CBC Editorial: Wednesday, July 4, 2918; Editorial #8318

The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company

Two-hundred-thirty years ago in the Federalist Papers, James Madison identified what the leaders of the North Carolina General Assembly are trying to do today with their bundle of State Constitutional amendments. “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”

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Legislators who write the laws that we live under want voters to change the State Constitution and give lawmakers the power to appoint and pay the judges who will decide if those laws are constitutional. It is a dangerous power-grab by an elite few that weakens the voice of all North Carolina citizens.

This is not about Republicans vs. Democrats. This isn’t about liberals vs. conservatives. It isn’t even about Gov. Roy Cooper vs. Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore.

It is about taking a wrecking ball to the foundation of government established by our federal and state constitutions: The separation of powers and checks-and-balances each branch of government – executive, legislative and judicial – has on the other. This assault can also be found in other proposed amendments, including one to change the appointment and composition of the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement.

And, we remind again, North Carolina’s Constitution makes very specific reference to the separate authority of the branches of government: “The legislative, executive, and supreme judicial powers of the State government shall be forever separate and distinct from each other.”

There was some revealing give-and-take at the start of the recently-adjourned legislative session after a journalist asked the legislature’s GOP leadership if they planned anymore efforts to weaken Gov. Roy Cooper. “Does he still have any,” Berger chuckled. “If you have any suggestions, let us know,” Rep. Moore chimed in. They weren’t joshing.

But it is no joke. The state’s two living former Republican governors, Jim Martin and Pat McCrory, oppose the amendment. They have seen, whether it is appointments to a commission to oversee oil and natural gas exploration in the state or supervision of election and ethics laws, the current legislative leaderships efforts to rig the delicate balance of power in their favor.

The hope of the legislative leadership is that voters won’t dig too deep in the unprecedented bundle of six Constitutional amendments they’ll face in the voting booth, be lulled by the misleading, tempting or innocuous short text they see, and vote "yes."

If they truly wanted voters informed, these legislative leaders wouln’t have concocted these amendments in secret, rushed them through the legislative process in just days with NO input from the citizens and practically no examination and debate from other legislators.

Putting in the fix seems to be a way of life for these legislators – they rig their electoral districts to guarantee their seats, they manipulate laws in the midst of campaigns to rig elections and now want to put their big, fat thumbs on the scales of governmental power.

It is unnecessary and wrong.

Don’t let anyone suggest that voting isn’t anything less than the MOST IMPORTANT OBLIGATION of citizens. Rejection of all these amendments will send a strong message to legislators that voters are watching, can’t be fooled and like James Madison, know tyranny when they see it.