It’s Groundhog Day And “Gerrymander Phil” Saw His Shadow

Punxsutawney Phil apparently saw his shadow this morning therefore predicting an early spring.

NC has its own Phil, one who is the prognosticator of bad budgets and ill policies named “Gerrymander Phil,” and he also saw his shadow thus forecasting an ongoing budget stalemate for months to come.

He always sees his shadow because he focuses only on matters that affect him and those who share his ideologies. And nothing is as like him as his own shadow.

One of the best movies of the last century in my opinion is Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray and North Carolina’s own Andie MacDowell where a cantankerous weatherman sent to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities has to relive the same day over and over again until he comes to an epiphany that serving others is the most fulfilling life one can lead.

And those quotes which are so applicable to today’s political landscape in NC where Gerrymander Phil resides! But there is one particular exchange between the characters Phil (Murray) and Rita (MacDowell) that captures the spirit of the entire film.

Rita: “Do you believe in Déjà vu?”

Phil: “Didn’t you just ask me that?”

And why is that so applicable to the NC political landscape? Because with Phil Berger in power it is the same political ploys and moves to keep the same policies in place to keep the same people happy at the expense of others.

The same tax cuts to corporations.

The same attacks on public schools.

The same vitriol toward public school teachers.

The same policies to keep almost one in four public school students at or below the poverty level.

The same insane resistance to expanding Medicaid.

The same minimum wage.

The same enabling of privatizing public education.

The same gerrymandering of districts based on racial lines to keep himself and his cronies in power.

The same lies about what has truly benefited NC.

There is a primary in March and an incredibly important election cycle in November that can literally stop this repeating cycle of bad legislating and ill-conceived policies. We can stop this repetition of the same day and the same year over and over again.

We can get past Groundhog Day and not have to worry about whether or not the weather allows Gerrymander Phil to see his shadow or not.