NC lawmaker tells young Democrats to ‘grow up.’ That’s not leadership | Opinion
Young Democrats weren’t happy after several Democratic lawmakers joined Republicans in voting for North Carolina’s state budget last week.
A statement signed by the presidents of the Young Democrats of North Carolina, College Democrats of North Carolina and the North Carolina Association of Teen Democrats hinted that primary challenges could be in store for “bad-faith Democrats” who supported the budget. All three are Black men, and they expressed disappointment in Black lawmakers for supporting what they called anti-Black legislation.
“Let this be your notice — March 5th, 2024 comes sooner than you think,” the statement said.
Rep. Cecil Brockman, one of the Democrats in question, responded Sunday by telling the younger members of his party to “grow up.” Yes, literally.
“My message to you would be grow up,” Brockman wrote. “When you’re an adult you have to work with people you may have disagreements with and even may not even like. But you get up every day and you do your job.”
Brockman argued that it’s his job as a legislator to work with the opposing party, particularly when it’s in the best interest of his constituents. His work on the state budget resulted in appropriations that benefit his community, he said.
Brockman does have a point: though there is a lot of bad in the budget, there are also things that will help people, like Medicaid expansion and investments in mental health care. Of course, that’s by design. Knowing that Democrats would be hard-pressed to block a budget that is so badly needed, Republicans used the 625-page bill as a vehicle for more controversial policy changes. Sure enough, Gov. Roy Cooper said he’ll allow the budget to become law without his signature, because he doesn’t want Medicaid expansion to wait any longer.
But Brockman lost any high ground he might have gained the minute he told young Democrats to “grow up.” Under no circumstances is that an appropriate response to criticism, especially coming from an elected official. It’s just punching down.
If Brockman was trying to showcase his own maturity, he didn’t do a very good job of it. Patronizing one’s critics isn’t leadership. Neither is thinking that you’re somehow above the people who try to hold you accountable. Brockman may have decided that the good in the budget outweighs the bad, but he still must acknowledge that not everyone will arrive at the same conclusion about a budget that exempts legislators from public records law, funnels taxpayer money away from public schools, cuts taxes for the wealthy and stacks the courts in the GOP’s favor. True leadership is showing respect to people even when they disagree with you.
“He saw what we said, but he didn’t hear it,” Dorian Palmer, president of the Young Democrats of North Carolina, told me. “Instead of taking accountability, he chose to punch down young folks, basically saying, ‘Grow up and shut up. Know your role.’”
Would Brockman tell his critics to grow up if they didn’t happen to be young? Probably not, which seems to imply that the opinions of the party’s youngest constituents shouldn’t be taken seriously because they’re too young or naive to understand how politics works.
That’s not a great message to send to young voters ahead of the 2024 elections. North Carolina Democrats have struggled to retain the youth vote, and it’s no wonder why, seeing as this is the kind of thing that happens when young people speak up. As someone who represents a county that’s home to multiple college campuses, Brockman should think twice before writing off the opinions of young people.
“Telling people to be quiet and learn their role isn’t the Democratic Party that we’re about to have,” Palmer said.
Brockman doesn’t owe it to his fellow Democrats to vote a certain way. But he does, at the absolute minimum, owe them his respect.
This story was originally published September 26, 2023 at 5:30 AM with the headline "NC lawmaker tells young Democrats to ‘grow up.’ That’s not leadership | Opinion."
