Author: Carolina Review Online Editor

By Editor-In-Chief Frank Pray

Displaying grace in defeat is an important skill. Over the course of the last few days, the Left has displayed an almost total lack of it. Sure, there are some who may exemplify how to lose with dignity and class, but from what my Facebook news feed and college campus have shown me, most simply haven’t gained that skill set.

Do you know why Donald Trump won? It’s not because anyone thought he is particularly gifted. He’s no more politically skilled than your average politician. No one loved most of his policies, either. Conservatives certainly didn’t see him as some icon of our principles. No, it’s because President-Elect Trump represents the ultimate ‘screw you,’ the American people’s Trump Card, if you will, to the Left.

Let’s not forget that it was this left that has, for 8 years, said that every person who disagrees with them, the entire right side of the political spectrum, half of America, is a racist, sexist bigot. It is the Left, that for most of recent memory, has been filled with individuals who assume their intellectual counterparts on the right don’t just disagree, but are actually evil. People like Hillary Clinton, like many students here at UNC, have displayed an extraordinary inability to reach across the political spectrum, to listen to understand, and to dialogue until a mutually agreeable compromise is reached.

The shortsightedness, the shallowness of this approach simply cannot be stressed enough. It’s wrong, and in 2018, if the Left doesn’t stop this nonsense, if they don’t learn the painful lesson this election taught, then the Democratic Party will lose another 6 seats in the senate. Their losses will continue until the Left stops demonizing over half the nation by saying they want terrible things for those around them.

We conservatives have news for you, friends on the Left. We aren’t sexist. We all have women we love and want the best for in our lives. We aren’t racist, we all have people of color and various ethnic and racial backgrounds that we love and care about in our lives. And we aren’t bigots. Following our faith as it is actually written doesn’t mean we hate any group of people, in fact, we do all things in regards to faith out of sacrificial love. So please, stop with this nonsense.

As a Republican, as a conservative, and as a man who cast a ballot for President-Elect Donald J Trump, I fervently yearn for the day when America has two political parties that both truly want the best for all American citizens, rather than writing off over half the nation, a group of mostly good, nice, loving people, as deplorable racist, sexist bigots. I yearn for the day when the Democratic Party learns to debate, disagree, and compromise, again. I yearn for them to learn their lesson. On that day, America will truly be great again.

By Staff Writer Wyatt McNamara

In the wake of this summers controversy surrounding NFL player Colin Kaepernick opting to kneel during the duration of the national anthem, similar demonstrations rallying against supposed “black oppression” have crisscrossed the nation. Unfortunately (although not surprisingly) last Friday’s issue of The Daily Tar Heel marked the arrival of this controversial topic here at UNC- Chapel Hill. In bold letters, slapped across the front page, is an article entitled: “Athletes take a stand against injustice— Coaches say protest is a player’s personal choice.” The article details Roy Williams’ deeply transformative change in opinion regarding issues like the recent Charlotte riots as well as the concept of kneeling during the anthem. Referencing the Colin Kaepernick issue, Roy Williams was initially quoted as saying: “When he did it, at first it made me very angry,…” Several weeks later, Williams allegedly had a change of heart when two players came to him publicly decrying black suffering in the Charlotte area. As stated in The Daily Tar Heel, Williams now said he “supports their decision to demonstrate how they feel is right- even if it means taking a knee during the anthem.”

Reading this article in the Tar Heel left me, frankly, quite embarrassed with the state of affairs at UNC. We can all agree that kneeling during the anthem is technically a valid exercise of freedom of expression, however, allowing this type of action not only further perpetuates the myth of systemic targeted police discrimination, but will also likely lead to economic backlash and potential profit loss on behalf of UNC Basketball. Although I could focus on left leaning constraints surrounding this institution’s officials with pressure to conform, the real blame here falls on Williams. At the onset he stressed his patriotism and gave us all hope that maybe UNC would stand out, maybe UNC wouldn’t be the one to sink to the level of other universities condoning this type of action. Alas, Williams forsakes his ideology at the slightest resistance and provides a blank slate for players to disparage all that this great nation stands for. My question is –  How far does “demonstrate how they feel is right” extend? If players decide to host a live flag burning as a November surprise, will Williams turn to the cameras, shrug, and say: “Well…nothing I can do.”

Amongst cries touting “anthem kneeling” as simply a peaceful way to raise awareness for their cause, many forget that sports is in fact — a business. It’s a business in the NFL, it’s a business in the NBA, and even here at Chapel Hill we play sports to–make–money. Thus, if players decide to support the exceedingly disrespectful, dishonorable, and blatantly shameful tradition of kneeling during the anthem it should be no surprise to see losses from donors, decreased ticket sales, etc. Thus, even purely economically, kneeling has no place in UNC- Basketball.

Dearest Roy,

Go home. Think this over. For God’s sake do some research and when you’re ready… come back and tell your players that if they want to ignore FBI statistics, perpetuate Black- Lies- Matter, and denounce the most free and prosperous country in the entire world, maybe this is something that would be better pursued off the court and on their own damn time.  

By Staff Writer Jackson Valentine

If this title doesn’t mean anything to you, I would highly recommend checking out the SNL skit “Black Jeopardy”. Very funny and well worth 7 minutes of your time. More importantly, however, this is going to be about the fact that all of a sudden it’s a controversial thing to stand or sing our national anthem. Perhaps as a music performance major as well as a former marching band member, I could present a unique perspective.

Marching Band

It has long been a tradition in our country for school marching bands to incorporate the playing of the national anthem into its pregame performance. Recently, this part of the performance will elicit nervousness, people looking around wondering, “what’s going to happen this time?” “Who’s going to take a knee?” “I hope no one feels offended”. It is a shame that the song written to commemorate the bravery of our nation has created tension you could cut with a knife, but more importantly, a dangerous precedent is being set by allowing band members to “protest” the national anthem by refusing to play and not standing while on the field. If it is acceptable for band members to exercise their first amendment right (and indeed it is their right) by disrupting a performance, the slope that the organization begins to slide down becomes very slippery.

A perfect example of this comes from our colleagues down the road in Greenville, North Carolina. About 20 band members decided ahead of time to take a knee during their performance of the anthem, and some of those that did not agree chose to carry American flags out to the field with them to protest the protest, so to speak. What if someone decides to protest the protest of the protest and refuse to even come onto the field to play at all? I imagine that if that were to happen, there would be people protesting that protest. You can probably see where I am going with this…

One of the focal points of marching band is to look the same, sound the same, and march the same, so as to not attract attention to any one individual with the goal being a polished product from the band as a whole. When I was a section leader in high school, I can’t tell you how many times I heard something like “who cares if you can play your part perfectly? If one person in your section can’t, then it doesn’t matter.” I believe that’s true whether you’re working on marching in practice, or standing on the field playing the national anthem. You come together to make music and blend into something that is bigger than yourself and it is most certainly not the place to air out your political laundry for the whole world to see. Maybe if I were still in the Marching Tarheels, I would take a knee for the school alma mater because I disagree with their lack of academic diversity in the faculty. I wonder if everyone would stand up and applaud my bravery and solidarity then?

Athletes

I wont have as much to say on this one, because I’m not really an athlete and haven’t played competitive team sports in quite some time, but I would like to point out that the man who started it all, 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, definitely has something going on other than simply showing opposition to police brutality in America. Kaepernick was seen in a post game interview earlier this season sporting a New Black Panther Party t-shirt, and in practice he was seen wearing socks depicting police officers as pigs. These things point to a larger problem in that it seems Kaepernick is actually very racist. If you wear the shirt of an organization that believes in committing violence against a particular race, it’s kind of hard to PR your way out it. Imagine if Tom Brady rolled up to his post game interview wearing a KKK t-shirt. It would more than likely be the end of his football career, and possibly the end of his professional life. The double standard here seems obvious, but double standards are something the media is quite familiar with.

Also, I believe that it is important to note the same principles of unity and comradery that come with being in a marching band also apply to being on a sports team. When you have some team members coming out for the anthem and others staying in the locker room (Millikin University), it shows disunity among the team which I’m sure carries over into performance. Again, not the time or place to air out your political laundry.

Free Speech

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, all of these people definitely have the right under our constitution’s first amendment to do basically whatever they want without being arrested, as long as they aren’t hurting anyone else. Organizations also reserve the right to boot people based on insubordination or any other number of factors that they deem fit. The worst part about this whole thing is that the left says not only is it their right, but they should be able to kneel for the national anthem or do a host of other things without repercussions because it is “free speech”. It’s funny how free speech has suddenly become extremely important to a party that has a long-standing tradition of free speech suppression, which is predominantly on display in our nation’s colleges and universities. Whether it is boxing in open dialogue into “free speech zones” (which we do have here at UNC) or denying protest permits to groups they disagree with. Well UNC snowflakes, you certainly didn’t care about free speech when you tried to ban the Center for Bio-ethical Reform, the Alamance County Sons of the Confederacy, Ben Shapiro, or David Horowitz from our campus because it was “unsafe for students”. Hey Campus Y, where was my safe space when the band members took a knee? Why wasn’t I given a trigger warning beforehand? Oh yeah, because these things fit your agenda and Shapiro doesn’t. There’s that double standard again…

By Staff Writer Hinton Carter

Let’s set the stage: Election Night in America 2016 at 11:42 PM. The Dow Futures is down 750 points.

Now, let’s take a step back for a minute and cover some bases first. In the US Stock Market, the S&P 500, NASDAQ, and Dow Jones Industrial are all market indexes that provide insight into the performance of the entire market as a whole at one period in time. The Dow Futures is an overnight, after-market closing view of how investors will act when the markets and exchanges reopen the next day. When the news came amidst election coverage that the Dow Futures was down 750 points, it indicated that investors were planning on heavily selling off when the market opened, leading to potential historic single day market loss, similar to what happened the day after the Brexit vote.

Many analysts actually thought it would be worse than the Brexit fallout, as the US election would naturally have had more impact on the US markets. But after Donald Trump had been announced the winner of the presidential election in the middle of the night, and subsequently when the markets opened for trading on the 9th of November, something unforeseen happened. By the end of the trading day on Wednesday, the Dow Index soared up 257 points, brushing all time highs. By the end the week, the market finished up 5%, an all time high and leading to the best week the market had tallied in five years. It is known fact that the financial markets and investors do not like uncertainty, yet it seems as if a prospective Trump presidency has brought at least short term stability and promise to the market.

To support this theory, Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital, a 12.4 billion dollar hedge fund and financial heavyweight in US markets, had very positive things to say about Trump being elected. “The U.S. is the greatest business in the world. It’s been undermanaged for a very long period of time. We now have a businessman as president,” stated Ackman at conference in New York City on Wednesday. As first reported by Forbes, Ackman also thinks Trump could bring about great economic benefit by returning to private ownership Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the currently government-owned mortgage funds. Common stock ownership of the funds has risen 70% since the election, alluding to newfound confidence by venture capitalists and shareholders alike.

Whether or not someone supported President-elect Trump in his candidacy, it’s important to recognize that the market appears to like the decision thus far. It will now be up to President Trump and a Republican controlled Congress to pass legislation that continues to brings more confidence and success in the financial markets, and the greater United States economy as a whole.

By Editor-in-Chief Frank Pray

They said he couldn’t do it. I said he couldn’t do it. We were wrong.

Today, we enter a new week with our nation moving in a vastly different direction than our course over the last 8 years. The American people soundly rejected President Obama’s legacy by rejecting Hillary Clinton. Instead, they have chosen to alight on a new path, an uncharted path. Our friends on the Left may be despondent this week, crying out that our path will lead to hate, but it is up to us to ensure it does not. We must fight, shout, advocate for the conservative policies President-Elect Trump promised. We must ensure our Congressmen work with President Trump to enact tax reform, welfare reform, new pro-life laws, laws to curb illegal immigration, and laws to make our nation, and our people, prosperous again.

Only time will tell what the legacy of President Donald Trump will be, but if the conservative colleagues I have on this campus are any indication, we will work to make his legacy, our legacy, an incredibly positive one.

Congratulations, President-Elect Trump. We’re all rooting for you now.

By Associate Editor Alec Dent

Everyone in the United States is glad the general election is about to be over. Finally, we won’t have to see anymore over the top campaign commercials, listen about how every candidate is going to ruin the country, or watch the nasty woman go head to head with the bad hombre in debate. But students here at UNC Chapel Hill have another reason to rejoice. Thanks to the registration period having already passed, we no longer have to worry about being pestered to register to vote! No more walking to class quickly and avoiding eye contact with activists! No more being asked five, ten, even twenty times a day if we’re registered to vote! No more inane conversations with the same three questions asked every time (1. “Are you registered to vote?” 2. “Are you registered to vote here in Chapel Hill?” 3. “Can I register you locally?”)! As someone who always answered yes to the first one and no to the next two, I am relieved to see those pesky activists go. Not only did they lack a basic understanding of manners (I was in the midst of a phone call one time, phone to my head, clearly busy, and one jumped in front of me to do his spiel), but if I’m being honest, I find it a bit wrong that so much pressure is being applied on college students, not only to vote, but to do it at their college.

We live in an apathetic society. While I absolutely believe it’s important to vote, I’m frightened at the idea of people who don’t care about or even understand politics casting a ballot. We should encourage people to vote, but more importantly we should encourage people to learn the issues before they vote. Our votes carry power, and I don’t like the idea of someone who didn’t care enough to go out of their way to register themselves voting. The registration activists on campus have always rubbed me the wrong way for this reason. If a person truly cares enough, they will register themselves. It’s really not that hard.

But I also take issue with these campus activists trying to get students to register at their university. Sure, it’s more convenient for us that way, but we’re only here four years (usually). Meaning we could elect officials that make changes to the community that we won’t even have to deal with once we leave. Is that really fair to those who actually live in the area and have a stake in the outcome of the election? Additionally, unlike back at home, the vast majority of students in Chapel Hill have no idea the issues facing the community. We don’t know the political history of the area, or the likes, dislikes, and needs of those who reside here. We don’t even know the local candidates!

Being registered to vote is important. But it’s more important to vote knowledgably. Do it back at home where you actually know the candidates, where you actually know the issues, and where you actually have a stake in the election.

By Staff Writer Hinton Carter

North Carolina’s 9th Senate District constitutes all of New Hanover County. Current republican incumbent, Michael Lee, is facing a tough challenge this election cycle in democratic challenger Andrew Barnhill. While Senator Lee is running on a platform of his successful record and the inexperience of his opponent, Barnhill seems to be taking advantage of a politically charged climate, with promises to make significant changes to policies across North Carolina that were seen as controversial.

Senator Lee earned his bachelor’s degree from UNC – Chapel Hill in 1991, his Juris Doctorate from Wake Forest University in 1997, and has now been practicing law for 11 years. He has been a North Carolina Senator since his appointment in 2014 following Thom Goolsby’s retirement. After defeating democratic challenger Elizabeth Redenbaugh in the 2014 election, Senator Lee has seen a successful two years in the chamber, currently serving on nine standing committees, as well as successfully passing bills on job creation, education, and incentives to strengthen North Carolina’s economy.

Andrew Barnhill, the democratic party’s candidate in the race, is only 28 years old, raising questions about his experience to be able to credibly serve in one of the state’s highest elected positions. After receiving a bachelor’s degree from Furman University and a divinity degree from Duke University in 2013, Barnhill has been employed by the Eleison Group, a faith-based non-profit, the North Carolina Democratic Party, and the New Leaders Council, a progressive leadership training firm.

Large questions came into consideration after Barnhill announced his candidacy; local Wilmington news organizations first reported that Barnhill had been caught partying on a charitable, faith-based mission trip to South Africa during his college time. While on the trip with Cargo of Dreams, the nonprofit, sources reported that Barnhill was on the worksite for approximately an hour on the entire trip, spending the rest of the time at a high-end resort and casino. The director of the nonprofit, as originally stated in an interview by WNCN, stated that Barnhill was an “extreme manipulator” and stayed at the resort Sun City for most of the trip.

Time will come to show on November 8th whether voters will be able to sift through the political rhetoric and make a conscious decision who the right candidate is for office. While this race will not affect those voting on ballots in Chapel Hill or in the greater Orange County area, it is important to realize the need to be a conscientious voter and understand the track record and experience of a candidate, as well as their morals and values towards others.

**Editor’s Note: The Carolina Review Editorial Board has not endorsed any candidates in this race.