Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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JULY 19-25, 2017 UCW 25 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM State legislative leaders this week dismissed a report by their own nonpartisan legislative staff showing the latest round of tax changes will create a budget shortfall of more than a billion dollars in two years, growing to $1.4 billion two years after that. e projections came in response to a request made by Democratic leaders in the Senate during the budget debate warning about the impact of the tax cuts, the bulk of which will go to corporations and wealthy families. e analysis prompted headlines about a looming budget gap and revenue problems. Democratic lead- ers said it confirmed Governor Roy Cooper's charac- terization of the Republican budget as irresponsible. e response by Republican leaders, including the office of Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, was to first irrelevantly blame Democrats for past budget problems and then to promise that no shortfall was looming because Republicans would simply cut spending to make up the difference. ey are technically right, as the state constitu- tion requires a balanced budget. But missing from the headlines and the reaction to the budget news is what the projections really mean: that we are experi- encing a dangerous new normal in North Carolina. No longer does everyone assume the budget will increase spending to keep up with the state's needs. Not too long ago, funding for increased enrollment at public schools, community colleges and universi- ties was automatically built into budget assump- tions. But now lawmakers must decide every year if they want to pay for the additional students who show up at school. Many Republicans boasted dur- ing the budget debate that they did fund the enroll- ment increases, though in the university system's case, they asked for more budget cuts back in return. e memo from the legislative staff projecting the shortfall assumed "inflationary increases for salaries and other line items" and "spending consistent with a current services approach." In other words, the projections of the billion-dol- lar shortfall is based on lawmakers' keeping things just like they are, which is spending well below his- torical levels as a share of the state's economy. e analysis also assumes lawmakers will make investments to keep up with increased health care costs and retiree benefits and some of the projected changes in Medicaid. It does not include any significant new invest- ments in anything, no big teacher raises to reach the national average in salaries, no reasonable increase to help state workers, no new initiatives in child care or K-12 education, not even an effort to fund the class size mandate for public schools passed by the General Assembly without the funding to pay for it. No, the analysis used by the legislative staff is a bare bones budget that continues the inadequate spending levels of recent years — but it still results in a massive budget shortfall. at is the real story here. Not that the unwise Robin Hood in reverse tax breaks is pushing the state towards a budget crisis, but that Republican leaders are clearly planning even more cuts to education, health care and essential human services. Raises for teachers and state employees will never be significant, not in the scenario they have created. Inflationary increases will not be fully funded and Republicans will demand credit when they are even partially paid for. State leaders used to build increased investments into the budget plans and whatever was left over was invested in new programs or bigger raises or more help for children. Now, budget cuts are instead built into the budget by the big tax breaks given every year. ere is no as- sumption that schools will be adequately funded or that teachers will get a raise or that at-risk children will have access to pre-K programs. All that will be decided every year, AFTER the tax cuts are paid for. It's a dangerous new normal, indeed. North Carolina Faces New Normal by CHRIS FITZSIMON POLITICS Can a former North Caro- lina governor bridge the gap between science and religion? James G. Martin gives it a try in his new book "Rev- elation rough Science: Evolution in the Harmony of Science and Religion." Why would Martin want to take on the task of showing that the discoveries of science pose no threat to Christianity or any other religion? Martin is a Davidson and Princeton trained chem- ist. He is a champion of the scientific method and, without apology, endorses the discoveries his fellow scientists have made, including the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe and basics of the theory of evolution. He is also the son of a Presbyterian minister and himself a lifelong Christian. He believes the Bible is "the received word of God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and of any life it holds, on earth or elsewhere. I believe the Bible is our best guide to faith and practice. "I believe there is, and can be, no irreconcilable conflict between science and religion, for they are revealed from the same God. Even more than that, as a Christian, I believe that God is most clearly revealed in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, I firmly believe that a loving God intended us to have the capacity to observe and interpret nature, so that we would grow in understanding the majesty and mystery of His creation and all that followed." How can Martin reconcile his scientific truths with the biblical account of a six-day creation or with the related belief that the earth was created about six thousand years ago? He admitted that he would sometimes avoid dis- cussion of these questions when he was involved in electoral politics. For instance, as governor he visited the small town of Hobucken on Pamlico Sound. He stopped at the local fishing supply store at R. E. Mayo Company and saw a "monstrous skeletal whale head standing right outside the store." Martin remarked to some of the local people, "Wow! at whale must have lived and died there mil- lions of years ago!"Martin said everything got quiet. en, one person responded: "No, sir, we reckon she couldn't have been there more'n six thousand years!" "No," Martin wrote, "I did not stand my ground and debate the age of the earth with these fine gentlemen. I knew what I knew, part of which was that they knew what they knew, and this debate was not winnable." Now Martin is ready, not to debate, but to explain that scientist's conclusions about the time of creation (13.7 billion years ago) and the age of the earth (4.5 billion years ago) are firmly based. More importantly for him, they are not in conflict with religion, includ- ing the creation accounts in the book of Genesis. In his 400-page book, Martin lays out a seminar for the "educated non-scientist," explaining the awesome complexities and orderliness of our world. He gives details of the sciences of astronomy, physics, biology, evolution, geology, paleontology, organic chemistry, biochemistry and genomics, including efforts to spark living organisms from inert chemicals. With every scientific advance or explanation of how the world came about and works now, Martin said there is a further revelation from the Creator. Does he assert that these advances prove the exis- tence of God? No, but throughout the book he points out what he calls "anthropic coincidences" that made for a universe that "was physically and chemically attuned very precisely for the emergence of life, culminating thus far in an intelligent, self-aware species." If the discussions of science and religion are too complicated for some readers, they should not put down the book before reading its final chapter in which Martin describes his personal journey of faith, study, service, and tolerance and respect for the opin- ions of those who see things differently. James Martin on Science and Religion by D.G. MARTIN LITERATURE D.G. MARTIN, Host of UNC's Book Watch. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly. com. (910) 484-6200. CHRIS FITZSIMON, N.C. Policy Watch. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. (910) 484-6200.