Whether Democrat Yvonne Holley or Republican Mark Robinson wins the 2020 race for lieutenant governor, North Carolinians will be electing the first African-American candidate to that post.

Marxism is one of the most catastrophic ideas in history. Tyrants and butchers inspired by the noxious notions of Karl Marx — including such successors as Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Pol Pot — are responsible for the deaths of more than 100 million of our fellow human beings, as well as the enslavement and immiseration of many hundreds of millions more.

In this year that sometimes feels like a decade, North Carolinians have yet to cast a single general-election ballot for president or other offices. But I’m seeing lots of politicos and pundits making confident predictions about the state’s key electoral contests based on data from recent voter surveys.

Excluding people based on their race, sex, or other characteristics doesn’t just keep those individuals from pursuing their dreams. And it doesn’t just violate moral principles of human dignity and equality. It does great harm to others.

As the fall homestretch of the 2020 election approaches, you’re probably not spending much time considering the implications of county-commission races in North Carolina. But I am. I’m just that weird.

 One morning in late March, I drove from my home in Southern Wake County to my office in North Raleigh to pick up some files so I could work from home. As I exited the Beltline onto Six Forks Road, I noticed a deer lying beneath the overpass, the apparent victim of a high-speed impact.

You may recall that back in early April, a panel of health analysts presented Gov. Roy Cooper with two forecasts: 250,000 COVID infections by June 1, if Cooper’s initial lockdown orders were kept in place, or 750,000 infections by June 1 if the orders were lifted.

History is full of cases in which people subverted their own just causes by acting impulsively rather than carefully considering the costs and benefits. As the ancient poet Horace put it, “The one who cannot restrain their anger will wish undone, what their temper and irritation prompted them to do.”

North Carolina’s “headline” unemployment rate in May was 12.9%. That’s the highest monthly rate since the Great Depression. But on a number of occasions during the month, I talked with North Carolina restauranteurs and other business owners who were struggling to fill vacancies as they reopened.

If you are among the minority of North Carolinians who haven’t supported the expansion of parental choice in education over the past two decades — in the form of charter schools, open enrollment among district schools, and aid to private-school students who have special needs or modest household incomes — the challenge of COVID-19 presents you with an excellent opportunity to reconsider your position.