Ken Jones: New-age ‘Bourbon rule’

The N&O printed yet another tiresome tirade by Gene Nichol (“When our poor lack access to justice,” Oct. 25 Point of View). He insisted on harping about how the poor lack access to decent health care and sometimes decent food and housing. Who does he think he is? The pope?

The rant was about the General Assembly’s recent decision to defund Legal Aid of North Carolina. Why would any poor person ever need legal assistance? I’m sure that every slumlord and “job creator” always holds the best interests of his “lesser brothers” foremost in his heart and mind. Just because someone decides to treat his workers illegally is no reason for them to suffer the indignity and expense of a lawsuit. How can we compete with Alabama if we insist on enforcing silly things like labor laws?

If the disadvantaged suffer from domestic abuse, discrimination, wrongful evictions or some other form of legal harassment, what difference does it make? They hardly ever make large campaign contributions. The great people of this state long for the good-old days of Bourbon rule, and defunding legal aid was a great place to start.

This story was originally published October 27, 2015 at 4:36 PM with the headline "Ken Jones: New-age ‘Bourbon rule’."