“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” I doubt Dickens had North Carolina in September of 2023 in mind when he wrote those iconic words, but they fit.

On one hand, we see NC’s own authoritarian export Mandy Cohen promoted to fill the criminal shoes of Mr. Fauci with mask mandates beginning to pop back up and distancing being discussed, a prominent reminder that we are not even a year removed from the covid dictatorship in our country, and no one has been held accountable.

Runaway inflation and poor employment prospects have crushed the economic situation of the average American family. This reality hurts even more in a state like ours, where much of the economy is people who actually produce things, like farmers and manufacturers, crippled under the weight of increasing cost of goods on top of extortion in the form of taxes.

Everything a politician doesn’t like is now an “emergency” or “crisis” and officials use that manufactured nonsense to ignore Constitutional rights. Our feckless tyrant governor is no exception with his ridiculous declaration of an “emergency” around public schools over education policies that have failed our children for decades.

Infrastructure is crumbling while property taxes increase, crime in the state is going up while police violate rights over victimless crimes with increasing impunity, and attention-whore politicians with no soul turn a tragic targeted killing into a “mass shooter” event to drive sentiment intended to chip away at our second amendment rights.

And yet, I am here to tell you, it is the best of times, and I have hope!

We have a slate of candidates running for local offices in 2023, all of whom are inspiring, principled Libertarians, drawn to run to defend our rights. Many of them have a real chance of winning, and they are running campaigns to make that a reality. And we have more in the pipeline for 2024. We’ll hear from them in the podcast at the start of next week.

While coward politicians cowed before their NRA masters when it came to Constitutional Carry, we did get a repeal of the racist pistol permit restrictions. Tyrant sheriff departments that hid behind arcane and poorly defined background check requirements are facing lawsuits over their feet dragging when it came to granting concealed carry licenses, and the tides are beginning to turn.

Push back against ridiculous eyesore coastal wind farms, which reliably kill dolphins instead of generating power, is gaining traction. So is support for clean, efficient, reliable, and affordable nuclear power expansion.

Education reform remains far too stagnant, with power concentrated in the hands of state-loyalist bureaucrats, but we have seen significant legislative movement toward taking power away from these unelected, unaccountable monsters and back in the hands of the families who love and support their children.

But mostly, I have hope because of you all. Our overall numbers are up over 50,000, growing every day. Donations are increasing, volunteer numbers are growing and the hours and diversity of skillsets of our volunteers is increasing dramatically.

But make no mistake, we have a long way to go, and, like in the Empire Strikes Back, we can expect the state to defend its hegemonic control aggressively and decisively. We need all of you. As we get back to school and as we are reminded of the beauty of North Carolina in autumn, I am asking you to join us, even if you can only do a little. Help a campaign – we need it. Give five bucks a month – we need it. Volunteer to phone bank for an hour – we need it. Or go to the next event at your nearest local affiliate, volunteer to table, or just reach out to active Libertarians near you. I promise, we appreciate it so much, your actions will go so far, and you will meet like-minded people who will become lifelong friends.

-Ryan Brown, LPNC Chair