Former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neillt used to say, “All politics is local”, which, in a broad sense, refers to the fact that every decision made in Washington affects every community, and that decisions made locally can affect what goes on nationally. In just under two weeks, that philosophy will be put to the test when voters in North Carolina decide to send either Democrat Cheri Beasley or Republican Ted Budd to the United States Senate, and, by so doing, determine the balance of power in our federal government.
Ms. Beasley is a former Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, and Mr. Budd is a three-term congressman from the 13th district. One is liberal and the other is conservative, and both are locked in a neck-and-neck battle that political pollsters say is too close to call. This weekend, Budd and Beasley will appear on an episode of Triad Today. My interviews with them were pre-taped and what follows are highlights of those conversations.
INFLATION
JL: Forty million Americans are living in poverty and 12 million children go hungry every day. What are your solutions for bringing down the rate of inflation?
CB: I’ve been all over the state, 100 counties, and the prevailing issue is rising costs. People are feeling it on everything from pain at the pump to prescription drugs, and everything else in between. We’re trying to get through the supply chain issue, but I also know that there are corporations that are price-gouging at a time when they are making record profits, and that’s just not right for North Carolinians.”
JL: So, if you get elected, you’ll want to go after those corporations, right?
CB: Well yes, there should be a penalty for them. It’s also important for us to focus on our made-in-America economy so that we’re making more of our goods in the state.
TB: Inflation is a 40-year problem. We haven’t had inflation this bad since the Carter administration, leaking into the Reagan administration. We know how to fix this. The problem is the ideology of the Left, the ideology of Cheri Beasley, the ideology of Joe Biden won’t allow us to fix it.
JL: What do you mean “fix it”?
TB: We’ve got to have more energy. That’s what’s driving this. I’m talking about fertilizer producers to produce our food. Diesel producers that need to put fuel in the trucks to get it to the grocery stores. Everything the Left wants to do makes it harder on those folks, which is driving up prices right now. Encouraging people not to come back to work, I mean that’s what they did for a while, and that’s a lot of what’s causing the worker shortage right now.
JL: And, gasoline prices are about to go back up because of what Saudi Arabia and OPEC did.
TB: Right, and so are heating fuel prices just on the edge of winter here in just a few months.
SAFE SCHOOLS
JL: Twenty-seven children have been shot at school just since January. What’s your solution for making our schools safe from gun violence?
TB: This is heartbreaking, and as a parent, we all want our kids to come home safely. You have to keep firearms out of the hands of dangerous individuals, and you can do that without infringing upon second amendment rights. We need to enforce the laws that are on the books, many of which aren’t being enforced, and we need to deal with mental illness, which is an increasing problem.
CB: We need universal background checks, we need red flag laws, and there is absolutely no reason to have weapons of war on our streets, and guns should not be in the hands of people who can’t use them responsibly, and who use them dangerously.
SOCIAL MEDIA
JL: As you know, Tik Tok is owned by a Chinese company, so one congressman wants to ban all Tik Tok apps on military bases as a matter of national security. Meanwhile, parents are concerned about the dangerous information being posted on all social media platforms. Would you like to see social media companies be regulated in the same way as broadcasters?
TB: How social media is being used is very concerning. We have to be very careful and make sure we look at this through the lens of national security, but at the same time protect our first amendment rights.
CB: There’s no doubt that young people stay on social media, and we have to be thoughtful about the kinds of things our young people are taking in. And I do think there have to be more regulations. We have to balance the protections offered by the first amendment with making sure we keep people safe.
Interviews with Cheri Beasley and Ted Budd can be seen in their entirety on Triad Today this Saturday at 7:30 a.m. on ABC 45, and Sunday at 11 a.m. on MY48. For more information about the candidates and their positions, visit TedBudd.com and CheriBeasley.com.
Beasley and Budd to Appear on Triad Today
Former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neillt used to say, “All politics is local”, which, in a broad sense, refers to the fact that every decision made in Washington affects every community, and that decisions made locally can affect what goes on nationally. In just under two weeks, that philosophy will be put to the test when voters in North Carolina decide to send either Democrat Cheri Beasley or Republican Ted Budd to the United States Senate, and, by so doing, determine the balance of power in our federal government.
Ms. Beasley is a former Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, and Mr. Budd is a three-term congressman from the 13th district. One is liberal and the other is conservative, and both are locked in a neck-and-neck battle that political pollsters say is too close to call. This weekend, Budd and Beasley will appear on an episode of Triad Today. My interviews with them were pre-taped and what follows are highlights of those conversations.
INFLATION
SAFE SCHOOLS
SOCIAL MEDIA
Interviews with Cheri Beasley and Ted Budd can be seen in their entirety on Triad Today this Saturday at 7:30 a.m. on ABC 45, and Sunday at 11 a.m. on MY48. For more information about the candidates and their positions, visit TedBudd.com and CheriBeasley.com.