Blowing Rock Persisters

In the final lecture of the Civil Conversation series, NC State Sen. Jeff Jackson(D) spoke to a gathering of 75 people in the American Legion Hall in Blowing Rock, NC, on Sunday, September 17. Jackson commented that in the past six months he has attended multiple events similar to this one, all across North Carolina, that are not sponsored by a formal organization or party structure. “It is wonderful to see that amount of energy.” He sees concern both for our shared democracy and at a loss of shared decency. “This whole show is being run by women,” he added— to applause in the room. He believes the Women’s March in January will be recognized as the most “significant political event of this year.” He recalled that his mother told him after the election of Donald Trump that “the women of this country won’t allow this to happen again.” He acknowledged that many in the audience do not feel good about what is happening in politics—in Washington or Raleigh. But he said he wanted...

Timothy Snyder's compact book, "On Tyranny: Twenty lessons from the Twentieth Century," is an important discussion of threats to democracy from the past and how to recognize current threats that face us now. One of our members highly recommends this book and hopes everyone in the community will read it, and now we have news that the author himself will be speaking in Boone on Friday September 29 at 2:30 pm in the Blue Ridge Ballroom of the Plemmons Student Union at Appalachian State University. To find out more about this speaker--and the related symposium--this website may be helpful: https://humanitiescouncil.appstate.edu/node/27 Parking on campus can be a challenge. We might recommend using the Rivers Street parking garage https://maps.appstate.edu/campus-map/42 or call the Parking office at (828) 262-2878 for advice.

It's time to contact your Senators again to let them know what you think of the proposed Cassidy-Graham bill that would switch to a block grant model of funding, which will result in less funding available for Medicaid in each state, especially for those in need of the most care. An additional challenge is that this bill would give more control to the states, which means that they could roll back essential care requirements, which affects all healthcare plans, including employer-provided plans. A good discussion of this proposal is offered by the Washington Post at this link:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/09/18/the-new-gop-health-care-measure-goes-further-than-the-failed-one/ Just a reminder, you can reach Senator Richard Burr's office at 202-224-3154 and Senator Thom Tillis at 202-224-6342.