By MONA MOORE
Staff Writer
The Supreme Court decision to uphold the healthcare act was the topic of conversation Thursday night at a meeting of the Democratic Women of Washington.
Guest speaker Don Davis compared the decision to his son’s little league games. Like the controversial calls of a little league umpire, it would not have been fair to reverse President Obama’s health care plan.
“We should be proud we were able to adhere to justice,” Davis said.
Davis, a former mayor of Snow Hill, is running unopposed for state senator representing district five.
He said the health care act was an example of how polarized politics had become. He also said politics had become personal, driven by personalities.
“My friends, the stakes are high. Times are different. Politics are different. That means we’re going to have to be different to move forward,” Davis said. “You will be amazed at who we can reach when we remain committed to our good values.”
Davis said an important democratic value was public education. He reminded the audience that North Carolina was the first state to graduate a student from a public university (Chapel Hill) and contrasted the state’s history with today’s state legislature cutting school funding.
Davis called for more voter registration drives.
“We have to continue to build the party to build a stable future,” he said.
The organization welcomed two other guest speakers to the monthly meeting. Barbara Harrison, regional director of the Democratic Women of North Carolina, opted to share a handout instead of giving a speech.
She shared a list of ways the Affordable Care Act will impact North Carolina. The list included the expansion of Medicaid to help more than 87,000 veterans and family members of veterans in the state, and 715,000 small business owners who will obtain coverage through a new health insurance exchange.
Erik Anderson also addressed the group. Anderson is running for U.S. House representative of North Carolina’s third district.
Anderson said the key to making North Carolina a blue state was to focus on delivering registered voters to the polls.
“There are 321,000 registered democrats and 220,000 registered republicans,” Anderson said. “We’re up by 100,000 votes. We just got to turn them out to the polls.”
Anderson said his opponent had done nothing good while in office and only held the position because voters confused the junior with his father who had also been a senator.
“I am running against a ghost,” Anderson said. “Walter Jr. hasn’t passed anything helpful. He voted against equal pay, against the rights of women, against the military. He voted to raise prescription prices for veterans.”
Anderson, a U.S. Marine veteran, said he would stand up for the rights of workers, women and fellow veterans.
The Democratic Women of Washington meet once a month at King Chicken in Washington.