At the 2014 American Ethical Union Assembly I conspired with Kate Lovelady and Paulo Ribeiro to give the Platform adress. Attendees at the assembly received random amounts of play money in their registration packets. They quickly found 3 candidates, Kate, Paulo and me, lobbying for money to support our platforms. Promises and deals were made! Kate channeled a plutocratic, Stephen Colbert-like persona, I reported on the state of affairs and challenges in North Carolina, and Paulo brought it all together with a call to action.
I was fortunate to have the benefit of Ellie Kinnaird's and Gene Nichol's words that were shared in recent platform address at EHST to help me compose my talk. Here is what I wrote, I will see if I can get the words that Kate and Paulo presented too.
Revitalizing Democracy: Money, Power and Politics
Today, I look out on a political climate that favors the economically privileged, vilifies and cuts important benefits for the Poor, and allows for unlimited financial contributions to candidates from Corporations and Political Action Committees.
I see a political system bought and paid for by wealthy corporations and individuals – a system willing to unashamedly further the interests of those with the most.
I see a perverse reverse Robin Hood effect, where our political system robs from the poor to give to the rich.
No place exemplifies this trend better than my own state of North Carolina.
The 2012 Election brought Republican Governor Pat McCory to the Capital, along with the first Republican controlled House and Senate in over 100 Years. Conservative backlash, gerrymandered districts and targeted spending by wealthy donors succeeded in changing the political landscape.
This conservative political surge washed in on a wave of money. An agglomeration of money and power – funded by corporations, corporate trade groups, the American Legislative Council, various Tea Party groups and other Political Action Committees. Orchestrating all of this was Art Pope, a North Carolina billionaire conservative donor activist who, after the election, became Governor McCory’s Chief Budget Officer and the architect of North Carolina’s Legislative makeover.
After consolidating power, it was time to roll out the legislation.
Over the past decade the North Carolina Legislature established expansive initiatives for access to the ballot.
- Extended Early Voting
- Same day Registration and voting
- Pre-registration of High School students so that they are able to vote when they turn 18
As a result of these changes, more people than ever, including increased numbers of minority voters, cast ballots in 2008 elections.
Last year the North Carolina Legislature dismantled it all.
This was not all that the new North Carolina Legislature changed.
Legislation to require voter ID, written by ALEC, the American Legislative Council, was passed and will begin in 2015. This has been called the most restrictive voter ID law in the country.
The State Legislature then went on to pass tax breaks for the wealthy while increasing taxes on the bottom 80% of North Carolinians.
Due to recently relaxed North Carolina Gun Laws I can now carry a concealed handgun in Parks, Bars and Restaurants.
Over the past 50 years, North Carolina’s Public Schools have moved from 49th to the lower middle of the national rankings. The New Legislature drastically cut Teacher pay and benefits. Progress in public education will soon follow.
Over 600,000 low income North Carolinians would have been eligible for Health Insurance under the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion – at no cost to the State of North Carolina – yet the Legislature refused to allow this to happen.
Public financing for Judicial elections was eliminated so now unlimited funds can be funneled into Judicial races. Buy the Judges and pack the Courts.
Greater restrictions on abortion have been passed.
The North Carolina Legislature even passed an incoherent Anti-Sharia law.
First they came for the Poor, and I did not speak out– Because I was not among the Poor.
Then they came for the Uninsured, and I did not speak out– Because I was not Uninsured.
Then they came for the Teachers, and I did not speak out– Because I was not a Teacher.
When they came for me – there was no one left to speak for me.
What could be done to stop the direction that North Carolina was heading?
How to fight this conservative tidal wave?
Most issues are complex so I am at a disadvantage for my solutions, my story, isn’t composed of simplistic sound bites.
Conservatives have a story. Theories underlying why they do what they do.
With enough money, these themes can be repeated over and over in the media. This ability to manipulate public opinion is all too easy since most Americans do not subscribe to a Newspaper or pay much attention to news sources. Opinions based on sound bites are without foundation.
They said that we need Voter ID needed to stop Voter Fraud – voter fraud is non-existent – come on now. The extreme cynicism that the North Carolina Legislature shows in denying the principle of one person, one vote – by restricting minority access to the ballot is unconscionable. Truly, they have no shame. I cannot think of anything more un-democratic.
Ideas that have been disproven – that belong in the dustbin of history – are dusted off and trotted out a new – ideas like “Tax Breaks for the Richest Americans cause Economic Growth.” They do not. They never have. Lets call greed what it is.
There is a real cost in human life in denying Health Care to 600,000 of the poorest North Carolinians. Denying Health Care doesn’t make the poor more “Self Reliant”. People will die because they do not have access to Health Care. How can they sleep at night?
Recent Legislation in North Carolina has been an assault on the poor. It is Jim Crow dressed in new clothes. The strategy is:
- Make it hard to vote
- Don’t provide Health Care to the Poor
- Gerrymander Districts to stay in power
Yet in the face of an avalanche of awful legislation, something stirred in North Carolina.
Reverend William Barber, the president of the North Carolina NAACP, decided to hold weekly rallies each Monday to call attention to the state of my State. These Moral Monday rallies feature inspiring speeches and civil disobedience. Reverend Barber wants to highlight what he calls “extreme, constitutionally inconsistent, morally indefensible, economically insane policies.”
Moral Monday organizers issued five demands to the state government that reflect the broad concerns of its coalition—and the targets of right-wing leaders:
- Secure pro-labor, anti-poverty policies that insure economic sustainability.
- Provide well-funded, quality public education for all.
- Promote health care for all, including affordable access, the expansion of Medicaid, women’s health, and environmental justice in every community.
- Address the continuing disparities in the criminal justice system on the basis of race and class.
- Defend and expand voting rights, women’s rights, immigrants’ rights, LGBT rights, and the fundamental principle of equality under the law for all people.
Moral Monday’s have drawn a broad coalition of religious and other activist organizations. Most of the leadership of the Moral Monday organization comes from religious organizations. Religious leaders are most often the speakers at the rallies.
I appreciate the clarity of the moral message that I hear at Moral Monday rallies. I wish that heard more inclusive language at these events, language that includes non-theists – but this is a minor complaint.
Moral Mondays call out the State Legislature on the morality of passing legislation that hurts the poor while benefiting the rich.
Moral Mondays seek to educate voters and raise their consciousness.
This is a necessary undertaking.
Something that I admire about Moral Mondays is that Reverend William Barber does not allow language or signs that vilify those in power who are making these terrible decisions.
A conscious decision was made to take the higher ground.
For what can I do to change the minds of those who are so far off in another direction?
Righteous outrage and anger won’t do it.
Despite my frustrations, I must act to uphold my Ethical Humanist values.
I must keep concern for the worth of those who I oppose at the front of my mind.
When I speak out, I must recognize the humanity of those that I disagree with.
I must have the goal of transforming my opposition and as a consequence further transform myself.
I know that there are those who I will never be able to connect with – but without holding the goal of transformation, I cannot succeed.
I must transcend the idea of “us and them” – for there is no them, there is only us.
I must seek to change others, not dominate – for the desire to dominate has brought us to where we are today.
I must be able to see others as other selves – part of a unifying whole that we are all an essential part of.
My Ethical Humanist values cause me to act for change because:
- Democracy is not just a political system but it is a personal commitment
- Everyone deserves the resources to develop to their full potential
- I am interrelated with all others and I share responsibility for creating the kind of world that I wish to live in.
I will continue with my struggle for change – and I encourage all of you – in ways great or small – to become engaged in the process of transformative change.
