NC Progressives Turn The Page
A perspective from Blair Reeves
A changing of the guard is at hand for progressives in North Carolina. In the last few weeks, both Rep. David Price and State Rep. Verla Insko announced their respective retirements from politics. Both leaders are institutions of the Old North State’s progressive community who have served our community, and our state, with great dignity and vision. They are also products of a political era for which many people today are – rightly or wrongly – nostalgic. Chapel Hill, their home turf and the historic anchor of our state’s progressive movement, must now look forward to what types of leaders we wish to fill their seats. As they do so, progressives would be wise to be clear-eyed about the challenges we now face.
David Price was first elected to Congress in 1986, a year that saw both the Challenger disaster as well as the introduction of a new video game – Super Mario Brothers – for something called a “Nintendo.” Close to half of all North Carolina’s present voters were not yet even born. Verla Insko, who once worked as Price’s legislative assistant, followed him into office in 1996, the year “Macarena” hit #1 on the charts and “Jerry Maguire” was released. Suffice to say, a lot has happened since then, but in particular the political culture that shaped both leaders has shifted. And make no mistake – like Los del Río, it is not making a comeback.
The old Democratic dominance of North Carolina that Price and Insko once knew has vanished, along with many of the old norms of our political culture. Compared to thirty years ago, today’s discourse is coarser and more vulgar, and certainly more ideologically polarized than it was when they entered politics. Like many politicians of their generation, Price and Insko are clearly uncomfortable with today’s more confrontational and sharp-edged partisan environment.
In this, they are not alone. There is a popular and understandable yearning for a calmer, quieter and more issues-oriented politics. This sentiment, it bears observing, is particularly common among liberals, like those who dominate the Triangle’s progressive community. In Rep. Insko’s own parting words, “We don’t need to go to war with each other personally or as a party. We need to stop attacking each other and deal with the issues,” she says. “I hope we can negotiate things out.”
Many of us sympathize with this. But it must be said: on this, Rep. Insko is wrong. This is a fundamental misreading of our status quo, and a mistaking of what we wish were true for the reality in front of our eyes.
That reality is this: the North Carolina Republican Party has hijacked control of our state’s government through bare-knuckled power politics that cares little for truth, fairness or negotiation of anything, whatsoever. They ram through overtly racist gerrymanders in the full knowledge that they’ll be stricken down by the courts, but not before party bosses can hollow out our institutions. They’ve taken a wrecking ball to one of the state’s crown jewels, the UNC System, largely to satisfy petty personal grudges. And right now, they are rigging the legislative maps to ensure a second decade of invincible Republican misrule. Make no mistake – the GOP is very much at war. It has been for years. And Democrats want to invite them to a potluck.
Decades of not facing any significant challenges have led to a certain aloofness in Chapel Hill’s representation, which is an awkward fit for one of the most energetically liberal districts in the state. Neither Insko nor Price are what you’d call outspoken progressive stars. True to their formative years in politics, both are understated, cerebral and not particularly vocal. That is not to say they aren’t tough – to be sure, both have demonstrated their ability to stand firm under pressure and take brave, sometimes unpopular positions. For that, they deserve our respect. Nevertheless, Chapel Hill has long been used as a base for campaign fundraising while not causing public waves. You won’t catch David Price joining Cori Bush for a sit-in over Democrats’ cowardly inaction on the eviction moratorium; Verla Insko will never be arrested at a protest.
Voters in Chapel Hill should know that we are never going back to the halcyon waters of a calmer political era (that may only exist in our nostalgia). Instead, progressives are in for a long, grueling and aggressive struggle both at the state and national levels for the future of our democracy. This is our reality, whether we like it or not. If we want representatives equal to this moment, then we must nominate savvy, energetic candidates who are prepared to do battle – not just cast votes.
The price of doing otherwise is more years of quiescent irrelevancy. As primary season cranks up again, please choose wisely.
Blair Reeves is the Executive Director of Carolina Forward, a progressive policy organization dedicated to North Carolina affairs.
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