Could North Carolina Republican Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown be part of the vast, shadowy left-wing network that Civitas warned us about?

WRAL reported on the Republican legislative agenda, which is to say, it’s a secret. But the money quote appeared toward the bottom of the story, by Brown of Onslow County. He wants to rejigger sales tax revenues, the article said, to redistribute money collected in urban counties such as Wake to lower-wealth counties such as Jones, which is part of his Senate district.

Whoa, a Republican wants to redistribute wealth? That sounds like Obama socialism to me.

“What it has created over time is the wealthier counties are getting wealthier and the poorer counties are getting poorer,” Brown was quoted as saying.

Welcome to America, Senator Brown, where the middle class is disappearing and the top 1 per cent of families earned 20 per cent of the country’s income. That sounds like the economic system championed by the disciples of Ronald Reagan.

Let’s hear from other Republicans on the idea of wealth redistribution:

“We believe in free people and free enterprise, not redistribution. The right course for America is to create growth, create wealth, not to redistribute wealth.”—Mitt Romney

“The best opportunity for someone in the lower class is a good job, and that idea should be the idea we’re promoting, rather than taking from one to give to another.” —U.S. Rep. Diane Black of Tennessee, a Ways and Means Committee member, about Obama’s recent tax plan.

“Another income redistribution scheme,”—U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after Obama’s State of the Union speech.

The president is “trying to advance his goal of wealth redistribution.” —U.S. Sen. James Inhofe, Oklahoma

“Obama still wants to ‘redistribute’ our tax dollars and ‘spread the wealth around,’ giving money to people who don’t pay taxes rather than growing our economy for everybody.” —House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio

“This whole idea of redistributing wealth with the false premise that this is gonna somehow improve people’s standard of living, this is absurd.” —Rush Limbaugh