BREAKING: South Carolina has a different constitution than NC (09-12-2024--Hour1)

[00:00:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Show.

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[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Heads up, Kamala Harris coming to town, the vice president coming to Charlotte, going

[00:00:35] [SPEAKER_00]: to be doing a rally at the Bojangles Coliseum.

[00:00:41] [SPEAKER_00]: The road closures will start at 2 p.m.

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_00]: And as I said, when Donald Trump came to town forcing the closure of I-85 for several

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_00]: hours during a rush hour afternoon, sometimes this moves people's votes.

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes people get mad.

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And the same, I said the same thing when Trump came to town.

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I say the same thing now when Kamala comes to town, like you shut down people's routes

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_00]: of egress on their way home on a Thursday afternoon in rush hour.

[00:01:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Some people, now obviously people that already love her, probably not going to

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_00]: be dissuaded, people who already hate her, not going to change their mind.

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, they're already going to vote for Trump or something.

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_00]: But there are people that maybe aren't paying any attention but now somehow got caught

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_00]: up in it and now they're going to be upset.

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, I-77 and East Independence Boulevard between I-277 and Eastway Drive, so that

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_00]: whole stretch from 277 ramp right all the way down to Eastway, they're going to

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_00]: put that down because that's where the Bojangles Coliseum is right there.

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Also delays are anticipated around the airport between 230 all the way until 7 o'clock.

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, I mean I guess because she's going up to Greensboro too, right?

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I guess she's driving up to Greensboro.

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_00]: So they're going to fly her in here, they're going to leave Air Force 2 out

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_00]: there on the tarmac I guess and then they're going to drive her to Greensboro maybe.

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_00]: I guess that's the I-77 component here, I'm not sure.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_00]: They don't give us the routes but for security purposes.

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_00]: So we'll keep you posted throughout the day but start looking for traffic to get

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_00]: impacted starting at around 2 o'clock this afternoon right during my show so

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_00]: we'll keep you posted.

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Pam, the GM Warner will have all of the traffic updates for you as well.

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_00]: All right, so apparently our former North Carolina attorney general, current

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_00]: governor, my good friend Ray, Roy Cooper, apparently is not aware that the

[00:03:08] [SPEAKER_00]: South Carolina Constitution and the North Carolina Constitution are different.

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_00]: So this is new information we have apparently just found out because the

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_00]: South Carolina Supreme Court issued a ruling yesterday regarding school

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_00]: vouchers and the way that the South Carolina program had worked was that

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_00]: they took the money and they stuffed it into an account and then that

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_00]: account would pay for the vouchers and the vouchers could go to private

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_00]: schools.

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_00]: And what the Supreme Court said was you can't do that because the state

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_00]: court or sorry the state constitution says you can't do that.

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_00]: You cannot use public money for private schools.

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I can read you the provision.

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_00]: It's very clear and of course now I've got leftists who are like, explain

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_00]: it to me.

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, you're the expert.

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll read you the city.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_00]: It's tweets.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_00]: It's an ongoing dialogue on Twitter.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Here's what the South Carolina state constitution says.

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, this was amended or this was put in there probably about a

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_00]: hundred years ago or so.

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know exactly why, but if I had to guess it might have had

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_00]: something to do with Catholic schools, but I don't know that for sure.

[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_00]: So here's what the act says.

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Here's what article 11 section four of the state constitution says.

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Now I am told I'm not a lawyer.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I mean, I know I'm not a lawyer, but I am told that because I

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_00]: am not a lawyer, I am not able to understand this language.

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_00]: So maybe you can help me out because we need the Gnostics among us.

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_00]: We need our betters.

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_00]: We need the superior elites to tell us what our laws are.

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_00]: So this way we can continue to live under their interpretation of whatever

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_00]: the law might be at any given moment, right?

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_00]: So here is the language in the state Supreme Court or state constitution.

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why I keep saying Supreme Court, the state

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_00]: constitution of South Carolina.

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Here it is.

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Quote, no money shall be paid from public funds, nor shall the credit

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_00]: of the state or any of its political subdivisions be used for the direct

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: benefit of any religious or other private educational institution.

[00:05:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Period.

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm so confused.

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_00]: What does it mean?

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh my gosh.

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_00]: If I chop out the middle part there where they talk about the

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_00]: credit of the state or any of its political subdivisions, right?

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I chop that part out and you just read the first part of the sentence

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_00]: and then the last part of the sentence, which by the way, that's a handy trick

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_00]: when you're reading through stuff that may be like, especially with legislation.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_00]: They do a lot of because lawyers speak in legalese, right?

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_00]: And they would greatly benefit from people who are not just, not

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_00]: English majors per se, but communications people.

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_00]: But lawyers, when you read stuff that lawyers write, it's like

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_00]: they're, the language is not the way people speak.

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_00]: So anyway, so if you chop out some of the extra stuff here, I'm not saying

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_00]: it's not valuable, it is, but this isn't, it's not applicable to this

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_00]: case, the credit of the state or any of its political subdivisions, right?

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Cause the political subdivisions are not, that's not at play here.

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, they're saying no money shall be paid from public funds for the

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_00]: direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution.

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_00]: No money shall be paid from public funds for the direct benefit.

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Now, two of the lawyers with the wardrobe change sitting on the bench,

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_00]: they said that, well, this is indirect.

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_00]: See?

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's totally different.

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_00]: We can stuff the money into this other government agency or this

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_00]: other trust fund and then draw the money out of there.

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And then it's not a direct payment.

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_00]: See?

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Look, no, no.

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_00]: You took the money from taxpayers, right?

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_00]: You put it into the, into the state's coffers, into the GovCo coffers.

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_00]: You moving it around in between accounts doesn't make it not public funds.

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And so you take the public funds and you give it to an educational

[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_00]: institution that is private or religious.

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_00]: That to me, again, not a lawyer at all, but that to me seems like a pretty

[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_00]: clear violation of your state constitution.

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_00]: But here's the good news.

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_00]: You could change that.

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_00]: South Carolina y'all can change that if you want.

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_00]: You can change your state constitution to eliminate that provision and

[00:08:26] [SPEAKER_00]: then fund a voucher program.

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_00]: You can do that.

[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, I would submit you do do that.

[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_00]: That would make sense to me.

[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_00]: If you want to have school vouchers, then this would be the way you could do it.

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Take the public money and put it into a voucher program.

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_00]: And then you could fund your voucher program to help the kids go

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_00]: to these different schools.

[00:08:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Otherwise, I'm, you know, I'm just a poor sharecropper here, but it looks

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_00]: like that's pretty clear.

[00:08:59] [SPEAKER_00]: No money shall be paid from public funds for the direct benefit of any religious

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_00]: or other private educational institution.

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Seems pretty clear to me, but what do I know?

[00:09:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm just a little old radio host.

[00:09:12] [SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[00:09:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Real quick.

[00:09:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Let me introduce you to my friends, Gabriel and Michelle, two lifelong

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[00:10:04] [SPEAKER_00]: So the South Carolina Supreme Court yesterday ruled that it's voucher

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_00]: pass-through program, which is what it is.

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_00]: They take tax dollars.

[00:10:13] [SPEAKER_00]: They put it into this.

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_00]: ESTF fund, educational savings transfer from whatever it's called.

[00:10:21] [SPEAKER_00]: They put it into this fund and then kids use it.

[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Parents use it to go and pay tuition at a private or religious school.

[00:10:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And the state constitution says you can't do that for two reasons.

[00:10:38] [SPEAKER_00]: The main one being that it is of a direct number one, it's public funds.

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_00]: And number two is that it is of direct benefit to the private school.

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_00]: And the defendants or the respondents in the case tried to argue that this is

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER_00]: not a direct benefit to private schools.

[00:10:57] [SPEAKER_00]: But if you read the opinion of the, the majority in the state Supreme court,

[00:11:04] [SPEAKER_00]: they're just reading the text.

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And if you just read the text, it's clear what it means.

[00:11:10] [SPEAKER_00]: And you don't need to go looking up and trying to find, you know, the

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_00]: privacy actually includes abortion.

[00:11:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Like you don't need to conjure up this stuff because it's right there in

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_00]: the plain reading of the text.

[00:11:23] [SPEAKER_00]: This is called textualism, right?

[00:11:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Like you read the text, what does it say?

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, it says you can't use public money to directly benefit a

[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_00]: private school or a religious school.

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_00]: If you don't like the law, change the law.

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_00]: I say this to the left all the time when it comes to gun control, right?

[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_00]: If you want to repeal the second amendment, do it, try it, go for it.

[00:11:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Get on record, run some, um, run some amendments to repeal the second

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_00]: amendment, put your name on it.

[00:11:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's see who's on board, right?

[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_00]: They don't ever want to do that.

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Cause it's not popular.

[00:12:00] [SPEAKER_00]: This I would submit would be a popular thing to do.

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER_00]: If you look at the polling, we just saw polling.

[00:12:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I went over it the other day from WRAL.

[00:12:07] [SPEAKER_00]: They tried to frame it like, look at all these people who are opposed

[00:12:09] [SPEAKER_00]: to the vouchers in North Carolina getting more money to clear their

[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_00]: wait list because that's a sure sign that a thing is not popular when you

[00:12:16] [SPEAKER_00]: have 55,000 people waiting to take advantage of the program, right?

[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_00]: So change your constitution.

[00:12:26] [SPEAKER_00]: 77% of the respondents in that WRAL poll were fine with keeping the

[00:12:32] [SPEAKER_00]: opportunity scholarship program around.

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_00]: They differed on funding levels, but only like 23% said, take it to zero.

[00:12:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Everybody else said, leave it where it is, add more money or they weren't sure.

[00:12:48] [SPEAKER_00]: It was like 20% that weren't sure, but they didn't say, take it to zero.

[00:12:52] [SPEAKER_00]: So I would say that means they're okay with the program because if you're

[00:12:56] [SPEAKER_00]: not okay with the program, you would want to zero it out, right?

[00:12:59] [SPEAKER_00]: That's just, it seems obvious to me, but once again, what do I know?

[00:13:03] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm no lawyer.

[00:13:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm no expert.

[00:13:06] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm just a simple man who, you know, reads these cases, reads the opinions,

[00:13:12] [SPEAKER_00]: follows the issue, you know, that kind of thing.

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_00]: It's just so dumb.

[00:13:16] [SPEAKER_00]: So dumb.

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_00]: And I will get to the, I will get to the, the Twitter exchange that

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_00]: descended into dumbassery and record time.

[00:13:26] [SPEAKER_00]: So when I was a kid, my grandpa died with Alzheimer's and before he

[00:13:29] [SPEAKER_00]: died, my mom and my dad and all of us really helped take care of him as

[00:13:32] [SPEAKER_00]: he got progressively worse.

[00:13:34] [SPEAKER_00]: 40 years ago, there were no treatments and not much support

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_00]: for caregivers and family.

[00:13:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Things are different today because of the work of so many people,

[00:13:42] [SPEAKER_00]: including the Alzheimer's association of Western North Carolina.

[00:13:46] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a great organization with awesome people.

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_00]: They've got huge hearts.

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_00]: I've been a supporter for like 25 years.

[00:13:52] [SPEAKER_00]: This cause means a lot to me.

[00:13:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I participate in the annual walk to end Alzheimer's and I am

[00:13:58] [SPEAKER_00]: leading a Charlotte team this year.

[00:13:59] [SPEAKER_00]: It's called Pete's pack.

[00:14:00] [SPEAKER_00]: You can sign up and join the team and walk with me.

[00:14:03] [SPEAKER_00]: It's on October 19th at truest field in uptown signupatalz.org slash walk.

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_00]: And then just look for my team, Pete's pack.

[00:14:12] [SPEAKER_00]: And there's also a link in the podcast description here.

[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Also, I'm going to be emceeing the Gastonia walk on October 5th.

[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_00]: So make a team and join us or make a donation to help me hit my goal.

[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I would really appreciate it.

[00:14:23] [SPEAKER_00]: There are a bunch of other walks around the Carolinas and you can go

[00:14:27] [SPEAKER_00]: to alz.org for all of the dates and locations.

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_00]: We are closer than ever to stopping Alzheimer's.

[00:14:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And if you can help us get there, we would really appreciate it.

[00:14:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Will you come walk with me for a different future for families,

[00:14:41] [SPEAKER_00]: for more time for treatments?

[00:14:43] [SPEAKER_00]: This is why I walk.

[00:14:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Um, so all of this started yesterday.

[00:14:49] [SPEAKER_00]: I shouldn't say started.

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_00]: It started obviously before that.

[00:14:52] [SPEAKER_00]: But it came to a head yesterday because the North Carolina House

[00:14:57] [SPEAKER_00]: moved forward with its mini budget, which included money for

[00:15:03] [SPEAKER_00]: its voucher program, the opportunity scholarship program,

[00:15:07] [SPEAKER_00]: which has a fifty five thousand student wait list.

[00:15:11] [SPEAKER_00]: It's so popular.

[00:15:12] [SPEAKER_00]: People want to take advantage of it, get their kids out of their

[00:15:15] [SPEAKER_00]: failing schools, move them to other schools.

[00:15:17] [SPEAKER_00]: And there wasn't enough funding to keep up with the demand.

[00:15:21] [SPEAKER_00]: So they came back and said, OK, we're going to fully fund the program

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_00]: to clear out that wait list.

[00:15:30] [SPEAKER_00]: That occurred. The House vote on that occurs the same day

[00:15:34] [SPEAKER_00]: that the state Supreme Court in South Carolina rules that its

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_00]: voucher program is unconstitutional.

[00:15:43] [SPEAKER_00]: And my good friend Ray, Governor Roy Cooper,

[00:15:47] [SPEAKER_00]: and I call him my good friend Ray, by the way, always have to

[00:15:50] [SPEAKER_00]: sort of touch base on this for people who may not know why I call him

[00:15:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Ray is because that's what Hillary Clinton called him.

[00:15:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And I believe Kamala Harris called him that, too, on their first

[00:16:01] [SPEAKER_00]: joint appearance, though those many years ago,

[00:16:04] [SPEAKER_00]: both of them calling him their good friend Ray.

[00:16:08] [SPEAKER_00]: And so I I wonder, like if they're such good friends,

[00:16:11] [SPEAKER_00]: maybe he goes by Ray to his good friends.

[00:16:14] [SPEAKER_00]: So I just try to cover my bases, you know.

[00:16:17] [SPEAKER_00]: So Roy Cooper sends out a tweet and we are to believe that he sent this out himself

[00:16:23] [SPEAKER_00]: because he has the initials RC at the end of the tweet.

[00:16:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And that is indicative usually on, like, you know, government official

[00:16:32] [SPEAKER_00]: accounts, campaign accounts, that kind of thing, and also famous people.

[00:16:35] [SPEAKER_00]: If they're tweeting under their own name versus one of their assistants

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_00]: or their com shop person that's tweeting out under their name,

[00:16:44] [SPEAKER_00]: they don't sign them.

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_00]: But if Roy Cooper tweets it himself, then he puts RC to let everybody know he wrote it.

[00:16:50] [SPEAKER_00]: So this is what he wrote.

[00:16:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Even the conservative South Carolina Supreme Court knows private school

[00:16:58] [SPEAKER_00]: voucher schemes are wrong.

[00:17:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Don't do it, NC legislators.

[00:17:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Give our hardworking teachers a raise instead.

[00:17:09] [SPEAKER_00]: OK, so he's making the argument here poorly.

[00:17:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, that even the conservatives know that vouchers are wrong.

[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's not actually what the Supreme Court ruling said.

[00:17:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And they didn't actually take up the merit or the ethics of a school

[00:17:30] [SPEAKER_00]: voucher system of the idea.

[00:17:33] [SPEAKER_00]: That was not part of the ruling.

[00:17:35] [SPEAKER_00]: What is what was part of the ruling and was the focus of the ruling is

[00:17:38] [SPEAKER_00]: whether or not it passes constitutional muster as it has been implemented.

[00:17:43] [SPEAKER_00]: And a majority of the court, it was a split decision, but a majority of the

[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_00]: court said no.

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't because the plain reading of the text of the state constitution,

[00:17:52] [SPEAKER_00]: as I went over, says you shall not use public money for direct

[00:17:56] [SPEAKER_00]: benefit of private schools.

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_00]: So that's very clear.

[00:17:59] [SPEAKER_00]: If you don't like it, change the Constitution.

[00:18:02] [SPEAKER_00]: So I simply pointed out me being a giver, I pointed out that the South

[00:18:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Carolina Constitution is different than the North Carolina Constitution.

[00:18:14] [SPEAKER_00]: See, we don't have that provision in our state constitution, which is why

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_00]: we can do the opportunity scholarship.

[00:18:23] [SPEAKER_00]: We don't have this restriction.

[00:18:26] [SPEAKER_00]: And then I pointed out that I would think that the former attorney general

[00:18:29] [SPEAKER_00]: of North Carolina, my good friend Ray, that he would know that unless, of

[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_00]: course, he does know it.

[00:18:37] [SPEAKER_00]: And he's betting that you do not.

[00:18:41] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's actually what I think he's doing.

[00:18:44] [SPEAKER_00]: That's what I think he's doing.

[00:18:45] [SPEAKER_00]: I think he knows perfectly well that the state of South Carolina has its

[00:18:50] [SPEAKER_00]: own constitution.

[00:18:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Do I know if he read the court opinion?

[00:18:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I do not.

[00:18:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Would I be surprised if he did not read it?

[00:18:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I would not be surprised if he didn't read it.

[00:19:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Why would he?

[00:19:02] [SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't have to.

[00:19:02] [SPEAKER_00]: He's not the governor of South Carolina.

[00:19:04] [SPEAKER_00]: But he saw an opportunity to score some political points relying on media and

[00:19:10] [SPEAKER_00]: the public's ignorance to advance it.

[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_00]: And so I was just pointing out that he's an idiot or a liar or maybe both.

[00:19:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to limit him.

[00:19:22] [SPEAKER_00]: No, I suspect he's not an idiot.

[00:19:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I suspect he's actually a liar.

[00:19:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I think he is just a partisan hack and he's just advancing this line of

[00:19:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Because it's helpful to him in the moment against vouchers, which then prompts

[00:19:41] [SPEAKER_00]: a response from a leftist moonbat on the Twitter machine who asks me to

[00:19:49] [SPEAKER_00]: explain what the difference in the two state constitutions are.

[00:19:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Given that you've obviously read them both.

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_00]: I've read the provision.

[00:19:58] [SPEAKER_00]: I know what's in the state constitution of North Carolina versus South Carolina

[00:20:02] [SPEAKER_00]: when it comes to the opportunity scholarships, but this is one of the

[00:20:05] [SPEAKER_00]: things that leftists do is they demand that you do their homework for them.

[00:20:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't have to explain myself or the law or the constitutions

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_00]: to some random on Twitter.

[00:20:21] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't have to do that, but as a cat with a ball of yarn,

[00:20:28] [SPEAKER_00]: I do amuse myself sometimes.

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_00]: And so when this idiot says, can you explain what the difference in the two is?

[00:20:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I said, I can, yes.

[00:20:39] [SPEAKER_00]: And you should read the South Carolina constitution.

[00:20:41] [SPEAKER_00]: See, so I answered her question, right?

[00:20:45] [SPEAKER_00]: I just didn't do her homework for her.

[00:20:47] [SPEAKER_00]: She should go read it because here's the thing.

[00:20:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I know who this person is and they are not a good faith actor.

[00:20:55] [SPEAKER_00]: They don't come to this in an attempt to have dialogue.

[00:21:02] [SPEAKER_00]: They are a troll.

[00:21:03] [SPEAKER_00]: She's a troll.

[00:21:04] [SPEAKER_00]: And so she's trying to find some way to score some political points

[00:21:09] [SPEAKER_00]: and to make me look foolish.

[00:21:11] [SPEAKER_00]: So this way, my argument, my attack on Governor Cooper can be ignored,

[00:21:20] [SPEAKER_00]: but it can't be ignored because it's a good line of attack.

[00:21:24] [SPEAKER_00]: See, that's the problem that she's having here is that it's true.

[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's true.

[00:21:29] [SPEAKER_00]: It's defensible.

[00:21:30] [SPEAKER_00]: We have different constitutions.

[00:21:34] [SPEAKER_00]: And then she asks for why I disagree with the conservative leaning

[00:21:38] [SPEAKER_00]: chief justice's dissent.

[00:21:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Why do I think he got it wrong?

[00:21:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And so I just point out that lawyers have different opinions.

[00:21:48] [SPEAKER_00]: There are a bunch of judges on that court, I think five, right?

[00:21:51] [SPEAKER_00]: And they split.

[00:21:52] [SPEAKER_00]: They had different opinions or maybe seven, I forget.

[00:21:57] [SPEAKER_00]: But they have different opinions.

[00:21:59] [SPEAKER_00]: They're lawyers.

[00:21:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, they have different opinions.

[00:22:03] [SPEAKER_00]: I said that doesn't change when they put a robe on over their clothing, right?

[00:22:06] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, just because I put a robe on doesn't mean that all of a sudden now

[00:22:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm supposed to agree with every other lawyer on the bench.

[00:22:11] [SPEAKER_00]: That's stupid.

[00:22:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Like this is a bad faith argument, as I said.

[00:22:19] [SPEAKER_00]: And then I pointed out that the South Carolina constitution is pretty clear.

[00:22:23] [SPEAKER_00]: To me, it's pretty clear.

[00:22:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Says what it says.

[00:22:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Again, as a textualist, it's pretty clear.

[00:22:29] [SPEAKER_00]: And then she says, oh, I guess the in-depth analysis takes a while, huh?

[00:22:33] [SPEAKER_00]: And then she's got a picture of Kamala Harris with the hand under her chin

[00:22:36] [SPEAKER_00]: from during the debate, as if that somehow makes her response less stupid.

[00:22:41] [SPEAKER_00]: But then I said, well, this is Twitter.

[00:22:43] [SPEAKER_00]: You could read the opinion yourself.

[00:22:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Like this is Twitter.

[00:22:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Sir, this is Bojangles.

[00:22:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, this is what you say to people who come in ranting and raving

[00:22:52] [SPEAKER_00]: about some ridiculous thing, making all sorts of demands upon you.

[00:22:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, this is a drive-in or a drive-through.

[00:22:58] [SPEAKER_00]: What are you doing?

[00:22:59] [SPEAKER_00]: This is Twitter.

[00:23:00] [SPEAKER_00]: If you want to know what the legal arguments are in the case, go

[00:23:03] [SPEAKER_00]: read the freaking opinions.

[00:23:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Because when I read the opinions, I sided with the majority opinion on that.

[00:23:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Even as a school voucher proponent, I sided with the group that said, with

[00:23:23] [SPEAKER_00]: I did not buy the argument.

[00:23:25] [SPEAKER_00]: I did not agree with the argument from the other conservative Republican judges,

[00:23:29] [SPEAKER_00]: because that's who they all are.

[00:23:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And so there were, I mean, this is all Republican on Republican action here.

[00:23:35] [SPEAKER_00]: So like, like there's no partisan divide.

[00:23:39] [SPEAKER_00]: They're lawyers with different opinions.

[00:23:41] [SPEAKER_00]: I read them and I say, I agree with this one because I can read the plain

[00:23:44] [SPEAKER_00]: text of the constitution.

[00:23:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And if you cannot understand the plain text of your own constitution,

[00:23:50] [SPEAKER_00]: you're living under tyranny.

[00:23:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Seriously, it's supposed to be a written rule book for all of us to understand,

[00:23:59] [SPEAKER_00]: to easily comprehend so we know what the rules are.

[00:24:02] [SPEAKER_00]: So everybody's playing by the same rules.

[00:24:06] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't need a lawyer with a wardrobe change to tell me that the words

[00:24:10] [SPEAKER_00]: mean something different than what it says on the paper.

[00:24:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Pretty straightforward.

[00:24:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Here is a message in the email inbox from Philip who says, I think the

[00:24:22] [SPEAKER_00]: South Carolina Supreme Court is misreading their constitution.

[00:24:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Vouchers do not go to the school, but are available to parents for the

[00:24:31] [SPEAKER_00]: benefit of their child or children.

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Same would apply to SNAP benefits or food stamps, right?

[00:24:37] [SPEAKER_00]: It is not for the store, but for the person.

[00:24:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, first off, there is no prohibition against using the public money for a

[00:24:48] [SPEAKER_00]: food program like that in the state constitution that I'm aware of.

[00:24:52] [SPEAKER_00]: That's a big difference.

[00:24:55] [SPEAKER_00]: This is the language about public money for private education is

[00:25:01] [SPEAKER_00]: specifically singled out in the state constitution.

[00:25:06] [SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know if the argument holds because there isn't a similar kind

[00:25:10] [SPEAKER_00]: of provision in the state constitution governing food.

[00:25:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Now, that being said, that is also a direct benefit to the store

[00:25:20] [SPEAKER_00]: that sells the food, right?

[00:25:24] [SPEAKER_00]: You can't tell, like the first part, vouchers did not go to the school.

[00:25:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Of course they do.

[00:25:30] [SPEAKER_00]: You can disagree and think that this is just for the benefit of the kid.

[00:25:35] [SPEAKER_00]: But I would disagree with that because I believe yes, it does benefit

[00:25:38] [SPEAKER_00]: the child, but it also benefits the school.

[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_00]: And how do I measure that?

[00:25:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, if the school doesn't get enough tuition, doesn't get enough

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_00]: enrollment, the school closes.

[00:25:50] [SPEAKER_00]: So having kids come, having more kids come is beneficial to that school.

[00:25:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Higher enrollment numbers, more money coming in.

[00:26:02] [SPEAKER_00]: That's a direct benefit to that school.

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Again, to me, it's pretty clear.

[00:26:07] [SPEAKER_00]: You don't have to agree.

[00:26:08] [SPEAKER_00]: But that's like, that's my take on it.

[00:26:12] [SPEAKER_00]: And I wish that the South Carolina state constitution did not have this language

[00:26:17] [SPEAKER_00]: in it, I would highly recommend the state put a vote up to the people and

[00:26:22] [SPEAKER_00]: have them amend their state constitution to remove this so they can implement a

[00:26:26] [SPEAKER_00]: straight up voucher program.

[00:26:28] [SPEAKER_00]: I am a defender of vouchers, but I am also a textualist.

[00:26:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to read the text and I'm going to say what, what do these words

[00:26:35] [SPEAKER_00]: mean in everyone's understanding of what the words mean?

[00:26:39] [SPEAKER_00]: That's what it means.

[00:26:41] [SPEAKER_00]: So when you say you can't use public money for the direct benefit of the

[00:26:44] [SPEAKER_00]: school, can't do it.

[00:26:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Doesn't mean you can't use it for the direct benefit of the kids, right?

[00:26:48] [SPEAKER_00]: That's not a prohibited thing.

[00:26:50] [SPEAKER_00]: The problem here is that the schools are also benefiting directly.

[00:26:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Even though they say, no, no, no, we're going to wash it through the

[00:26:56] [SPEAKER_00]: education scholarship transfer fund or whatever.

[00:26:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's still taxpayer money.

[00:27:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Just because you park it someplace before sending it along doesn't mean that

[00:27:06] [SPEAKER_00]: it's not a direct flow, because that's all the money is being used for.

[00:27:11] [SPEAKER_00]: So now in North Carolina, the House passed its expansion of the opportunity

[00:27:19] [SPEAKER_00]: scholarship program, the vouchers here.

[00:27:23] [SPEAKER_00]: And there are a lot of people that are very, very, very upset about that.

[00:27:28] [SPEAKER_00]: And there is a conservative advocacy group called the Carolina Partnership

[00:27:33] [SPEAKER_00]: for Reform, and they had a very good piece about this the other day.

[00:27:39] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's CPRNC.org.

[00:27:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Carolina Partnership for Reform, CPRNC.org, I think is their website.

[00:27:47] [SPEAKER_00]: The standard measure of public school funding in North Carolina and across

[00:27:50] [SPEAKER_00]: America is how much money is spent per student, right?

[00:27:54] [SPEAKER_00]: That's the number that everybody cites.

[00:27:59] [SPEAKER_00]: And the anti-school choice activists, the education freedom opponents, they

[00:28:07] [SPEAKER_00]: will say that we are spending less per pupil than the national average.

[00:28:12] [SPEAKER_00]: And so that's not right.

[00:28:14] [SPEAKER_00]: So they'll cite that figure all the time in order to goose the

[00:28:19] [SPEAKER_00]: legislature into raising funding for public schools.

[00:28:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Because the traditional public schools in North Carolina are funded to the

[00:28:27] [SPEAKER_00]: tune of over $12,000 per year.

[00:28:30] [SPEAKER_00]: That's the per pupil expenditure.

[00:28:33] [SPEAKER_00]: 12-2 basically.

[00:28:35] [SPEAKER_00]: $12,200 per pupil per year.

[00:28:38] [SPEAKER_00]: By the way, it's lower for charter schools.

[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_00]: It's only $11,200.

[00:28:43] [SPEAKER_00]: But when you talk about the vouchers, listen to the way they talk about it.

[00:28:48] [SPEAKER_00]: They never talk about the per pupil expenditure for the vouchers, which

[00:28:52] [SPEAKER_00]: only go up to like $7,500.

[00:28:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And the rich people who are getting some of their money back to pay for

[00:29:03] [SPEAKER_00]: private school tuition, they only get like three grand.

[00:29:07] [SPEAKER_00]: So the per pupil expenditure number is an important number in the debate

[00:29:13] [SPEAKER_00]: that the opportunity scholarship opponents never cite.

[00:29:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[00:29:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Because the per pupil funding number does not change.

[00:29:21] [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't change with the increase in the school voucher program.

[00:29:26] [SPEAKER_00]: We're still spending the $12,000 plus per kid in the government K-12 systems.

[00:29:32] [SPEAKER_00]: That number is the same.

[00:29:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Increasing funding for the opportunity scholarships has no impact on that number.

[00:29:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Now you can argue that we should take the money from the scholarships and

[00:29:44] [SPEAKER_00]: use it for other things, which is what some of them are arguing, but

[00:29:48] [SPEAKER_00]: they're just opponents of the vouchers in general.

[00:29:50] [SPEAKER_00]: They don't want it.

[00:29:51] [SPEAKER_00]: They don't want there to be any vouchers.

[00:29:54] [SPEAKER_00]: They want you trapped unless you're rich.

[00:29:57] [SPEAKER_00]: If you're rich, well then you can afford a private school or you can move

[00:30:00] [SPEAKER_00]: to a very nice neighborhood with a good public school in that neighborhood.

[00:30:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[00:30:04] [SPEAKER_00]: But if you're poor, sorry, you're at a loss.

[00:30:06] [SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[00:30:06] [SPEAKER_00]: That'll do it for this episode.

[00:30:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for listening.

[00:30:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I could not do the show without your support and the support of the

[00:30:12] [SPEAKER_00]: businesses that advertise on the podcast.

[00:30:15] [SPEAKER_00]: So if you'd like please support them too and tell them you heard it here.

[00:30:17] [SPEAKER_00]: You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepeatcalinershow.com.

[00:30:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Again, thank you so much for listening and don't break anything while I'm gone.