Richard Brand: Why?


If you listen to the political promises, you know that everybody is talking about jobs. We need more jobs. We have a high unemployment rate. Mr. McCory has the delightful  circumstances that the Republican party in 2010 refused to keep a half-cent sales tax that a majority of people in North Carolina said they would accept. The refusal to keep that half-cent resulted in a much reduced budget for education and a large number of teachers, teacher aids and administration people lost their jobs.  Those unemployed teachers helped to make the unemployment numbers in the state rise. Now McCory comes and blames the Perdue administration for doing a bad job with the economy because the unemployment figures rose during her term.  A smooth move for the Republicans. But North Carolina was 4th in the nation in new job creation under Perdue and her administration. Why does McCory keep blaming the Democrats for job losses created by the legislature?

If everybody knows that more jobs and more employment is the focus, the question has to be asked Why did the Republicans not do anything to help create more jobs in the last two years?  Why were there  no pieces of  legislation passed by their new found majority that addressed creating new jobs?
 
If the most important work that the Legislature needed to do was create more jobs, why was one of their most important issues the issue of Voter Id? It does nothing to create more jobs. It is a piece of legislation that is absolutely not needed because there is very, very little voter fraud now.  Our nation has been working hard to increase voter participation. We are disappointed when there is a very low turn out for elections. We have passed one person-one vote laws. We have pleaded with people to vote, and now the Republicans want to create a whole new level of restrictions to prevent people from voting. Something, voter fraud,  that does not exist. Why?  Where are the jobs in this?
 
Why? If jobs are the most important thing that government needs to do for the state, why are we being distracted by a constitutional amendment question that bans same sex unions?  Preventing same sex marriages will not create more jobs. In fact, there is a great danger that that amendment may keep certain major corporations from coming to North Carolina. Why are we being asked to debate a same sex amendment as a defense of marriage, when the amendment does nothing to enhance or better marriage between a man and a woman.  Marriage is already defined as between a man and a woman. This amendment will not even affect marriage. Why are we wasting time on this amendment?  Where are the jobs in this legislation?
 
If creating more jobs is the number one priority of politicians in this state, then why aren’t any of the things that the Republicans did with their new power focused on creating more jobs?