A GOP taste

So here we go right out of the starting gate. The first bill voted out of committee by the newly empowered Republican legislature, even before the session starts, cuts benefits for the least powerful among us – the unemployed.

This legislation has been put on the front burner at the behest and support of the N.C. Chamber of Commerce and the N.C. Retail Merchants Association, representing business people who stand to gain the most from this legislation by avoiding increases in unemployment taxes.

Now that the balance of power in North Carolina government has shifted totally to the Republican Party, this legislation significantly cutting jobless benefits is truly a harbinger of what’s to come. We are going to see an undermining of the support programs the state has traditionally made available to people struggling to keep a roof over their heads and put food on the table.

When the legislature convenes Jan. 30, there will be a new motto for our state: “Greed is good.”

Ed Block, Chapel Hill