Going beyond conventional thinking: if you live and work in North Carolina, you have a front-row seat for some of today's most compelling dramas--even if you don't plan to be anywhere near the Democrats' national convention in Charlotte this summer.

• Author: Hood, John
• Position: FREE&CLEAR

Like any society, this state has a mythic tradition. A major theme in ours is that we are a reserved, hardworking people who prefer accomplishments to accolades. The state motto is esse quam videri, "to be rather than to seem." We pride ourselves on refusing to prance or preen for the attention of others. We like to say that North Carolina is "a vale of humility between two mountains of conceit," by which we mean Virginia and South Carolina.

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Like other myths and legends, the "modest North Carolina" meme has some basis in fact. Through much of the state's history, our cities were relatively small and attracted little national notice. Our economy was based in rural places and small towns, in stolid industries such as farming, textiles and wood products. Other people made fast cars, big movies, high technology and political controversies. We made cigarettes, socks and sofas.

But the image of North Carolinians as economic and political wallflowers faded away a long time ago. We still make cigarettes, socks and sofas--but now we make a lot of other things, too. Our cities grew rapidly as rural Carolinians, urban Yankees, suburban Midwesterners and others came looking to build new lives for themselves and their families. Charlotte became a financial capital. The Triangle grew famous. Triad communities reinvented themselves. Even our college sports programs brought the state notoriety with national championships and compelling personalities.

Our leaders began to play on the national stage, be it Terry Sanford as a race-relations moderate in the 1960s or Jesse Helms and Jim Hunt as prototypical New South politicians in the '70s and '80s. The Helms-Hunt Senate race in '84 signaled that American politics was about to get more competitive and expensive (essentially the same thing, by the way). A fresh face, John Edwards, won his Senate seat in 1998 and was on the national ticket in 2004.

There was always a bit of blarney in North Carolina's protestations of modesty. After all, someone who talks incessantly about how humble he is qualifies as a braggart. What changed in the latter decades of the 20th century is that a combination of economic, cultural and political factors put North Carolina in the national spotlight. Our reality caught up with our aspirations. And we liked it.

In 2012, the spotlight remains on the state. But its glare is not always so flattering. As Barack Obama prepares to accept his party's nomination in Bank...