Here’s tale of two governors. One is a tale of courage. The other is a tale of cowardice.
Governor Pat McCrory of North Carolina recently signed legislation that overturned a Charlotte city ordinance that allowed men who claimed to be women to use women’s restrooms. The new law creates a uniform policy that protects privacy rights and upholds common sense in public facilities.
It is sad that we even have to debate this issue today. But this is what happens when a culture can’t even get something as simple as marriage right.
The ACLU is vowing to sue the governor, and Roy Cooper, North Carolina’s Democrat attorney general, is refusing to defend the new law. Senate President Phil Berger is demanding Cooper resign. If he doesn’t, I suggest Senator Berger launch impeachment proceedings.
Where did Cooper get the idea that public officials in this nation of laws can pick and choose which laws they want to defend? Perhaps he got it from the Obama Administration, which routinely ignores laws it doesn’t like.
Needless to say, the left has come down on North Carolina like a ton of bricks. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo banned all non-essential state travel to North Carolina. Talk about left-wing hypocrisy! Cuomo is eager to go to Cuba, but not North Carolina!
Thankfully, Governor McCrory isn’t backing down and is boldly defending the values and common sense of the people of North Carolina.
Meanwhile, Governor Nathan Deal of Georgia recently vetoed a religious liberty bill that would have protected pastors and faith-based organizations from being forced to participate in activities that violated their deeply held beliefs.
Corporate elites, including the NFL and Disney, threatened to pull business from Georgia if the legislation passed. So, compromise language was negotiated and sent to the governor’s desk.
Sadly, Governor Deal was unable to stand up to Hollywood and big business. He vetoed even that weakened bill, suggesting it was a solution in search of a problem.
I recommend that Governor Deal introduce himself to former Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran.
Notice the instincts of two officials involved here. The Democrat attorney general feels so strongly about his position that he throws caution to the wind and refuses to enforce the law.
The governor of Georgia goes in the exact opposite direction and refuses to allow the legislators of his state to enact a law that reflects the values of the citizens of his state.
It is exactly this kind of abject surrender that has the party of Lincoln and Reagan on the verge of disintegrating.
Gary L. Bauer served in President Ronald Reagan’s administration for eight years, as Under Secretary of Education and as President Reagan’s Chief Domestic Policy Advisor.
