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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Professor: North Carolina Is NO LONGER A DEMOCRACY Because Republicans Win Too Many Elections
2017-01-01
[DAILYCALLER] A taxpayer-funded political science professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has concluded that political conditions in North Carolina are comparable to political conditions in totalitarian nations such as Cuba, Venezuela and Iran because Republicans are too politically successful.

The professor, Andrew Reynolds, aired his 936-word grievance last week in The News & Observer, a newspaper out of Raleigh.
I bet it didn't bother him much when the Democrats won virtually every election in that state for a hundred twenty years after the civil war.
North Carolina "can no longer be classified as a full democracy," Reynolds declares, because the statewide Republican Party has been too successful at winning the state’s winner-take-all elections.

The winner-take-all system -- which is excessively common throughout the United States -- is a huge problem, Reynolds pontificates, because "one party wins just half the votes but 100 percent of the power." North Carolina Republicans have won so many elections in recent years that they have "a huge legislative majority" and "absolute veto-proof control."

The professor blames gerrymandered voting districts in the state for creating "rigged district boundaries" and making state politicians "beholden to their party bosses" and "detached from democratic accountability."

Reynolds also says North Carolina "can no longer be classified as a full democracy" because of a state transgender bathroom law -- commonly called House Bill 2 -- which requires people to use public bathrooms aligning with the genitalia with which they were originally born.

There are "an estimated 38,000 transgender Tar Heels," the professor writes, and "democracies do not limit their citizens’ rights on the basis of their born identities."
That's strange: I thought democracies limited citizen rights on a daily basis so as to allow all citizens to have an equal measure of rights.
Still further, North Carolina "can no longer be classified as a full democracy," Reynolds writes, because state politicians have attempted to enforce legislation requiring voters to present government-issued photo identifications before casting ballots. Such laws, the professor says, are "targeted attempts to reduce African-American and Latino access to the vote."
He's just another garden-variety progressive without an original idea...
The final argument Reynolds makes is that North Carolina "can no longer be classified as a full democracy" because the state’s Republican-led legislature recently passed several laws designed to undercut the power of incoming Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.

"When, in response to losing the governorship, one party uses its legislative dominance to take away significant executive power, it is a direct attack upon the separation of powers that defines American democracy," Reynolds writes. The hastily-passed laws, which some notable state Republicans have decried, leave "Carolina no better than the authoritarian regimes we look down upon," Reynolds claims.
Posted by:Fred

#16  He'd like California.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2017-01-01 11:51  

#15  Classroom liberals like him make improving on-line degree programs mission critical for the right.
Posted by: Nero White 3083   2017-01-01 11:30  

#14  #12 Okay, my take: I live just a little south of the SC/NC

Near Pedro?
Posted by: Beavis 2017-01-01 10:40

Beavis,

No, we're down I-77 from the state line, but we know Pedro and SOB well. Sadly, it's going downhill pretty hard, will really be surprised if it lasts another three years.

Though I suspect the billboards will go on forever.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2017-01-01 11:16  

#13  looking at his final paragragh, professor egghead is all upset about the shenanigans being done to hamstring the incoming gov.; but nut one word regarding the same play being run on DJT
Posted by: USN, Ret.   2017-01-01 10:48  

#12  Okay, my take: I live just a little south of the SC/NC

Near Pedro?
Posted by: Beavis   2017-01-01 10:40  

#11  38,000 trangens?

Yeah, I think he's at least two orders of magnitude off.
Posted by: Rob Crawford   2017-01-01 10:36  

#10  "North Carolina Republicans have won so many elections in recent years that they have “a huge legislative majority” and “absolute veto-proof control.”

Maybe they have won so many elections because Democrats scare the livin $hit out of them.
Posted by: JohnQC   2017-01-01 10:25  

#9  ...Okay, my take: I live just a little south of the SC/NC line; lots of friends there. The state is incredibly conservative, far more so than SC, but three urban areas - RDU, Charlotte, and Wilmington - skew the votes and the congressional delegations way, way left. Guys like this (UNC Chapel Hill, natch) think they are representative of the entire state, when they ain't. What we saw during the whole Bathroom Bill thing was that most people in NC weren't crazy about it, but any inclination they had to discuss the matter was overridden by the Two Minutes Hate they were getting around the clock. Had there been even a reasonable attempt to discuss the matter, it may have been repealed fairly quickly. But the legislators had their fingers on the pulse, and they knew how their voters felt. (As an aside, there was almost certainly some serious hanky-panky going on in the Governor's race, but they were smart - they kept it close. Interesting how the Legislature didn't change hands though.)

Now, IMHO, the stunt the legislature pulled about restricting the new Gov's ability to name his own people was slightly dickish, not to mention the old rule about not giving your people a power you don't want others to have. OTOH, had it been the other way around, Professor Liberal here would be singing the praises of the wise legislators who insured fair and equitable choices by the Governor. Either way, on their worst day, NC is a hell of a lot more democratic than one-party CA, IL, or NY.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2017-01-01 09:25  

#8  38,000 trangens?
Posted by: Skidmark   2017-01-01 09:23  

#7  He's Chief Fullabull. North Carolina just elected a Democrat governor.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2017-01-01 09:04  

#6  NC hasn't put a wall up yet, so migration to one party CA is always an option.
Posted by: P2Kontheroad   2017-01-01 08:13  

#5  I suppose it's only a matter of time now before African-Americans are re-enslaved, women are deprived of the right to vote, and (the horror) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill admits a cis-male Caucasian into a tenure track position.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2017-01-01 07:37  

#4  It doesn't matter where the prof is REALLY from, it's more important where the prof FEELS to be from.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839   2017-01-01 04:36  

#3  By the way, from where do you hail?
Posted by: newc   2017-01-01 02:25  

#2  If I felt like spending the money, I'd mail him some Vaseline to relieve the butthurt.
Posted by: Raj   2017-01-01 01:03  

#1  Dear Professor,

North Carolina was never a full democracy. Neither was the United States.

We are a republic. Always has been.

You would think a political science professor would know that.

Our educational system is so screwed.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2017-01-01 00:43  

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