Marsh Smith, I respect you.  You are no hypocrite.  You're an outspoken Statist and make no bones about it.  I appreciate your candor and your willingness to engage in public debate about ideas rather than hurl mud ball attacks from afar.  That is a sign of integrity and you are always welcome at Moore Tea Citizens where encourage the respectful debate of ideas.

That said, there is very little on which we agree with you.  Once again you want taxpayers, regardless of their financial circumstances or personal opinions, to fit the bill for a project you want.  Instead, why don't you simply make the case to the community?  If it's such a great idea, citizens who can afford it will donate the money!  It happens often in Moore County.  The State can take the citizens' money from them under threat of force, but that doesn't mean it magically, ethically becomes a slush fund for you to fill your desires.  Quite to the contrary!

In this same The Pilot article, Lowell Simon, another man with many uncamouflaged Marxist ideas, presented his own pet project to the Southern Pines Town Council, but apparently he has garnered private donations to pay for it.  I have no doubt that you two men are well acquainted.  Marsh, why don't you talk to Lowell and find out how do it without raiding the purses of citizens who live on the verge of loosing their property?

In his TownHall.com opinion piece Trump and the Traitorous Critic Fallacy, Ian Haworth advocates a loser's strategy for conservatives.  The article is worth reading for the truth and education it contains, but Hawsworth needs to wake up to communication in 2019.  He's right that "love it or leave it" is just an emotional reply to insufferable fools.  However, in his assertion that we need to (solely) use "objective metrics" to rationally refute the Left's bad ideas, Haworth misses what the president understands: a purely rational discussion of logic and facts will not be covered by the media—legacy or—so Nobody will hear it. An issue must get legs (be heard) before it can go anywhere (influence opinions).  The Left has mastered evoking emotional knee-jerks.  We are masters at making the rational case for liberty and protecting individual rights.  We always win thoughtful debates, but if we're going to win hearts and minds, we've got to be more savvy about getting attention and stirring emotion.  President Trump is quite good at that.

Today's Moore County Schools (MCS) crisis is a shortage of bus drivers. To paraphrase the author of this The Pilot piece, "Funding is not the reason there is a bus driver shortage. Rather, it is caused by a lack of teaching assistants due to state funding cuts."  That is, MCS needs more money.

School board member Betty Wells-Brown noted that other school districts have, for many years, successfully managed their bus driver shortages by requiring support and maintenance staff members to drive, when needed.  We support this remedy as it solves the problem without adding more bodies to the payroll.  However, we are highly skeptical that we will not soon see a budget increase request with multiple reasons for why it is "so badly needed," pushed by the usual torch 'n pitchfork brigade (most/all turned out by Superintendent Grimesey) demanding action "for the children."

Read: Moore Co. Schools will require support staff to obtain bus licenses because of driver shortage

Moore Tea Citizens heartily "anti-endorses" Renee Ellmers for any elected, appointed or volunteer position in any governmental body in any state.  She is an arrogant liar who embodies the Political Class; the Establishment.  Many of our members have personal experience with her in North Carlolina and/or Washington, D.C.

As with everything, we don't expect thinking people who value integrity, liberty and small government to simply take our words for it.  Once you investigate her voting record and the way she treated her constituents, you'll see for yourself.

RECOMMENDATION:  Do whatever is legally, ethically and morally proper to keep this ambitious demagogue out of another elected office.

To get your search jumpstarted:
  She’s Running: Renee Ellmers is Now ‘for NC’
  Conservatives go to war against Renee Ellmers over abortion, immigration
  The right's most-hated RINO: Why Rep. Renee Ellmers' career is so telling

THIS is one of the reasons you are wrong if you are simply an "R-voter" (or a "D-voter"). This guy is an out-and-out, vile bigot. A year or so ago, Moore Tea Citizens was the object of his ignorant, stupid, white supremacist  hatred.

NC House District 42 is Democrat-heavy, so this loon is unlikely to be elected, but you are one of those "I could never vote for a Democrat (or Republican)" people, this should serve as a cautionary note. Every decent person in the 24th, regardless of voter registration, should vote for the Democrat in November.

This is ruling is not a statement about homosexualality or gay marriage. There is no reason that married, gay people should not support this decision because it is soley about the right of a person to act within the bounds of his/her personal, religious beliefs and in a way that does not harm other people or their property. Read the story in the Washington Examiner: Supreme Court tosses out ruling against florist who declined to make arrangement for gay wedding

The consensus of our membership is that we generally oppose legislation to control adult, consensual activities involving private property (including one's own body). We also apply rational thought and commonsense to life's challenges.

If you have a male body but think it should be female, that is none of our business. On the other hand, you make it our business by demanding that we pay for your sex-change surgery and/or the medical care and hormone therapy that will follow it for the rest of your life. There is no "right" to serve in the military. Applicants have been denied entry to military service for as long as there have been militaries. Medical, legal, marital status, etc., are or have been discriminators.

We don't know what causes a person to believe s/he was "born with the wrong body," but the cause is irrelevant to whether s/he should be allowed to enter the US military, or to take steps to change that body once admitted.

THE purpose of the military is to "kill people and break things." All other functions are all other functions are incidental. So, whether you are blind, were born without arms, have asthma, are diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, use heroin, have a congenital heart defect, think you're supposed to have a penis and just were't born with one, etc., you should not be admitted to the US military. It's not personal. It's not a matter of morals or ethics. It's functional.

Note: We are keenly aware that underlying the publicly stated reasons for the demand that transsexuals be allowed military service is the never-ending campaign to "fundamentally transform" America and tear down it's institutions and traditions in the name of "social justice." Changes may be beneficial or even necessary, but must not​ be pursued with a myopic disregard for facts, rational thought and consequences.