Triad Conservative

Brewing in Raleigh: Good for Health Coverage, Bad for Stewardship

There are two different bills in Raleigh that warrant some attention. The first is potentially an enormous positive; but I fear the second would turn out to be a major mistake.

First, the good news.

The Trump Administration had pioneered the concept of allowing Association Health Plans. This new type of plan for health coverage skirts the troublesome requirements nestled within Obamacare, and allows more affordable coverage. In view of the fact that Obamacare absolutely decimated the health insurance market for individual coverage, and insurance costs skyrocketed for ordinary Americans, another option is truly needed.

Now, Joyce Krawiec and Dan Bishop are sponsoring a bill to loosen rules to allow these Association Health Plans in North Carolina. This is a great idea. Republican leaders ought to make sure the bill achieves what it needs to achieve; and then advance it accordingly.

Now, the bad news.

The North Carolina House leadership, led by Tim Moore, is trying to pass a huge school bond package. This is a major issue because construction of schools has typically been a local responsibility. Moore is undoubtedly trying to assist rural counties that are struggling by transferring wealth from urban and suburban counties. But this is a profound change that may have permanent consequences.

Creating the expectation that state taxpayers will foot the bill for local school construction invites the temptation to overspend if bond monies are used. Expanding debt is probably unwise given the fact that the state has many other unfunded liabilities. The plan also creates a precedent that might turn out to be very difficult to unwind.

The Senate countered with a different plan which, while better than the House plan, still ought to be off the table.

In any event, the General Assembly ought to pass a good Association Health Plan bill and stay away from school construction.

NC Medicaid Expansion, According to Civitas

Faircloth, Stevens, Howard, Lambeth, Pricey Aim to Scuttle Folwell Plan to Save Taxpayers' Money

State Treasurer Dale Folwell is in charge of the State Health Plan that covers state employees, teachers  and other governmental employees. He has been making huge waves in Raleigh with his move to cut reimbursements to the state's large health care systems under this plan. Some of them are currently receiving reimbursements for some services up to eight times the Medicare fee schedule.

Folwell is trying to save the taxpayers' money, and to deal with the huge issue of future unfunded liabilities. He is doing the right thing.

The Establishment in Raleigh is aligning against Folwell; and the Daily Haymaker provides the details. A PAC has been funded to run a PR campaign against Folwell's plan. There is discussion about grooming an establishment GOP primary opponent against Folwell when he runs for re-election. And now, a number of legislators have proposed a bill that would place his plan on hold until after he runs for re-election during 2020. The thinking is apparently that they can knock him out in a primary and stop the plan completely.

It turns out that several legislators from our region have co-sponsored this legislation. They include John Faircloth, Sarah Stevens, Julia Howard, Donny Lambeth and Pricey Harrison. Howard is a primary sponsor; and Lambeth is a former hospital administrator. More co-sponsors are being added. These legislators are running a defense formation for the hospital systems that donate campaign monies so that these entities can continue to gobble up ever-increasing portions of the health care marketplace; keep prices high for payers and consumers; pay their executives and managers quite handsomely; and fund perpetual building projects.

Faircloth, Stevens, Lambeth and Howard are Republicans. They are taking this action in direct opposition to a Republican statewide elected official.

Last week, Folwell had given testimony to a joint House-Senate Health Committee to discuss his plan. He did a very good job, and you can watch it here.

If you are a conservative and are represented by one of the above Republican legislators, I suggest calling them and telling them what you think of their actions-- which are absolutely indefensible.

"Racism", Reconsidered

Jerry Salyer, Chronicles:

As for... the various public figures who made fools of themselves by rushing to condemn the (Covington Catholic High School) students, if they really want to learn something, the first thing to admit is that morally serious people think in terms of justice and charity—not “battling racism,” a pharisaical cause which has for some time now helped rationalize both unconstitutional tyranny and the most ugly viciousness. In fact, to what could the weaponized weasel-word racism refer if not to the assumption that some racial and ethnic groups deserve no consideration whatsoever, even as others are entirely above criticism? From there, it should be obvious that few expressions could be more stupidly racist than “Native American,” excluding as it does people whose ancestors have for generations poured their blood, tears, and sweat into America. Equally obvious is the fact that the most spitefully racist people alive are precisely those who cry the loudest about “white supremacy”—i.e., the preservation and fostering of European civilization in countries that Europeans founded.

Child Sacrifice is America's National Sin

Complaints About Electoral College Wrongful

Abortion Survivor: Who the Left Wants to Kill

HT: Fred

Alan Perdue vs. Jon Hardister: How to Do It, vs. How NOT to Do It

A couple of interesting items came to light during the last 24 hours.

First, the Guilford County Board of County Commissioners held a retreat during which a contract for new county construction was being discussed. Skip Alston threw his characteristic hissy fit over a lack of black contractors despite the participation of the county MWBE in the process. Alston had been demanding that the entire contract be revisited.

Into this minefield stepped Commissioner Alan Perdue. The Rhino Times reports:

... Perdue... made a motion that the county to enter into the contract with New Atlantic.  That was the exact opposite of what an angry Alston was seeking.

“This process has been on the table for quite a long time and we have the lowest responsive and responsible bid,” Perdue said.  “I think, by statute, we have an obligation – we’ve got an obligation to all the taxpayers, not just a certain segment to try and keep one goal.”

Perdue’s motion passed on the sole support of the board’s five white Republicans – a fact that Alston pointed out loudly.

Wow. A commissioner acted with courage and conviction, and demanded the board do the right thing in spite of all the noise. And the other Republicans on the board joined him.

This scene is to be contrasted with the bill filed by Rep. Jon Hardister in the North Carolina House to revert back to non-partisan elections for Guilford County school board members.  Hardister is joined in this effort by moderate GOP House member John Faircloth, who also represents part of the county in Raleigh. Check out the pablum they circulated:

“While partisan politics is a natural element of our society, we don’t need partisan labels on our school board races. Members of the school board should focus on improving education outcomes for children and preparing them for the future.”

“While partisan politics is a reality in our society, it shouldn’t be part of the conversation related to public education.”

I was among those who advocated partisan elections for the county school board. Even though the GOP has had as many as four seats at one time, it did not make one iota of difference for various reasons. 

But the position Hardister and Faircloth take that partisan elections are unnecessary is a surrender to the premise that progressives must forever control the county school system; and that a more conservative/traditional approach to managing the county school system and educating students should not be advocated. It is a statement that we ought to surrender the county school system indefinitely to the neopagans and the socialists and the barbarians; and that conservative/traditional parents must steer clear of the public schools.

If Hardister truly feels this way-- that the county schools' governance ought to be relinquished to a progressive uniparty-- then perhaps we ought to make this change in the North Carolina House also. After all, if we are going to merely have milquetoast GOP moderates acting like Democrats controlling the House, what difference does it make which party has the majority? Perhaps we ought to have a uniparty there also.

But unwittingly, Commissioner Perdue provided a roadmap for how conservative elected officials ought to behave. Fight for your base of supporters. Do the right thing. Don't cave to the race-baiters and the media/left complex. Stand on principle. Hardister, Faircloth and the GOP school board members ought to take notes.

Addendum: Sam Hieb has more.

Baby in Uterus, 30 Weeks

The Tea Parties at Ten Years Old: What is the Outcome?

This week marks the ten year anniversary of the emergence of the Tea Parties. Most of us remember those dark days a decade ago when the stock market was imploding and the great recession began. The political class had been exposed as causing the great financial crisis. And America was bracing itself for a hefty increased dose of socialism-- and diminished future prospects --with the new Obama presidency.

Patriotic men and women across the country banded together to do something about it. The Tea Parties formed; and numerous Tax Day Tea Parties subsequently took place in April. It was an exciting time as these groups began to organize to get conservatives elected.

The establishment GOP-- i.e., nearly all of it-- reacted negatively to the Tea Parties. It was regarded as a huge mistake. The establishment tried to lock the Tea Parties out of important offices and influence while simultaneously accepting their free labor. And with Tea Party help, the GOP ultimately gained control of Congress. Here in North Carolina, the GOP took the General Assembly and later the governor's office.

What do we have to show for it on a national basis?

The national debt has skyrocketed to unthinkable levels; and nobody is even talking about it.

Obamacare was not repealed.

We now have homosexual marriage forced upon all the states; and transgenderism has also been on the march. Religious liberty has therefore been severely threatened.

The police have been undermined nationwide. Racial agitation is worse than when Obama was first elected. A virulent brand of leftism has emerged that relies upon violence, damaging property and erasing history.

The nation's very identity is threatened with huge populations of immigrants continuing to arrive-- legal and illegal. And socialism is held up as an ideal by one of our two major parties.

In nearly all respects-- economically, socially, constitutionally-- the nation is further left than when the Tea Parties emerged.

Why has this all happened? In large part, because concomitant with the emergence of the Tea Parties was the weakening of Republican public officials. So many of them now are simply not committed to conservatism.

A huge indicator was on display when a report last week described a conference call between House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and some of the GOP's major donors. McCarthy claimed that the insistence on trying to repeal Obamacare was responsible for the loss of the House. McCarthy was very quick to blame specifically the party's Freedom Caucus. Of course, this was a pack of lies.

Remain mindful that the House GOP caucus had just elected this man to be their leader; and Trump was a big supporter of his. But the above interaction reveals precisely the level of commitment within GOP leadership for fiscal conservatism, constitutional conservatism and the American historic conception of liberty. In a nutshell, that commitment is ZERO.

While some individual conservatives have been elected in both houses, they do not have nearly the numbers needed to make a major impact.

Some fine conservative citizens nationwide worked very hard to try to make a difference with the Tea Parties. These organizations often represented an amalgam of constitutional conservatives, economic conservatives, traditional/cultural conservatives and libertarians, admixed with a fair number of very staunch Republicans.

But ultimately, the GOP-e is still in control. And it is wandering further and further left.