A Fascist Wish List for the Old North State

The fascists in North Carolina are running true to form.

First, the good news – the “Moms for Liberty NC” chapter of that nationwide antigovernment hate group, closet pseudo-Christian Nationalist association of blond women and quilting bee, ran seven candidates for school boards in the last election. Five of them lost, which is what we at ONSN call a good start.

There was considerable success for Democrats in other state contests, as we have previously discussed. It clearly unsettled the Fascist Party members of the general assembly that Josh Stein crushed his MAGA opponent by 15 points, and that the supermajority in the House will be no more. In a last-ditch effort to shore up their authoritarian march to Idiocracy, they are holding a lame duck session in which they have voted to:

·      Override a veto by Governor Cooper on a bill which would add $248 million to the private school voucher program (more on this below); and

·      Require state Sheriffs to cooperate with ICE on immigration detainers.

And buried in a new supposed “disaster relief” bill responding to Hurricane Helene:

·      Move the North Carolina State Board of Elections to the office of the State Auditor (Dave Boliek, Trump butt-buddy, newly elected to the office), thereby eliminating the Governor’s appointment power to the board. The Daily Tar Heel reports that Boliek’s campaign website described him thus, "Dave led the fight at UNC to eliminate woke diversity and equity policies and create a new School of Civic Life and Leadership to help bring ideological balance to the notoriously liberal campus.”

·      Block incoming AG Jeff Jackson from taking positions in opposition to the State Assembly, and not participate in court actions in other states that could invalidate North Carolina state laws.

·      Limit the incoming Governor to two appointments to the Utilities Commission, down from three.

·      Move the State Patrol to an independent office and require legislative confirmation of the Governor’s appointment for head of the agency.

·      Block new Superintendent of Schools Mo Green from challenging decisions of the Charter Schools Review Board.

·      Election officials will be required to count absentee ballots “until completed, and the members shall not separate or leave the counting place except for unavoidable necessity.” They are required to report the tally of absentee ballots by the close of business on the third day after the election.

·      Get rid of the Energy Policy Council, which advises the Governor on energy-related (and environment-related) issues.

·      Give the political party of a departing judge the authority to produce a list of candidates from which the Governor is required to choose replacements, including the N.C. Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. In other words, Stein could not pick a Democrat to replace a Fascist judge (also, what if they refuse to produce a list?).

Whew, what a wish list. I’m sure there’s more, but (in the immortal words of immoral Steve Bannon) they’re flooding the zone in shit, and that’s all I have the energy for today – except for a few words about Charter Schools.

There’s a lengthy waiting list for charter school vouchers, and in case you think it’s packed with poor people, think again. According to WUNC, most of those families have annual incomes of over $115,000. To beat a mostly dead horse, charter schools are the Fascist Party’s way of making sure their children are properly indoctrinated, as opposed to the woke kumbaya hellscape of free public education (which our state Constitution requires). I urge you to read this WUNC article by Liz Schlemmer . It’s an eye-opener, with particular focus on these schools’ lack of accountability.

A couple of notes: First, charter schools can and do include religious academies. In 2022, Grace Christian School (on Jefferson Davis Drive in Sanford, you cannot make this shit up) took in $2.5 million in voucher funds. Grace Christian has a four-point list of “objectives” that never mentions learning, knowledge, or objectivity.

Oh, and this, from the Charlotte Post: “Private schools across the South that were established for white children during desegregation are now benefiting from tens of millions in taxpayer dollars flowing from rapidly expanding voucher-style programs. . .. in North Carolina alone, (ProPublica) identified 39 of these likely ‘segregation academies’ that are still operating and that have received voucher money. Of these, 20 schools reported student bodies that were at least 85% white in a 2021-22 federal survey of private schools, the most recent data available.”

Charter schools are churning out the new Hitler Youth in our state and elsewhere. They are designed, as is all things authoritarian, to instill obedience and compliance and the right kind of bigotry to up-and-coming leaders of tomorrow. They exist in open violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the N.C. State Constitution. They are designed to take dollars away from public education, and thereby bring about the failure of those institutions. The Legislature cannot find enough ways to fund and otherwise support them, and that alone should concern you – if it’s not already too late.

Coming up (maybe): Justice Allison Riggs, fighting for justice one vote at a time.