By Scott Perry

Perhaps the greatest irony of House Bill 765 is that it asks northeastern North Carolinians to abandon one of the very principles on which our state was founded.

John Harvey, one of North Carolina’s foremost Revolutionary leaders, was not a distant figure from history. He was one of our own. Raised in the Albemarle region of northeastern North Carolina, Harvey became the voice of North Carolina’s resistance to centralized authority imposed from afar. His leadership helped lay the groundwork for a government rooted in local representation and accountable to the people it served.

Thomas Jefferson believed that liberty flourished when government remained close to the people. His vision of local self-government rested on the conviction that citizens were best equipped to govern the communities where they lived. Justice Joseph Story, while recognizing the constitutional authority of states over their political subdivisions, also understood that constitutional government exists to secure liberty under law, protect private property, and restrain arbitrary power. Together, these three men remind us that the legitimacy of government is measured not only by what it accomplishes but also by how power is exercised and where it resides.

Today, nearly 250 years later, we should ask whether we honor that legacy or drift away from it.

HB 765 is not merely another housing bill. It reflects a continuing trend toward concentrating authority in Raleigh at the expense of counties and municipalities that best understand their own communities. Regardless of one’s view of development, conservatives should recognize that every upward transfer of power makes local government less meaningful.

For generations, conservatives argued that government works best when decisions are made as close as possible to the people. That philosophy distinguished constitutional conservatism from centralized government, whether authority rested in Washington or in Raleigh.

If that principle was worth defending against federal overreach, it should also be worth defending when authority is consolidated within our state government.

Conservatism cannot be reduced to social issues alone. A healthy conservative movement must also remain committed to economic liberty, strong private property rights, free markets, fiscal restraint, and limited government. Many conservatives have found these principles reflected in the Austrian School of economics, which emphasizes decentralized decision-making, local knowledge, voluntary exchange, and skepticism of concentrations of political and economic power.

The question facing North Carolina conservatives is not whether more homes should be built. It is a question of whether the solution should come through another consolidation of governmental authority.

History offers a warning. Every concentration of power begins with good intentions. Every central authority promises greater efficiency. Yet over time, centralized systems often become less responsive to the unique needs of individual communities, more susceptible to influence by powerful statewide interests, and increasingly disconnected from the citizens most directly affected by their decisions.

North Carolina has prospered because its communities are diverse, independent, and capable of self-governance. A one-size-fits-all approach to growth risks replacing that tradition with policies crafted hundreds of miles away from the people who must live with their consequences.

Whether one lives in Charlotte or Corolla, in Asheville or Elizabeth City, no legislature can fully appreciate the character, history, infrastructure, or priorities of every community.

John Harvey understood that liberty depends not only on electing good leaders but also on keeping political power close to the people. Thomas Jefferson believed that a free government depends on active local citizenship. Joseph Story reminded Americans that constitutional government derives its legitimacy from faithfully exercising delegated powers while protecting individual rights. Although each approached government from a different perspective, all three recognized that concentrated political power deserves scrutiny because once authority is centralized, it is rarely surrendered voluntarily.

That lesson remains as relevant today as it was in 1774.

If you believe local communities should continue shaping their own future, contact your North Carolina House member and Senator. Ask them to protect both private property rights and the principle of local self-government. Tell them that North Carolina’s conservative tradition has always been strongest when it defended limited government, dispersed power, constitutional restraint, and accountable leadership, not merely when it shifted authority from one capital to another.

Our state’s future should be built on the principles that founded it, not on the steady consolidation of power those principles were meant to prevent.

Scott Perry is a local business leader, writer and historian.