Politics

The media and politicians do have much to answer for. Their self-serving world of half truths, beat-ups, misrepresentation, slogans and fudge is a poor substitute for reality.

But much of the blame lies elsewhere. The real problem is not the media, not the politicians; it is you - you the voter. The level of knowledge that lies behind the average vote is distressingly slight..

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This is from an article written in Australia, but it could just as easily be written in the USA and NC. read the article here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-05-10/dumbing-down-politics-the-problem-...

We have been through a lot in the last 3 to 4 years. We've seen our economy teeter on the brink of collapse. We've seen thousands of Jobs go overseas. We've seen our brave men and women travel abroad, fighting two wars to defend our freedoms right here at home. We've seen our political process become more and more bitter, divisive and down right ineffective.

With the election of Barack Obama as the first black President, we've seen that most people in this country are ready to move past our ugly past of racism, and Jim Crow. But we've also seen that there are still some who want to hold on to that dark past, expressing hate and anger over the fact that a Black man is in the White House. We've seen partisan gridlock basically cripple Washington, DC and political posturing and grandstanding dominate our legislature in Raleigh.

My wife received a mailer paid for by the Republican Party on behalf of a candidate that criticized the state legislature for spending over $9,000 per student, but then paying first year teachers so poorly. The implication was that this should be the other way around. I couldn't help but wonder how many people would read this at face value and not realize that North Carolina is close to last in the nation in per pupil spending. States that ranked at the top of this category were spending double what North Carolina allocates per pupil. While I agree teachers are worth far more than what the state could ever afford to pay them and should continue to get raises, the average teacher's salary in North Carolina has ranked in the top third of the nation when the adjusted cost of living has been taken into consideration. It is not surprising that statistics would be used to confuse the public in an effort to win their votes.

Yesterday, House Majority Leader Paul "Skip" Stam announced what his Republican led legislature will accomplish regarding education in 2013 (yes, over six weeks prior to election day). As many people are aware, one of Stam's unaccomplished goals is to privatize public school education by offering private school vouchers. Obviously, there is a lot of "special interest" support in seeing that this happens. These vouchers would be a follow up to an education budget that got significantly slashed ($190 million dollars of cuts from 2011), causing many teacher assistants and other school employees to lose their jobs.

The biggest obstacle to Representative Paul "Skip" Stam being the next N.C Speaker of the House is now three months away, November 6th, 2012. Voters in District 37 will have the opportunity to prevent the Architect of Amendment One from continuing to push his policies through the North Carolina Legislature. One of the very important things at stake is our public schools. Represtative Stam has continually attempted to privatize public education, but has so far failed to have any of his legislation approved. Another term will give Representative Stam ample time to create yet another tax incentive for parents to pull their children out of public schools. As Speaker of the House, the influence Stam carries will be far reaching. He succeeded in writing discrimination into the Constitution, he succeeded in destroying the Racial Justice Act, he succeeded in ensuring that a mistaken vote ushered in Fracking and he will succeed in dismantling our public education system.

A rally on Tuesday announced yet another attempt by House Majority Leader Paul "Skip" Stam to privatize public education. Legislation will be introuduced to allow corporations to send up to $40 million of their state taxes to children to attend private schools. Stam, a long time advocate of private school tax credits and the voucher system, introduced a plan that will take much needed state tax funds and channel it to private schools in the form of corporate scholarships.

As the Democratic Candidate for N.C House in District 37, running against the Architect of Amendment One, I was curious as to what the results of the Amendment One vote were in Paul "Skip" Stam's district. The results for what has been commonly referred to as a "conservative district," were extremely encouraging:

For Amendment One: 50.1%
Against Amendment One: 49.9%

With nearly 30,000 votes, the difference in For/Against was about 80 votes.

Running Against the Architect of Amendment One by Jason Wunsch Democratic Candidate N.C House District 37

Many tears have been shed over Tuesday's passage of Amendment One in North Carolina. I would argue these tears have been for a good reason. As I have posted on this site and in social media, the collateral effects of this amendment will now plague our state for years to come. All is not lost. Voters have the power to hire and fire their elected officials. The one I am running against is the co-author and co-sponsor of Amendment One. While Tuesday may have appeared to be a victory to my opponent, a certain number had to have caught his attention. 57% of Wake County voted against Amendment One.

The battle is not lost. Unfortunately, it will now be fought through petitions and court cases. However, on November 6th, voters of District 37 will have a choice whether to allow the architect of Amendment One to keep drafting Bills in the N.C House of Representatives. I believe a change in leadership in this District is long overdue.

On April 10, 2012 Jason Wunsch for N.C House District 37 held his Holly Springs Campaign Kick Off at the Little Hen Restaurant in Holly Springs, N.C. Wunsch, an attorney in private practice, is the Democratic Candidate and will be running in the November 6th election. The guest of honor at the event was Parrish "Ham" Womble, who served as a Holly Springs Commissioner for 30 years. The event brought many public officials including Wake County Commissioner and N.C Senate Candidate Erv Portman, Fuquay-Varina Commissioner Ed Ridpath, Harnett and Lee County District Attorney Vernon Stewart, Retired House of Representatives Member Peggy Stamey, Harnett County Democratic Women's President Melissa Lennon and U.S House Candidate Toni Morris. Wunsch discussed some of the priorities of his campaign which includes focusing on adequately funding public education,(rather than privatizing it), and supporting our North Carolina colleges to prepare students to enter the work force.

There will be a Fundraiser on April 10th, 2012 at the Little Hen Restaurant (5160 Sunset Lake Road) in Holly Springs for Jason Wunsch, Candidate for N.C House District 37. Tickets are $25.00 per person. Wunsch is running against Paul "Skip" Stam in the November 6th general election. Please come out and support Wunsch at this event. Campaign contributions can also be accepted online at www.jasonwunsch.com. Bob Etheridge and retired Holly Springs Commissioner Ham Womble will be in attendance.