Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans 42.7 percent to 30.1 percent in North Carolina, with only 20 percent of voters approving of the job the GOP-led state legislature is doing. Nevertheless, North Carolina has voted for a Republican in eight of the last 10 presidential elections, and Republicans have impressively engineered very conservative policies in the past year. Here's how they accomplished the latter.

Step 1: Find a rich guy
To begin transforming your state into one that doesn't represent the stated values of a plurality of your constituents, you need to find a man with a dream of reform and millions to spare. In North Carolina, that man is Art Pope.

Step 2: Spend!
Pope poured $2.2 million into 22 state legislature races in 2012 (as well as various gerrymandering efforts), and helped Republicans take 18 out of 22 seats up for grabs. In 2012, he again poured over $2 million into the race, leading to a Republican victory in 9 out of 13 now-gerrymandered seats, despite the fact that 51 percent of voters chose a Democrat.

Step 3: Once in power, waste no time
A political party is veto-proof when it holds the majority in both the House and Senate, like North Carolina Republicans do. If this is the case, you might as well change as many policies as you can, as quickly as you can. Speed is very important here — the slower you roll out policies, the greater the chance of a mass revolt.

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Step 9: Make it hard for people who oppose you to vote
Of course, it would be nice to win that election, wouldn't it? So follow this time-tested method to weight the odds in your favor: Make it as difficult as possible for your opposition to vote.

North Carolina now requires voters to present a government-issued photo ID at the polls, keeping some traditionally Democratic voters like students and low-income individuals from casting their ballots. Smart! Other measures that passed include ending same-day registration, cutting early voting by a week, and only permitting citizens to vote in their specific precinct, which is often confusing since several urban precincts can be housed in the same building.