For decades, North Carolina was actually the progressive beacon in the South
That is exactly right. I mean the North Carolina that I grew up in would be considered a socialist epicenter, if not downright Communist. It was an old mill town with just a few thousand residents. The doctor in town was paid by the mill and anyone could go to him, even those that didn't work in the mill. I guess you could call that universal health care. The town had a recreation center, free for all residents, with an Olympic size swimming pool, one and three meter diving boards, indoor basketball courts, weight room, pool tables and pinball machines, ping pong tables, showers and dressing room, and two top-flight baseball fields where several MLB players got their start. In fact, there were several baseball and softball fields in the community, some supported by that one mill, others from tax dollars, and of course, the highest volume ABC store in the state.
City water, city sewer, garbage pickup, all FREE. First class road maintenance, great police force, and a real functioning downtown with a real haberdasher, a locally owned hardware store, and a mechanic you could trust. And don't even get me started on the schools. In fact, that was where the old North Carolina led the country. From the first public university in the country, to a Constitutional right to a free college education, which has long been abandoned and ignored.
I mean the state is still a pretty good place to live, that in despite of the Republican policies, not because of them. The reality is North Carolina has always been in a unique position within the American system. Hard scapple people scratching out a living from the earth, the very dynamics of the environment requiring a well-functioning society. Huge "dismal swamp" separating the state from Virginia. Numerous rivers that flowed west to east, not north to south, hampering transportation and separating the North from South Carolina. The graveyard of the Atlantic on the coast, isolating the state from ocean based trading. And glorious mountains to the west, the highest peak in eastern America and some of the oldest mountains in all the world.
And the new sixth district, it was a giveaway to the Democrats, if Aiken gets the nomination he will take the seat. All of Orange and Durham counties and part of Wake. We are talking the research triangle area, the most highly educated area in the country. Duke, University of North Carolina, and NC State, tobacco road. This ain't Trump country, not even close. This is old North Carolina at it's best, as opposed to Cawthorn's district, a cesspool of idiots.
thehill.com
