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| Thom Tillis |
Now, a Republican is in the governor's office, and McCrory says the compensation is a high priority for him as well. If basic principle isn't enough to persuade fellow Republican Berger to let the bill through, perhaps the McCrory-Tillis duo can work out some behind-the-scenes horse-trading to make it happen.
Tillis deserves complete credit for keeping the possibility alive. He is the chief sponsor of a bipartisan bill filed Wednesday that would pay the $50,000 lump sum to survivors of the invasive program the state carried out for decades. It's one of only three bills Tillis expects to file all session, signifying its importance to him.
Berger was noncommittal when asked about the proposal earlier this month. It seems he doesn't understand, as Tillis does, that few things violate small-government conservatism more than state government invading its citizens' bodies, often against their will. North Carolina's program, which ran for 45 years until 1974, was one of the nation's most aggressive. The state deemed certain individuals "feeble-minded" and sterilized them so they wouldn't procreate. It was inhumane and is a stain on North Carolina's history. Compensating the few remaining living victims is a minimal nod to that fact.
McCrory's spokesman told the Winston-Salem Journal in August that McCrory is fully supportive of the compensation and "would like to see it happen as soon as possible." The Journal said the spokesman reiterated that stance shortly before the legislature convened.
To read Tillis' bill, click here.
UPDATE: The Washington Post reports that the Virginia House is considering a bipartisan bill that would compensate that state's eugenics victims as well.
-- Taylor Batten
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6 comments:
Why should we current tax payers have to pay for what the Democrats implemented years ago? Your party thought eugenics along with Hitler I might add was a grand idea, you pay for it.
I agree Skippy - the funding for this should come from the newspapers who for years endorsed and enabled the racist Democrats who carried out the sterilizations.
Call it Journalistic Reparations.
The Dixiecrats of yore are now republicans and libertarians. Don't try to pin this on a current party.
Alannc44 said...
The Dixiecrats of yore are now republicans and libertarians. Don't try to pin this on a current party.
You really want to pin this on Libertarians? Really? Just so you know, all those Democrats down east, like Perdue and Easley, had parents and grandparents who were Democrats. The same Democrats who ruled, not governed, North Carolina for 100 years. The did not change parties, they have always had the power. Just because some new carpetbaggers thought to add blacks to the voter rolls, they did not care, more power for them.
I wonder how many of Tillis's other priorities the Observer will endorse.
Alannc44,
Libertarians aren't drone-bombing children with one hand while holding their Nobel Peace Prize in the other.
Libertarians aren't filling senior level administration positions with eleven former Goldman Sachs executives.
Libertarians aren't running guns to Mexican drug cartels.
Libertarians aren't extending and expanding the PATRIOT Act via robo-pen.
Libertarians aren't letting Wall Street executives like Jon Corzine and Lloyd Blankfein skate on their financial crimes.
Libertarians didn't blame the Benghazi attack on a Youtube video.
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