Finally, someone is standing up to the bully.
Last week the the North Carolina General Assembly convened a one-day special session to pass a law protecting privacy in locker rooms and bathrooms. In doing so, they repealed an ordinance in the city of Charlotte that would, among other things, allow men access to women’s locker rooms and bathrooms if they declared themselves to be a woman.
In response, the left has done what the left does best—be outraged.
Big businesses issued threats refusing to do business in North Carolina and Governors have issued travel bans.
But why are they hysterical? They are hysterical because, lately, hysterics have worked.
First, Republican Governor Mike Pence surrendered to the bully in Indiana when he revoked religious liberty protections for his state under threat that businesses would decline to do business with them.
Last month, Republican Governor Dennis Daugaard from South Dakota vetoed legislation that required schools to maintain separate locker rooms and bathrooms for boys and girls because…discrimination…and we won’t take your money anymore if you do.
Just this week, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal vetoed a very modest religious freedom protection bill applying to pastors and religious non-profits under threats from Hollywood and big business to cease dealings in the state of Georgia.
The trifecta of Pence, Daugaard, and Deal seem to be reinforcing the stereotype that the only thing Republican’s care about is money.
These disappointments are part of what makes the common-sense, yet surprisingly heroic stand by North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory so remarkable.
Despite the backlash, he still has the courage to say (not just whisper) that it is okay to require the boys and the girls to have separate showering areas. He even seems to be having some fun exposing their hypocrisy. And another important point; he’s surviving.
A challenge has been filed claiming that, among other things, having boys and girls locker rooms violates the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution.
That’s right ladies and gentlemen, they are now in court arguing that the amendment created to end slavery and institutionalized racism had buried within it the right for people with a penis to undress in the presence of little girls.
Sweet, sweet progress.
It just so happens that North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper is refusing to defend his state’s new law, despite being statutorily required to do so.
Some of us may still remember that Kim Davis was sent to jail because she declined to sign same-sex marriage licenses out of moral conviction despite a legal duty to do so.
The left was very sure that Kim Davis needed to be dealt with harshly because, if government officials could decline to perform legally required job functions for moral reasons, then all manner of chaos would ensue.
Their strong, strong commitment to the rule of law is what compels them to now call for Mr. Cooper to resign his position as Attorney General in North Carolina.
Or not.
The NFL is trying to throw its self-righteous weight around as well.
Atlanta is currently under consideration to host the Super Bowl in 2019. However, during the debate over Georgia’s religious freedom bill, the NFL threatened to remove Atlanta from consideration unless Gov. Deal vetoed.
What the NFL either didn’t know or didn’t bother to say is that the other two cities under consideration for 2019, Tampa Bay and New Orleans, are in states with much stronger religious freedom protections than the ones they claim to be outraged by in Georgia.
Perhaps Cuba will be a better location. That seemed to be what New York Governor Andrew Cuomo implied when he banned state travel to North Carolina in protest of their bathroom privacy law despite recently taking a trip to the tropical, island dictatorship.
Regardless, the probability of this being nothing more than political grandstanding is very high.
After all, the Syracuse University basketball team (from Syracuse, New York) played last weekend in the Final Four in Houston, Texas where just last November, voters approved—by 61%—the same law that is now generating faux outrage in North Carolina.
Not wanting to let Gov. Cuomo grandstand alone, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee has called for a ban on “non-essential” (if it’s not essential, why are you doing it?) state travel to North Carolina as well, despite hosting the President of China last fall and flying the Communist Chinese flag on the capitol grounds.
This is the same China that has, for generations, used systematic abortion to enforce a one-child policy that they have only recently eased up on. They now allow most parents to have two children.
It is also the same China that has approximately 500,000 prisoners who have never been charged or tried, has incarcerated 15,000 people for “endangering internet security”, and arrested at least 220 human rights lawyers.
Speaking of China, that same NFL who claims to be too good for Atlanta is making plans to play regular season games in China as early as 2018.
This is the same NFL that was recently found to have illegally withheld $120 million from its players, and allows Greg Hardy (who did this to his girlfriend) to be one of their players.
But they’re too pure for Georgia.
The radical left will be who they are. They will overreact, fake indignation, and threaten those who disagree with them.
But the fact is, they can do less than most of us fear unless we’re simply afraid of mean tweets.
When it’s all said and done, all these entities that are currently talking tough will ultimately do what’s in their best interest and it will be in everyone’s best interest to just move on. We deal with people we disagree with all the time and we’re all better for it.
There are thirty-three states with laws just like North Carolina’s.
Are Microsoft, Apple and others going to stop doing business there? No
Is the NFL going to restrict all its franchises to California, Washington, and New York? Of course not.
The Syracuse University Basketball team went to Houston just as they should—because everyone forgot about Houston.
A bully will always have just as much power as you give them. The more you appease, the more they will bully.
Lately, we’ve been giving them a lot of power because we’ve had too many Pences, Daugaards, and Deals and not enough McCrorys.
As of today, Gov. McCrory is a coalition of one.
But he is in the process of proving that once you say no to the bully, the bully loses his power. And defeating the bully isn’t important simply on principle.
In New York, you can now be fined up to $250,000 for using the wrong pronoun. If the bully can force you to refer to a man as a woman, you’re not free in any real sense.
You’re just waiting for your next set of orders.
But thanks to Governor McCrory, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. North Carolina will continue to be a great state and people from New York will continue to move there because of it. Sorry, Governor Cuomo.
Once he proves that you can stare down the bully and survive, others will follow his lead because, deep down, we know it’s the right thing to do anyway. After all, everyone likes Churchill better than Chamberlain.
