If this is a preview of things that are to come, hold on to your seats ladies and gentlemen because North Carolina has some LEADERS in Raleigh, now! In a five minute speech by Senator Bob Rucho (R-Mecklenburg), he told it “like it is” concerning $75 million in incentives.

Below is a video of Rucho’s speech, courtesy of WRAL:

Highlights I personally appreciated:

“Here we are in a situation where we’ve got double-digit unemployment. And the reality is that it’s probably close to 17 percent unemployment with people who are either unemployed or underemployed. And yet, last debate, where were you?

“I want you to take responsibility for the way you’ve all led this state in the past 10 to 12 years – because of the fact that you spent us to death.

“And you talk about the incentives and how great they were. Well, I’ll tell you what a good incentive is: it’s lowering your tax rates, cut your government spending to a normal level, and allowing businesses to function in the creative environment. And then you’re going to see the jobs.

“You know, one thing’s for sure, I’m not a great hunter, but you shoot where the ducks are. The ducks are our businesses, the small businesses that exist in this state at this time. And what this is, this is the first step to a pathway that the majority party in this Senate is going to show you and the rest of this state and the business environment which way we’re going so you really understand how to put an economy back together again.

“Pay attention. This is what you should have done when you had a turn. And unfortunately you didn’t – and the people are distressed about it.

“Let’s put the blame where it needs to be. Don’t come back now crying about jobs. You should have done something last time when you could have done something more about it.

“There are going to be… some very tough decisions that need to be made. If we’re going to put our financial house back in order, then, very simply, we need to make the tough cuts… Is it the right thing to do? That’s what the people elected us to do…”

“…But $75 million when we have an opportunity to turn this state around – no, not just an opportunity, a responsibility – because we need to put those people back to work. They’re counting on us.

“Hang on. It’s going to take us a little time to recover from 100 years of disaster. But guess what? We’re going to go ahead and we’re going to show you how to do it. You’re welcome to join us or you can cry about it. But the fact is, you have a responsibility because you’ve got as many people that you’re representing as the rest of us. Don’t fall back and do business as usual. It’s time to go ahead and do the right thing.”