Now we know: The Republican Party and tea party, locally and nationally, have promulgated a draconian agenda of repressive and mean-spirited legislation that must not go unchallenged. Some examples of this agenda include voter ID, overriding Gov. Bev Perdue's veto of HB 854, restricting a woman's right to choose and eliminating numerous programs for the poor and middle class, such as Pell grants and social services. Locally, they have moved Asheville into a heavily Republican district in an attempt to bolster their chances for reelection.
The Republicans and tea party came into power because Democrats, progressives and rational independents took their eye off the ball; they, on the other hand, were obsessed with taking "their” country back. We have an opportunity locally to begin the process of removing them and their mindset and reversing the harm they have done.
Several seats on City Council will be open in the next election cycle and we have a chance to begin changing the political atmosphere in Asheville and hopefully the county as well. Lael Gray and Chris Pelly are running for two City Council seats. Electing these two progressives would send a strong and clear message that, yes, we are indeed taking "our” city and county back from the politics of intolerance, repression of women's rights and disenfranchisement. Never again to the Republicans and tea party.
We cannot afford another cycle of this kind of political hypocrisy, intimidation and social repression. Let's start in our own backyard.
— Jesse Junior
Arden
Subscribe to XpressMail. Free Sneak Peek. Every Week.
Want to know what's coming out in Xpress this week before the paper even hits the stands?
We've got your free sneak peek, along with deals available in XpressMail, our weekly email newsletter. (It's the best we can do without time travel.)
-
Comments
-
Related Articles
-
Comments
Make a comment
What republicans on city council and county commission is Junior seeking to remove?
If he has a problem with the current leadership, it seems it would make more sense to vote republican.
By J
08/16/2011
Could Mr. Junior tell us which Tea Party Republicans on City Council we should vote against?
By Curious
08/16/2011
ROFLMAO!
after 140 years of total democrat domination in NC, you'd THINK the writer would be a little smarter than this...
By OceanofWisdom
08/17/2011
I applaud the new redistricting. It's right in line with what the democrats have done in the past. Well, the people are tired of business-as-usual democrat control and voted in a new majority of republicans. Now, outsider lockstep liberal voters in Asheville will no longer be able to skew the will of the county-wide and WNC-wide population. Local North Carolinians will once again control their own destiny. Thank you republican majority!
By Dick Mahoney
08/21/2011