Lessons Learned From Panthers Subsidy Loss
Carolina Panthers
As a conservative grassroots political activist, defeat is something that just goes with the territory. That, along with a certain amount of beating one’s head against the wall wondering where in the world all the people with any common sense at all have hidden themselves.
As a majority volunteer driven movement, we often find ourselves at a time and financial disadvantage to politicians, staff, and lobbyists. There simply is not enough time or resources to mobilize against every new bright idea thought up by those in the ivory towers of city hall.
With that said, we fight because we must. We fight because silence is acceptance. We fight because it is the right thing to do.
It is so easy to get frustrated and want to give up. So many people who agree with us already have. I for one refuse to do so, and instead seek to learn from defeat in hopes of learning from mistakes or finding a silver lining.
Last Monday, the Charlotte City Council unanimously voted to provide $87.5 million in corporate welfare to the Carolina Panthers while abundantly clear that a majority of citizens were opposed to the move.
This is what I draw from the results of the vote.
Political Party Affiliation Matters Less and Less These Days.
The makeup of the city council is nine Democrats to two Republicans. It is expected that the side supportive of smaller, limited government will frequently lose. What’s disturbing is that so many of the losses do not come via 9-2 votes, but rather 10-1 or even unanimous, as was the case on Monday. (Patrick Cannon recused himself from the vote over a possible conflict of interest, thus the unanimous 10-0 vote.)
As a grassroots guy I’m looking for something to latch on to. I would hope that in cases like this we could count on our members of the GOP to stand firm against the excessive expenditure of public dollars to directly benefit a private, for profit, business. Sure, the loss will likely still come, but I would argue standing on principle helps build a stronger conservative movement.
The advantage of a 10-1 vote or a 9-2 vote is multi-fold. You deny the other side the ability to claim “it was a unanimous, bi-partisan vote”! This empowers them and emboldens their supporters. It makes them look good and minimizes the opposition opinion. It also conversely continues to distance conservatives from wanting to get involved.
I can’t tell you how many people told me they’d just stay home because they didn’t feel it was worth their time to bother fighting. They didn’t believe government was even going to listen to them. A unanimous decision only reinforces that opinion.
Yes, 9-1 or 8-2 still loses, but at least it lets the grassroots know they weren’t totally ineffective and pointless. It gives people a reason to show up again and fight.
When even our “own team” votes against us, it is 100% debilitating from a moral standpoint.
Great movements are built around the people with the guts to stand up for what is right, regardless of political pressure. Bowing to the powers that be is a disservice.
I continue to support the Republican Party over the Democrat Party, but votes like this teach us that not all Republicans are created equal and we still have a lot of work to do to revive the GOP’s credibility as a truly limited government Party.
(On a personal note, I’d like to point out that I consider both of our GOP councilmen personal friends, but friends are allowed to disagree.)
Government Money Can Be Used For Any Purpose Desired.
This is the major silver lining of this fight.
Tell me, have you been in a debate with someone over government expenditures and been faced with the argument that “this money can’t be used for roads and schools, it has to be used for project X”?
This happens all the time and it is one of the great myths that supporters of big government use.
So called “revenue streams”, taxes levied on a particular use (like the hotel motel tax, the food and beverage tax, the half cent transit tax, etc), are earmarked to be used for specific purposes and are sold to the public this way. In my opinion, these are designed to obfuscate the true cost of government and make people feel like they are getting a value on a government expenditure.
“Why yes, for just a couple of pennies, I will be able to ride the heavily subsidized light rail. This is a good tax because my benefit seems larger than my expenditure.”
So on and so forth.
The problem here is that as these “revenue streams” are added to each other, the cost becomes much more than “a cup of coffee a day”. It becomes 50 cups of coffee a day!
The great disservice is that while one project may be under budget and another valid use of government money may be in need of additional resources, the politicians love to claim, “Oh well, good project X must suffer because the money we have in the not-so-good project Y is earmarked”.
It’s infuriating and it leads to very poor fiscal management.
Here is the Panthers subsidy bonus though.
As I have been screaming for years, “revenue streams” are man made, not universal truths. Public money, once collected, can be used for any purpose desired by politicians.
House Bill 193 is what authorized the City Council to use existing convention center money to benefit the Panthers. This bill changed the allowed use of an already existing “revenue stream”!
The bill could have just as easily said that hotel/motel tax money could be used to widen Interstate 77 in North Mecklenburg.
Folks this is big. We now have absolute proof that where there is political will, there is political way. Money can ultimately be used for any purpose government desires.
Conservative Grassroots Need Better Organization
This was an issue that I know we were in the majority of public opinion on. I don’t know what it will take to wake the public up again and let them know they do wield power.
I hope that when I speak out publicly, or any of my fellow conservatives, it creates a little spark of hope that we can kindle into a movement of people who will do more than just complain on Facebook about how crappy things are.
It’s easy to give up. I really understand. My point is, we have no power because we don’t wield our power. Our organization is lacking, our communication is limited, and we lack people willing to dive into leadership.
I know they care. I know they agree with us. They just need to be activated. That doesn’t mean coming to a meeting every week, just that if we can know how to reach them, they can talk to a dozen neighbors or hand out 50 fliers when a big issue comes up. Many hands makes light work. We need to build our infrastructure.
To that end, if you are at all interested in taking a step towards getting involved, or at least learning how you can contribute, please visit proceedwithcaution.us and sign up for our mailing list. I send out one email a week that includes meeting agendas and action items. I also include a list of upcoming events where you can attend and learn about what is going on in your local government.
I also encourage you to join two Facebook groups.
facebook.com/groups/charlotteteaparty is an open group where all of our members can post articles, opinion, meetings, etc.
facebook.com/groups/cautioncharlotte is the organizational arm of the tea party and is limited to posts directly involving the organization. Join here to learn about meetings and ways to get involved.
In my opinion it is unacceptable that we lose on issues where the majority of public opinion is on our side. The more folks we can have tied into participating, the more feedback we can generate to the decision makers, the better off we will be.
I invite you to join a solid group of conservatives who care about this community. Join us and help make a difference for the future of Charlotte.
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