Ruling with an iron fist

Asheville Citizen-Times columnist John Boyle is on a roll lately and this weekend penned a withering account of the heavy-handed, Republican-led efforts to dismantle Asheville, AKA Liberal Bastion of the Blue Ridge.
Boyle makes the connection that many miss: self-proclaimed conservatives now in control of the Legislature are all too eager to give lip service to individual liberties and limited government except when it suits their interests to rule with an iron fist. That includes meddling in purely local city and county matters to harm political foes and introducing a constitutional amendment that restricts citizens' ability to define for themselves their families and relationships.
As Chris Fitzsimon points out, it looks like more and more North Carolina voters are seeing their two-faced position for what it really is.