North Carolina state Senator Buck Newton, a Republican running to be the state's next attorney general, has captured headlines for saying the anti-transgender "bathroom bill" HB2 must be protected because it will "keep our state straight."
We can all appreciate how stupid and nakedly homophobic that is, but he also said something else extraordinary.
"We all know that the folks that wave the rainbow flags and things like that are politically very upset about the way things are today. They’re upsets about the way things have always been in this state," he said earlier in his remarks. "And they're bound and determined to try to change it, whether it’s by winning elections in the city of Charlotte on their city council or whether it’s wining elections in November in the General Assembly or whether it’s winning elections in November for our governor."
Isn't that how it's suppose to work? Isn't that how you affect change? Isn't that Democracy?
Of course it is, but Republicans aren't big fans of Democracy at this point. The bill Senator Newton is defending prohibits cities from enacting their own non-discrimination ordinances even if that's what they were elected to do; even if their constituents want it.
The elected leaders of Charlotte acted on a proposal supported by their voters, but state lawmakers like Senator Newton shut them down.
It may go without saying, but this man would be a terrible attorney general who could cost North Carolina dearly. He doesn't seem to appreciate that the 4th Circuit of Appeals has already dismantled his argument that women and children are being exposed to "sexual predators in the bathrooms" and effectively demonstrated that HB2 will be struck down in their court room.
A candidate to be state's top cop who decries the Democratic process should raise many red flags. Could residents of North Carolina count on him to respect their decisions if he doesn't even believe they should be allowed to make decisions?