RALEIGH — To the ears of politically engaged North Carolinians, it may sound strange to hear claims that changes in partisan control don’t yield significant changes in state policy. But among scholars, this has been a widespread view for many decades.

RALEIGH — Gov. Roy Cooper’s second State of the State address included plenty of proposals liberals and Democrats cheered. But Republicans and conservatives, who dominate the General Assembly that would put these policies into effect, aren’t likely to embrace many of them.

Partisanship is one of the illnesses plaguing the U.S. body politic.

We see this every election cycle as millions of voters cast straight-ticket ballots for candidates just because of the capital letter before their name.