A major fulcrum in America's ongoing quest to define itself is the question of whether our primary viewpoint should be that we are a collection of independent states, or whether we are a country with shared values. Of course, the 10th Amendment answers that question in a broad-brushed way, and the U.S. Supreme Court has of late provided muscle to state's rights side of the fulcrum.
It's interesting to observe the yin and yang of this struggle play out. The North Carolina so-called bathroom bill provided one case in point.
As you may recall, last year the Charlotte City Council passed an ordinance that allowed transgender individuals to use public bathrooms of their choice. Some 19 states and 100 cities have similar local ordinances, including Orlando think Walt Disney World.
Shortly thereafter in a one-day session, the North Carolina Legislature approved its House Bill 2, which banned legal protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and required North Carolinians to use the bathroom assigned by their birth certificate in public places. Apparently, North Carolinians were still free to visit Disney World.
A sharp reaction followed. The National Basketball Association relocated its All-Star Game. Major corporations demanded a repeal of the bill, with some very real threats to back it up. Forbes estimated that the state had lost $630 million as of last fall. And, most disturbing to residents there, the National Collegiate Athletic Association refused to play any March Madness games in the state, leaving Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to play without their usually large following.
And, in the spirit of our 10th Amendment, five states ordered travel bans for all state employee and representatives of public institutions, New York, Minnesota, Washington, Vermont and Connecticut, the last as ordered by Gov. Dannel Malloy.
Now, generally, the viewpoint of those states tends to see America as a country of shared values, and that the federal system is there for darn good reason and should be strong. For example our governor wants a federal judge (presumably not one on some island in the Pacific) to tell the coal-belching states to stop polluting Connecticut's air.
But these five states asserted their right to tell another state that its values are screwed up. Well, at least Connecticut's governor did, through an executive order. Asking the Connecticut Legislature to rule on these matters might impede its rapid progress on approving a budget.
The collective pressure on North Carolina, particularly its near religious belief in college basketball, caused the Democratic governor and Republican Legislature to pass a "repeal" of House Bill 2. The measure does repeal the previous law, but it adds a prohibition on all local governments, preventing them from approving or amending their own nondiscrimination ordinances relating in any way to private employment and public accommodation until December 2020. So much for local control.