In most parts of North Carolina, local elected officials listen to successful business leaders to learn how the local economy fits into the regional and national economies.

However, Orange County isn’t like most of North Carolina. Here, one is supposed to listen to those of little economic accomplishment. Here, the concept of “economic development” is an oxymoron. With the introduction of the “Local Living Economy” movement, fascist Local Living Economy Green Shirts have introduced the next level of political correctness – rating all businesses having a local business site on a scale ranging from “support” to “boycott”.

One of Chapelboro’s renowned political experts and no-risk taking business owners, Ms. Ruby Sinreich, has “started to wonder whether a traditional “Chamber of Commerce”-type approach is all that relevant here anymore?”

Why the angst? The Chapelboro chamber of commerce has the audacity to include as members the evil energy companies (Duke Power, Progress Energy) as well as chain stores and franchise hotels. Using the chamber list of members means “local buying” includes shopping at the dreaded WalMart.

The newest wealth grabbing tool is being trotted out by Ms. Sinreich and her cadre of “let's eradicate capitalism” economic underperformers. Alongside “social justice”, we now have “economic justice”. What’s that? Why, it’s the belief that spending money inefficiently is socially superior as long as you do so within a defined geographic boundary of your residence. It’s the neo-Luddite belief that government should work to lower your standard of living by erecting barriers to competition. Economic justice is about depriving you of competitive economic forces locally so as to prop up local inefficient businesses that can give you lousy service and high prices.

In the fascist world of “economic justice”, all goods and services would be created within a defined geographic area. (Don’t ask who makes that decision.) The fact that bauxite ore can’t be mined here, or that there’s no petroleum in North Carolina is to be ignored.

Another of Orange County’s business luminaries, Mr. Marc Marcoplos advocates for a catalog of “businesses in our community from the authentically local (like 411 West, Maple View Farms, Sturdivant's Tire, etc.) to the corporate predatory (Progress Energy, BCBS, etc.)”.

Even Carrboro mayor Mark Chilton lends his economic justice efforts in fingering “payday lender and second mortgage predator Citi Financial at Carrboro Plaza.” Clearly, the economic justice movement is all about loyal Green Shirts identifying the acceptable winners who should be allowed to stay in business in Orange County.

No word on when the Green Shirts will start marching on the web to organize local boycotts of the unacceptable members of the local fascist economy who must be cleansed.

To those who don’t have intolerant ideology and blind partisanship coursing through their veins, the moral and ethical way to fill a panel elective seat that's vacated before the election, but vacated after the filing period for that election, is to have the highest vote getter not elected to the panel to receive the vacant seat.

However, Orange County is all about intolerant ideology and blind partisanship.

Back in 2005, Carrboro had an alderman seat vacated by the election of the new mayor. The fourth highest vote getter for the three open alderman seats was Ms. Katrina Ryan. She didn’t receive the open seat. Instead, Mr. Dan Coleman moved from Chapel Hill into Carrboro and didn’t bother to file to run for alderman office. Instead he just had to lobby a handful of elected officials to be awarded the seat. How progressive!

In 2009 history has repeated the Orange Progressive tradition. Mr. Bill Strom went RVing, leaving his Chapel Hill town council seat vacant after the move permanently out of state one month BEFORE the filing period for an election that could have filled his seat. Six votes decided who would get Mr. Strom’s seat. How progressive!

The Chapel Hill Town Council gave the seat to Ms. Donna Bell, the latest political anointee. Ms. Bell, like Mr. Coleman, didn’t bother to run for office in November. Like Mr. Coleman, she and her husband, euro-Causcasian Mr. Jason James, only had to lobby the council to win. She didn’t have to campaign for months. She didn’t have to participate in any political election forum. She didn’t have to raise money. She didn’t have to write up any position statements.

She did have to write her good buddy, new Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt a one page letter asking for the seat. Why was Ms. Bell so much better qualified than Mr. Matt Pohlman, the highest vote getter (about 3400) not winning a council seat?

Race, the answer boils down to race. Ms. Bell is African-American. Mr. Pohlman is not. With the council’s only African American member (Mr. Thorpe) retiring, and with no African-American candidates bothering to run for office, the answer is clear to progressives. Racism is best fought by being racist.

Councilor Laurin Easthom displayed her famous insightful powers. She said her vote as a council member was more important than the about 3400 Chapel Hill voters voting for Mr. Pohlman. It must be a diifficult burden to live with so much self-importance.

Ms. Bell’s support of Mr. Kleinschmidt’s mayoral run had nothing to do with her appointment. Her contributions of time and money to Mayor Kleinschmidt, her name endorsement in ads, her distribution of campaign literature had nothing to do with her appointment. It's about race. You either are of the right race for maintaining cosmetic diversity, or you aren't.

Showing great fairness, every town council member personally called and “interviewed” Ms. Bell, while only four contacted Mr. Pohlman, none in earnest.

Showing his great wisdom, Mr. Kleinschmidt said, ”This is not a decision that is going to make everyone happy in the moment we make it. We just have to hope that once we make a decision that the service the person provides will be able to dissipate that anger.” It's like executing the wrong person for the right reason.

A major part of the local living economy of Orange County is the succulent sucking sound of non-profit organizations that outnumber the for-profit businesses. Many such entities live and die by government contributions to these essentially unaccountable organizations. There is no freedom of information act that enables one to peek into these organizations.

Recently, El Centro Latino (ECL), shuttered its doors. The press duly reported the shuttering and sang the praises of the ECL work. Programs included: 1) Acceso y Apoyo - bilingual access to community services related to health care, childcare education, housing, and other critical basic needs; 2) Adult Education - provides skill-building classes in order to gain self-sufficiency skills required to achieve gainful employment including English as second Language; and 3) Busca Empleo - a one-on-one employment consultation.

While all of these programs have noble goals, Pulpsters may wonder, where’s the local government? Isn’t the role of local government in part to provide employment assistance for the unemployed and adult education classes for the undereducated?

More importantly, the local media failed to look at why ECL doors are being shuttered.

At the end of its 2007 fiscal year in June 2008, ECL reported the following financials. ECL received $131,280 in government grants. (From 2003 through 2006, ECL collected over $800,000 in grants.) Total revenues for the year were over $211,000.

According to ECL, it was in the black on July 1, 2008 with about $90,000 in cash assets. The salaried employee was Mr. Ben Balderas, ECL’s executive director. He received over $48,000 in compensation, up from about $30,000 the previous year. It had an annual lease of about $22,000, or $1800 a month. Total burn rate for ECL was about $16,000 month. Thus, the cash reserve represented five months of full time burn.

One year later ECL was out of cash and shuttering its doors, with a new executive director, Mr. Victor Melendez. According to one report by the Daily Tar Heel, Mr. Melendez replaced Mr. Balderas in July 2008 so that Mr. Balderas could work directly with social services.

The local media writes the feel good story, look at what great work ECL does. It neither asks why isn’t that work being done by local government, nor does it ask, what happened to the $90,000 in cash? How progressive.