To the Editor:

Ms. Abel’s letter said that the state’s Democratic ideals are fading fast since the last election (“State’s democratic ideals fading fast,” Feb. 27, SMN). For about 140 years North Carolina was under the control of the Democratic Party of North Carolina. That meant that all 100 counties had two Democrats on the Board of Elections and one Republican. For the next four years these board will have two Republicans on the board and one Democrat.  

This change came because Pat McCrory defeated the former Democratic Lt. Governor in the last election, but for the next four years all of the counties will have two Republicans and one Democrat on the local election boards. In addition the Republican candidates’ names will appear first on the ballot instead of the Democratic candidates’ names. That has been a big advantage the Democrats enjoyed for 140 years. 

Currently we have about the fifth highest unemployment rate in the country. Gov. Pat McCrory’s job will be to lower that rate and get our men and women off of the welfare rolls and back onto the payrolls. Our state taxes exceed the taxes in our surrounding states of Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina. If raising taxes would have put more people to work, Gov. Perdue would still be in office. Gov. Perdue’s plan of taxing the rich did not work.

We will have voter ID in our state. Any legally registered person in our state can get a voter ID card. They are free. Try getting into the governor’s mansion without a valid ID card or getting a library card. Not being able to get a valid ID card is a false argument. 

In four years, the citizens of North Carolina can dump Gov. McCrory if he does not improve the employment rate in the state. Too many North Carolina citizens have lost their homes and their jobs in the last four years. Let’s hope the Gov. McCrory can get our state headed in the right direction.

Finally, for many years the Democratic Party controlled our state without evil consequences. However, in the last few years there have been some troubled times in our governor’s mansion. If Gov. McCrory can bring prosperity back to North Carolina we will all be better off, including Ms. Abel.

Jim Mueller

Glenville