North Carolina’s new $30 billion state budget contains a provision that gives extraordinary investigative powers to a partisan oversight committee co-chaired by Senate Leader Phil Berger (R) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R). The Joint Legislative Committee on Government Operations — or Gov Ops for short — is empowered to seize “any document or system of record” from anyone who works in or with state and local government during its investigations. The rule applies to contractors, subcontractors, and any other non-state entity “receiving, directly and indirectly, public funds,” including charities and state universities.
Golly, that doesn’t sound very small government or individual freedom of them.
You misunderstand, the Federal government should be small so it doesn’t get in the way of the state government doing whatever the hell it wants. Individual rights are a canard to get religious conservatives and 2A enthusiasts on board with dismantling federal protections so that state governments can oppress The Right PeopleTM. Never mind that religious conservatives and 2A enthusiasts are not oppressed and their revenge fantasies are founded on an astro-turfed victim complex.
Silly me!
Or strict constitutionalist