Come January, North Carolina will have a new governor. Pat McCrory, the seven-term former mayor of Charlotte, becomes only the third Republican to win North Carolina’s number one job since 1900. John Locke Foundation President John Hood talks about the McCrory he’s been acquainted with for many years, the historic nature of McCrory’s win when coupled with a Republican-led General Assembly, and thoughts on why tax reform should be at the top of the Gov.-elect’s list of priorities. Then we turn to comments about the onslaught of criticism aimed at capitalism from conservative author, blogger, and New York Times columnist Ross Douthat. He recently visited North Carolina to share ideas for countering that criticism. He offered more details during a one-on-one interview with Carolina Journal Radio. Next is a look at education in our state. North Carolina’s education establishment has been celebrating recent data that show an 80 percent graduation rate from the state’s public schools. But Terry Stoops, John Locke Foundation director of research and education studies, explained during a recent public presentation that much of the credit for recent growth in the graduation rate should be assigned to factors outside of the schools’ control. That’s followed by perspective from conservative columnist Star Parker, a survivor of welfare dependency. During a recent visit to Chapel Hill, the founder of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education offered ideas to help others avoid dependency on the federal government. You’ll hear highlights from her presentation. And finally, the election is over but John Locke Foundation Jon Ham has a pointed review of the actions of the mainstream media. He discusses the industry’s lack of objectivity and clear favoritism of President Obama, as well as the way in which new forms of media have begun to “out” the industry on its lack of reporting and spinning of information.
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