North Carolina exemplifies plutocratic rule despite near-even party demographics

Evidence

Today, North Carolina is one of the states most affected by the self-inflicted reduction of Medicaid funding. Its public school system has been deflated by the expansion of fiscally unaccountable charter networks, many of which are run by big GOP donors. Koch brothers money speaks loudly in North Carolina, too, now rivaling Pope’s for influence, and the state can be ranked alongside Wisconsin and Texas as a model of plutocratic governance. In purely demographic terms, North Carolina is almost exactly balanced between Democratic and Republican voters. In power politics, however, it represents the fusion of money and religion that supplies the foundation of the Christian nationalist movement. — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 81

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader plutocratic-governance literature (Koch/ALEC state policy networks) and to examples from the reader’s base-nation and state-capture readings. — connects to: Aggressive gerrymandering gives North Carolina Republicans supermajority power in a purple state — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 78; North Carolina’s post-2010 Republican legislature enacted far-reaching disenfranchising policies — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black: How Race Still…, 522; Post-2010 North Carolina GOP laws hardened racial habits. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black: How Race Still…, 522

Broader Connections

• North Carolina’s post-2010 Republican legislature enacted far-reaching disenfranchising policies #exemplifies (0.90) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 522
• Post-2010 North Carolina GOP laws hardened racial habits. #corroborates (0.85) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 522