We moved to North Carolina in September of 2005 because my late-wife wanted to live about half-way between her summer cottage in Highlands, NC, in the SW corner of the state and her oldest son's home in northern Virginia. I probably would have rebelled while Jesse Helms was a Senator, but he was gone. I had some questions about the politics of the state; however, it seems to be left center in its politics. They had a very liberal voting policy, for one example and a 2% tax on food whereas it was 6.75% on everything else for another.
I hadn't realized it but it turned out that, in the county I was to live (Moore), my vote didn't count except in state wide or national elections.
Then in 2012, Republicans took over the state House and Senate and governorship and the lights started to go out across the state. The first thing they did was to reduce the number of polling places, reduce the number of early voting days, and require a "legal" photo ID. Republican Gov. McCrory said he would veto any future bill restricting abortions, but, when the time came, he caved in and signed the bills.* Curiously for a state that wanted to attract retirees, a bill was passed to eliminate a health tax deduction for members of continuing care facilities (though now this law has been overturned).
The latest thing is a bill, HB2, that discriminates against the LGBT.** Bruce Springsteen has cancelled his concert in NC even though 14,000 tickets had been sold, and PayPal has rescinded a plan to locate an office here with 400 employees. Other companies have expressed displeasure with the law.
Are there any lights left on in North Carolina?
* http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article52991410.html
** http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/4/5/1510907/-North-Carolina-GOP-now-in-full-on-delusional-damage-control-after-losing-PayPal-over-HB2?detail=email&can_id=af3794f2758d0c72ac0763afb2350d28&source=email-cartoon-trump-smash&email_referrer=cartoon-trump-smash___56058&email_subject=to-be-arab-and-american&link_id=17
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