Neal Robbins

ROBBINS: The conversation continues

August 22, 2025 Neal Robbins

John Skvarla had a way of distilling complex challenges into simple, actionable truths. A businessman, lawyer and public servant, he was as comfortable in the boardroom as in the public square. As North Carolina’s secretary […]

ROBBINS: If Republicans hated ice cream

June 26, 2025 Neal Robbins

As a parent and fan of classic cartoons, I am accustomed to the frequent and comical use of reverse psychology. Consider two scenes. First, you want your child to eat their vegetables instead of wanting […]

ROBBINS: Preserving the blessings of liberty

June 12, 2025 Neal Robbins

“Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.” Those words from “Tyranny of the Status Quo” by Milton and Rose Friedman were true before they were memorialized in 1984. The capacity of government to […]

ROBBINS: Time to bend some nails

June 5, 2025 Neal Robbins

A bent nail is a stubborn thing. If you’ve ever torn down an old pig pen — like I did this week with my father and oldest son — you’d know. Professional carpenters drive straight […]

ROBBINS: Foundation for the Future: Welcome to Volume 10 of North State Journal

February 28, 2025 Neal Robbins

This week marks the beginning of Volume 10 of North State Journal. As with each new volume, we have selected a tagline that embodies our goals for this next year of issues. “Foundation for the […]

ROBBINS: Welcome to a ‘One of One’ Volume 8

March 2, 2023 Neal Robbins

This week North State Journal kicks off its eighth volume. That transition means we’ve published seven full years of North Carolina’s only statewide newspaper. During this volume, our 400th issue will roll off the press […]

Skvarla exemplified ‘To be, rather than to seem’

July 26, 2022 Neal Robbins

We lost John Skvarla last week, and with him, our state lost one of its best champions. A native Southerner born in Tennessee, you wouldn’t know it by his accent, acquired in Tuxedo Park, N.Y., […]

Welcome to Volume 5 of the North State Journal

February 26, 2020 Neal Robbins

It was four years ago that our readers saw Volume 1, Issue 1 of the North State Journal. On that first-ever front page of the only statewide newspaper in North Carolina, the headlines of the […]

ROBBINS: Trump’s straightforward approach is his appeal

July 18, 2018 Neal Robbins

The complexity of allegations against President Donald Trump continue to grow and Trump’s political and policy moves have remained remarkably simple. That simplicity was likely a key to Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016 […]

ROBBINS: As conservatives prepare for Kavanaugh confirmation, they should remember the ‘Rules’

July 11, 2018 Neal Robbins

President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh on Monday caused little change in the tone and rhetoric of the mainstream media talking heads or the special interest groups that were predisposed to […]

Articles by Neal Robbins