about how to subjugate Tar Heels.

Unlike Trump, most N.C. Republican leaders don’t seem to think cruelty alone can be the message. They aren’t apt to publicly dwell on s—hole countries, dog eating immigrants, poisoned blood, and filthy, dirty disgusting women.

In fact, N.C. Republicans seem certain they have to mislead voters to prevail in elections. They want voter ID’s to prevent fraud, which doesn’t exist. They slash poor people’s benefits to help them out. They want the worst unemployment compensation program in the country to bolster people’s independence. They pass bathroom bills to stop women from being assaulted. They cut education budgets to make schools better. They end the estate tax to help out the little folks.

They govern by façade. But they do that because they don’t think they could get away with telling the truth. They don’t think Tar Heels would stand for it. It’s a compliment of sorts, even if of the most back-handed sort.

All this makes me think that Democratic truth-telling has a good future in North Carolina. Even if it takes a while for the rest of the country to come around. And federalism, at long last, is our friend.

Gene Nichol is Boyd Tinsley Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law and in 2015 started the North Carolina Poverty Research Fund after the UNC Board of Governors closed the state-funded Poverty Center for publishing articles critical of the governor and General Assembly.

From The Progressive Populist, February 1, 2025

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