State Rep. Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg) must stop looking for a scapegoat and start tackling our state’s problems with the seriousness and nuance they demand. First, however, he must apologize for the ludicrous — not to mention offensive — policy he suggested last week.
Tillis told listeners at a town meeting that he hoped to “find a way to divide and conquer” citizens who receive government aid by requiring them to pass a drug test before being deemed eligible for welfare.
Content aside, Tillis’ word choice alone is unacceptable. By likening people on welfare to military enemies, Tillis vilified an entire socioeconomic class of people he should be serving.
As for the substance of Tillis’ proposal, pages could be written about the various rights it would violate. Indeed, the ACLU has filed a suit against a similar law in Florida, citing unconstitutionality.
The policy is also economically unsound. In the three months it has been in effect in Florida, all but 32 of the more than 7,000 tests administered came back clean. Since July, the Sunshine State has lost $200,000 due to the policy — and that’s before legal costs. Clearly, cost-effectiveness was not one of Tillis’ priorities when he suggested the drug testing.
Rather than tackling a complex economic question, Tillis instead chose to satiate listeners with a quick fix — and an ineffective one at that. This narrow approach is characteristic both of Tillis’ deficiency as a leader as well as that of his party as a whole.
North Carolina needs politicians who are able to recognize that any effective solutions they find will be just as complex as the problems they’re attempting to solve. And it needs politicians who aren’t afraid to say this to their constituents, even if it means losing a few votes.
Most of all, it needs legislators with more tact than Tillis. Understanding, even in disagreement, is the cornerstone of progress and mutual respect the foundation of political discourse.
Without this basic civility, we may soon find the divide-and-conquer mentality to be pervasive in political life, both in North Carolina and in the national arena.
