TPM Reader GB says don’t compare us to them!
I take serious issue with the “Carolinian” who wrote you earlier today. I currently practice law in Charlotte, North Carolina, but was born and have family still in South Carolina and I can tell you that the difference between the 2 states is night and day.
Politically, there is no comparison. Yes, NC has had its fair share of embarrassments and has been mostly red at the federal level for the last 35 years (2008 being a notable exception), but North Carolina has consistently and easily been the most progressive state south of the Mason-Dixon line. Aside from having Dems hold both houses of the legislature, Dems holding most (e.g. 90%) of the statewide offices for the most of the recent past, NC is home to one of the most progressive areas in the US in Chapel Hill-Durham. Notwitstanding the politics, NC is among the nation’s leaders in scientific research (e.g. Research Triangle Park), banking (Charlotte) and higher education (UNC, Duke). I could go on but I won’t. North Carolina still has some serious issues, but comparing it to South Carolina is like comparing Obama to Bush.
And TPM Reader FS agrees even more emphatically …
Only a complete idiot would say that there’s no difference between the two states. I’ll list a few:
NC has one of the best public university systems in the county, made possible by the great liberal and former senator Frank Porter Graham.
NC is home to the research triangle park, made possible by that great liberal and former governor and senator Terry Sanford.
NC is home to the second-largest financial center in the country after NYC.
NC has routinely elected Democrats statewide who aren’t ashamed to call themselves Democrats. We have not had a Republican governor in 20 years.
NC is one of a very few states in the country that has its own innocence project.
Several NC cities/counties provide full benefits for gay partners.
NC has outlawed smoking in every public place in the state; SC has the lowest tobacco tax in the country.
NC is one of the fastest growing states in the union, primarily because there are jobs for well-educated people.
None of these things can be said for SC which prides itself on being a backwater.
