Republicans say they want to protect children, so why do they do this? | Opinion

GOP hypocrisy

Republicans in our state legislature are extremely hypocritical and passing legislation that is totally inconsistent. On one hand, they claim that they want to give parents more rights to parent through Senate Bill 90, called the Children’s Laws Omnibus. On the other hand, they are prohibiting parents from providing life-saving gender affirming healthcare for their transgender children. How does any logical intelligent person reconcile to these two totally opposing laws? And in terms of all this legislation, Senate Republicans are totally ignoring experts in the educational and medical fields.

Stan Kimer, Raleigh

Parent’s rights

I certainly hope the Children’s Laws Omnibus is again scheduled to be heard. After all the recent craziness of the left, parents need to regain control of their children’s education.

Chuck Durrant, Cary

Absentee voting

Regarding “GOP plan could make NC ‘the strictest state’ for absentee voting. How would it work?,” (July 9):

Despite any evidence of fraud in the 2020 elections, Republicans are in sync with the former president who said that Democratic efforts in 2020 to make it easier for citizens to vote were “crazy” and “...if you ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.”

Republicans in the N.C. legislature have taken warning like that to heart.

Joe Moran, Durham

NC teachers

The 2022 report by the Educational Law Center, which rates state support for schools, gave North Carolina (48th) an F in per pupil spending. Additionally, when measuring per public spending against the state’s wealth, North Carolina ranked last — 50th. This in the face of our annual $3.25 billion surplus.

North Carolina teachers cite stagnating salaries as a major concern and the state has a 16% resignation rate. Our legislature meets this debacle with 2.5% annual raises, lowered license requirements, and expansion of funding for school vouchers. They ignore the governor’s budget recommendations for 10%, then 6% raises, as well as restoring master’s degree pay levels.

Our legislative supermajority loudly expresses its disdain for public schools by not providing the money needed to provide our children a sound basic education. And, they’re responsible for our inability to attract and retain the best and the brightest staff.

Each successive budget serves to defund N.C. public schools. Who knew rock bottom had a basement?

Sally Eckert, Henrico

Passing a budget

How is it possible that even with a supermajority in the N.C. General Assembly, Republicans still can’t pass a budget on time? That is a foundational responsibility of government. It seems prudent that we would elect more motivated public servants in 2024.

It has become a part of our state’s DNA to let budgets lapse with little sense of urgency. Both myself and my spouse are state employees, and it’s not only unfair to state employees, but to any tax payer, Medicare recipient, municipal government, or anyone depending on our state legislature for anything. It’s a disservice to the public, and frankly it’s embarrassing.

Chris Starbird, Clayton

Child marriage

In a shocking display of betrayal, the GOP leadership in North Carolina recently failed our state’s most vulnerable population by rejecting efforts from Democrats to eliminate child marriage. On June 27, Republican senators blocked an amendment to the Parents’ Bill of Rights that would have banned child marriage.

The failure to eradicate child marriage in North Carolina is a clear indictment of our state’s GOP leadership. Data shows that hundreds of minors, some as young as 14, have been legally wed in our state over the past decade. In fact, North Carolina has gained notoriety as a destination state for older adult men marrying children.

Republican lawmakers swiftly denounce drag performers and drag story hours, while obstructing efforts to eliminate child marriage. This casts serious doubt on their commitment to safeguarding our children.

North Carolina deserves better, and our children deserve better. We cannot allow partisan politics to dictate the fate of our most vulnerable citizens.

Ronald Hall, Clayton

Fossil fuels

The writer worked 25 years for the U.S. EPA.

Gov. Roy Cooper did the right thing in vetoing House Bill 488, which would stall energy efficiency upgrades. While climate change is the main impetus for this veto, there is the underlying depletion of fossil fuels that must be conserved.

Exxon-Mobil publishes an annual report, “2022 Outlook for Energy.” In their latest report, world natural gas production is forecast to peak around 2050. Therefore, homes heated with natural gas and/or electricity need to conserve and one of the ways to do so is by making our homes more energy efficient.

The same report says world crude oil production peaked in late 2018 — just before COVID hit. Production is ramping up again and may reach a peak around 2032, after which production will be in permanent decline.

In either case, we need to conserve fossil fuels, find alternative sources to heat and cool our homes, and to power our vehicles.

Peter Eckhoff, Durham

This story was originally published July 16, 2023 at 5:30 AM.