Burley Mitchell is a friend of mine, a former chief justice of the NC Supreme Court and former board member of the John Locke Foundation. But Mitchell, who has been hired to defend Dell?s economic incentive package against a lawsuit filed Thursday by his former colleague on the court, Bob Orr of the Institute for Constitutional Law, is simply much too willing to defend the unchecked power of the state. He let slip a telling remark to reporters:

?[Orr?s lawsuit] is an action brought by ideological purists,” Mitchell said. “It has nothing to do with Dell. It has to do with their opposition to any form of economic incentives. . .

“That’s a fine, ideologically pure approach. But they’ve lost this argument in every legislature, including the North Carolina legislature, and they’re turning to judges to be judicial activists and take over the running of the economy from the legislature and the governor,” Mitchell said.

The legislature and governor do not ?run the economy? and never have. That they and their defenders believe otherwise illustrates precisely what the problem is here.