Competition: The Pathway to Better Public Schools

In recent days there has been a lot of national attention focused on South Carolina’s representative to the Miss Teen USA pageant. Her initial spontaneous response to a question - about a survey showing that many American young people can’t locate the United States on a world map - has been the subject of newspaper stories, editorials, and television programs.

Unfortunately, most of the discussion and ridicule of this young lady is misdirected, and certainly a young teen can be forgiven for a few seconds of stage fright in front of a huge auditorium and a national TV audience. What has been overlooked, and should concern us far more than her response, are the underlying contributing factors to the question that was put to her. I’m talking about the “dumbing down” of America, about cultural illiteracy, about declining test scores, soaring dropout rates, and most bitter of all, South Carolina’s bottom of the barrel ranking in a nation that itself ranks near the bottom of all industrialized nations in math and science achievement.

Nearly a quarter century ago a national, bipartisan panel was asked to examine the quality of education in the United States. Its report entitled “A Nation at Risk” stated “the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.” The report added, “If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.”

In the intervening years since that sobering report was issued, little has changed despite massive increases in government spending on K-12 education. In that regard we learned the disappointing news this week that South Carolina’s SAT scores declined for a second consecutive year. In responding to the news, our State Superintendent of Education commented that “It may be that we’ve hit a point in education reform in the state and nation that we need to do more substantive change to keep up with the competition.”

Dr. Rex’s assessment that “we need to do… more to keep up with the competition” is accurate. Yet the problem may be that competition is being stifled because the system that now has the monopoly on K-12 education works tirelessly to prevent private and independent schools from being able to compete on a “level playing field” with public schools.

While our state education leaders have talked about several good ideas for improving schools – greater choice among schools, single gender classes and schools that take into account the different ways in which boys and girls learn, more rigorous course requirements, greater emphasis on basics, longer school days and longer school years, professional development of teachers – there is little real incentive for schools and districts to substantively change when there are no adverse consequences when they fail their students. In fact, many failing schools and districts argue for, and they often receive, even more money in response to repeated failure.

Our State Superintendent is right; we need “substantive change.” We can see that things like spending more, tinkering with the curricula, improving the facilities, these things have not substantively improved the quality of South Carolina’s public schools as many had predicted they would.

To set a goal, as some have suggested, that South Carolina will rank among the top half of all fifty states is itself far too modest a goal. We should do more than simply aspire to reach the mediocrity of other states. Instead we need to look at how the world’s highest performing nations educate their students and replicate their performance.

Every parent knows how quickly children grow up. We cannot continue to ask parents to sacrifice their children as we wait another 5, 10, or 25 years for schools to improve. Every year is critical in the life of a child, and no child should be sacrificed in the hope that more tinkering and more spending might finally make a difference.

South Carolina’s school system needs substantive change, and it needs it now. People who truly support our system of public education should insist on substantive change to make our system better. Competition works. Just as in sports, our schools will most likely perform better when they’re competitively challenged.

Have You No Decency?

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that “men are respectable only as they respect.” If that is to be the measure, The State newspaper has invited very little respect for an invasive story it ran last weekend about the tragic fire in Charleston resulting in the loss of nine firefighters.

By its own admission, the newspaper obtained the release of several hundred radio transmissions that were exchanged between the doomed firefighters and the dispatchers and fire chief. These transmissions, the agonizing last words uttered by men who realized they were about to die, are expressions of faith and love for wives and family. These transmissions are not news, and to publish them callously invades the privacy of grieving families left without husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons. The general public has no need to know these last, desperate words, and reporting them in the pages of one of the state’s major newspapers only deepens the pain and loss for families that have already suffered far too much.

Perhaps we shouldn’t expect a newspaper owned by a company headquartered on the West Coast to exemplify our southern values of courtesy, consideration for one’s neighbors, and respect for bereaved families. But the newspaper crossed way over the line and descended to the depths of vulgar tabloid journalism in this case.

To add unthinkable insult to injury, the newspaper chose to run its story about the final words of nine brave firefighters next to an advertisement headed “RED HOT MATTRESS PRICES.” The quarter- page advertisement was vividly illustrated with deep red flaming tongues of fire. One is left to wonder whether this was some very disturbed copywriter’s idea, or whether the editing at the newspaper has become that shoddy.

The State newspaper has roots deep in the history of our community. Its founder is memorialized close to the State House grounds. There is no competing major newspaper in the Midlands between which readers can chose, but our people have a right, nevertheless, to expect more than this type of sensationalist tabloid trash from South Carolina’s largest newspaper.

The Constitutional guarantee of “freedom of press” should never relieve a major newspaper of its duty to conduct itself professionally and in good taste. The editors of The State owe an apology to the firefighters’ families and to all South Carolinians they have blatantly disrespected with this story. Have you no decency?

New Treasurer Can Help This State Act Boldly

Published Friday, August 10, 2007

By Richard Eckstrom

Last week, the state Legislature appointed Rep. Converse Chellis of Summerville to complete the term of our former state treasurer who recently resigned. At one time I was state treasurer, so I'm very familiar with the duties of that office.

Treasurer Chellis will assume an extremely competent, professional staff to handle the daily activities of his new office, important activities like investing public funds and servicing state debt. My advice would be for him to rely on his competent staff to handle many of these functions and to devote his own time to critical matters where the citizens of South Carolina are now grossly underserved.

I'm referring to work that needs to be done to fix the serious funding problems of the state retirement system. State officials have been willing to all but ignore these escalating problems for years. When I was elected state treasurer in 1994, I warned that the state retirement system was pitifully underfunded. In fact, at that time the retirement system was short-funded by 25 percent, amounting to a massive shortfall of over $3 billion. Since 1994, because of a series of awful management decisions, that shortfall has been allowed to balloon to about $10 billion! That's a disgrace.

Most elected officials have refused to reasonably address this financial calamity. Some are willing to pay lip service to it, but except for Gov. Mark Sanford, most have not had the political courage to work to eradicate this destructive financial cancer growing on our state.

In contrast, I hope that the new treasurer will have the political courage to work to address this mess. For too long, state leaders have ignored it, and by doing so they've forced us into an almost unmanageable predicament. Denying or refusing to address this difficulty won't make it go away. Doing that has only made it worse.

Frankly, by failing to act for as long as it has, the state may have forced itself into having to restructure the entire retirement plan. Doing so would require legislative action, but I hope that the new treasurer will encourage his hesitant former colleagues to act decisively without further delay.

Above all, as a new member of the Budget and Control Board, I hope that the new treasurer will refuse to commit a blunder routinely made by board members. Whether or not to grant annual COLAs (cost of living allowances) is a board decision. I ask the treasurer, as a fellow CPA, to not further weaken the retirement system by voting to grant additional benefit increases like COLAs until the retirement system's funding crisis is cured. The retirement system already is staggering under a crushing $10 billion load of promises that already have been made -- yet have never been paid for. The system must not be weakened any further.

There is something extremely cynical about promising benefit increases -- without funding those promised increases -- while fully aware that the retirement system already is unable to afford existing commitments. Regrettably, that has been done routinely in the past.

On a related matter, the state has promised public retirees $9 billion in future health insurance coverage and, once again, has not funded its promises. I hope that the new treasurer will encourage the Legislature to set up a fund immediately to begin paying down that $9 billion liability rather than let this situation deteriorate any further.

We must be realistic. The credit rating agencies are wondering how the state plans to pay for today's enormous unfunded retirement benefits. Elected officials have committed us to huge liabilities that are almost beyond comprehension. It is unlikely we will recover our AAA credit rating, which we lost a few years ago, until we honestly commit to a realistic workout plan for this dilemma.

If the Budget and Control Board and the Legislature fail to meet these obligations, South Carolina history would be justified in dealing very harshly with all elected state officials from our era. After all, many of them have created this gigantic mess for the taxpayers. If today's elected officials won't clean up after themselves, the good people of South Carolina would do well to find others who will.

Richard Eckstrom, a former certified public accountant from Greenville, is the comptroller general of South Carolina and one of the five members of the state Budget and Control Board. He served one term as state treasurer and was re-elected in 2006 as comptroller general.

An Open Letter to New State Treasurer

State of South Carolina

Office of Comptroller General

1200 Senate Street

305 Wade Hampton Office Building

Columbia, South Carolina 29201

August 1, 2007

Dear Mr. Treasurer:

I’m looking forward to your appointment. At one time I served in the office you’ll soon occupy, so I know precisely what you’ll be facing when you become the next State Treasurer.

You’ll assume a very competent, professional staff to handle the daily activities of the office, important activities like investing public funds and servicing state debt. My advice would be to lean on your competent staff to handle these functions and to devote your time to acute matters where the citizens of South Carolina are now grossly underserved.

I’m referring to work that needs to be done to fix the serious under funding of the State retirement system. State officials have essentially ignored this growing problem for many years. When I was elected State Treasurer in 1994, I warned that the State retirement system was acutely under funded. In fact, in 1994 the retirement system was short-funded by twenty-five percent, which was a massive shortfall of over $3 billion.

Since 1994, through a series of terrible management decisions the shortfall has ballooned to nearly $10 billion! That’s alarming.

Many state leaders are unwilling to confront this financial disaster. Some are willing merely to talk about it, but very few have shown the political courage to confront the core problem and eliminate it.

In contrast, I hope that you’ll come into office with the political courage to eliminate this destructive financial cancer that’s now growing on our State. For too long state leaders have ignored it and by doing so they’ve forced us into an almost unmanageable predicament. Denying or refusing to address this problem won’t make it go away. Doing that has only made it worse.

Frankly, by failing to act for as long as it did the State may have forced itself into having to restructure the entire retirement plan. That would be the Legislature’s ultimate decision, but I hope that you’ll encourage the Legislature to act decisively.

Above all, as a new member of the Budget and Control Board I hope that you’ll refuse to make a mistake commonly made by Board members. Whether or not to grant annual COLAs is a Board decision. I plead with you not to further weaken the retirement system by voting to grant additional benefit increases like COLAs until the retirement system’s funding problems are cured. The retirement system is already staggering under a crushing load of unfunded promises and it can ill-afford to be weakened further.

There is something cynical about promising benefit increases -- without funding those promised increases -- while fully aware that the retirement system already is drowning in a sea of red ink.

On a related matter, the State has promised public retirees $9 billion in health care benefits and, once again, has not funded those promises. I hope you’ll encourage the Legislature to establish a trust fund immediately to begin liquidating that $9 billion liability.

The credit rating agencies are wondering how the State plans to pay for its unfunded retirement benefits. The recovery of our AAA credit rating is unlikely until we commit to a workout plan. You and I have a duty to all South Carolinians to provide strong financial leadership on these enormous challenges.

Again, I look forward to your appointment and to working with you on these difficult challenges. If we fail to meet this test, South Carolina history books would be justified in dealing very harshly with the elected state officials from our era.


Sincerely,

Richard Eckstrom

S.C. Comptroller General

Here, Sir, The People Rule

We have witnessed an extraordinary rousing of the American people this summer over the issue of amnesty for those who illegally overrun our nation and compete for American jobs, while demanding that the taxpayers provide them and their families an array of health, education and welfare accommodations. In an avalanche of phone calls, letters, e-mails, and faxes, the people reminded their political representatives that they serve as the peoples’ representatives and can be replaced.

Some Members of Congress were prepared to defy overwhelming opinion against amnesty for illegal aliens until the pressure became too intense and they feared for their political lives. But as soon as the measure was defeated, some Senators began to resent being told how they should vote and began to blame “talk radio” for riling up the masses. Senators of both parties, who apparently think they were sent to Washington to be served rather than to serve, began to call for the reinstatement of the so-called “Fairness Doctrine.”

The misnamed Fairness Doctrine was repealed in 1987 because it was anything but fair and had the effect of muting free speech and the discussion of controversial issues. Many saw it as a violation of First Amendment Free Speech principles.

Under the Fairness Doctrine, if points of view were expressed through the broadcast media on any topic, contrasting views had to be given equal time. If there were six different points of view on an issue, all would be granted equal time. These requirements, far from encouraging free speech, had the effect of muzzling it. Most radio stations are privately owned, for-profit enterprises, and could not risk the possibility of having to provide air time to every contrasting quirky point of view, regardless of how extreme or unrepresentative the view might be.

As soon as the Fairness Doctrine was removed, “talk radio” as we know it was born and commentators like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mike Reagan, and Bill Bennett have earned huge national audiences and are carried on hundreds of stations across America. Despite many well-funded attempts by those on the political left to match these successful conservative giants, the left has fallen far short. The left has found that there is little national audience for its commentary that disparages America, degrades our military, advocates for bigger government, and promotes policies that offend most people of faith.

Over 90% of talk radio is dominated by conservatives. Americans have made these programs the success that they are because they express points of view shared by most Americans. Far from being “brainwashed” by these programs, Americans have been encouraged by their new-found realization that there are millions of other Americans who share their traditional values and think as they do. More importantly, Americans have been joined to other like-minded Americans through talk radio, and they are making their collective voices heard loud and clear.

Stung by their defeat on the Senate Amnesty Bill, those Senators on both sides of the aisle who see themselves as an elite, governing class, and who don’t want to be bothered by the views of ordinary Americans, are now intent on restricting our free expression. This is an old instinct. It is the instinct of Fidel Castro in Cuba, Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, and Vladimir Putin in Russia.

The national argument America has had with her leaders this summer may well be a very healthy one for our republic. Americans have realized how important their involvement is in the workings of our government, and we have learned that we can play a decisive role in the direction our nation takes.

Most importantly, we’ve also learned who represents the people, and who those politicians are that hold the people and their views in contempt. The frustrations and concerns that drove so many to call, write, fax and e-mail Senate offices now need to be felt in the most important poll of all, the one taken on Election Day. After all, as Alexander Hamilton once said, “Here, Sir, the people rule.”



(Agree? Disagree? Please share your thoughts with me by clicking on the e-mail address to the right above.)

One Language, One Culture, One Nation: Senator McConnell Makes A Good Point!!

America is facing a rapid erosion of its national identity. Followers of the left-leaning political correctness movement are daily chipping away at the time-honored traditions and customs that are foundational to our country and to our way of life. Their push for a multi-lingual society threatens our cherished English language and our American culture.

The English language is a defining characteristic of our nation. Our forefathers fought for an America united by a common language. Those who came from other countries seeking a better life, including my grandparents and others like them, knew they had to learn English to succeed in their new homeland. They understood that their future depended on their ability to communicate and that the American dream was widely available to those willing to make the effort to become full-fledged citizens.

Unfortunately many of today’s immigrants have a different attitude. Rather than adopt our English language to better communicate with the rest of us, some now demand that we accommodate them in their native tongues. Even law-breaking illegal aliens have come to expect this, and many misguided politicians reinforce that wrong-headed attitude by calling for special accommodations for government-sponsored services.

Worse yet, Senator Glenn McConnell is being harshly criticized as a "xenophobe" for saying that the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles should stop giving driving tests in foreign languages, since by law English is the state's official language. It is incredible that government bureaucrats responsible for road safety would ever implement such an impractical policy in the first place. For the safety of all drivers, should we not require that all drivers be able to read road safety signs and warnings?

Our national language should not be undermined. Rather than print government documents in a patchwork of languages, we should expect those seeking services to communicate in English. Call it tough love, as it can only help those who want to become viable and functioning members of our economy and our society.

The importance of communicating in English was underscored a few months ago at a Columbia restaurant. A non-English-speaking worker, unable to read labels, mistakenly served customers a highly caustic cleaning powder in place of sugar. Unfortunately, several customers consumed the poison and were hospitalized with internal injuries.

As tragic and unlikely as this example seems, there are many other scenarios that could easily produce more disastrous consequences. For example the airlines industry relies on clear, concise communication. Imagine the tragedy that might occur if a pilot and an air traffic controller were unable to communicate. Worse yet, think of the absolute absurdity of trying to arrange for multi-lingual communication among U.S. military troops on the battlefield!

Patriotic Americans must take the high ground in this debate. We must make every effort to strengthen the fabric of America rather than to unravel it like some wish to do. Our commitment to our common culture and our shared language should not be sacrificed to satisfy some misguided socially engineered view of multi-culturalism and ethnic tolerance. America has always been a diverse nation, but historically our common English language has helped us understand each other, overcome differences, and draw us together.

Our hope should be for the United States to remain united. To achieve that end we must insist that English is our only national language and that everyone on our soil continues to respect our country’s rule of law. Anything less would be a disservice to our common heritage and a disgrace to those who toiled and sacrificed to make the United States of America the greatest nation on earth.

Protecting Our Children Online

The protection of our children is a powerful instinct in the hearts of parents. Beginning with the ride home from the hospital with them in our arms and lasting throughout our lives, we do everything within our power to protect our precious children from dangers at every stage of life. Sadly, the dangers children face today are much more sophisticated than those that existed when we were children. Access to computers and advances in technology expose our children to unimaginable threats today.

The Internet is a wonderful educational tool for children as it opens up a rich world of information and resources. Unfortunately, it can also be a high-tech haven for sick predators scheming to molest our children.

Law enforcement is working hard to thwart this growing threat by finding and prosecuting the predators. New laws have been passed to make it easier to arrest those vile individuals. And while this effort is needed, it has done little to control the problem. We need to arrest the bad guys for sure, but we must also work to properly educate everyone else on how to protect children by reducing online dangers.

We pretty much understand how Internet predators stalk children. It should be our job as a society to arm families with effective tools to protect children from falling prey to those predators. Simply waiting on government to solve the problem is not a good option. Our focus needs to quickly shift towards reducing the number of potential victims -- our precious children.

One of the best things parents can do in this regard is to supervise their children online. Ask them about their favorite websites and openly discuss with them the dangers they face in cyberspace. Keep their computer screens visible in a common room in your home to reduce the likelihood of predators contacting your child without being detected. Learn about parental controls that are available through Internet Service Providers to foil a predator’s attempts to contact your children.

Warn your children never to arrange secret face-to-face meetings with people they meet online. Explain why it could be dangerous to post their pictures and other identifying information on Internet sites like MySpace.com and Yahoo! Groups. Instruct your children never to give their name, home address, school name, or telephone number to Internet strangers who might be merely posing as a new friend. And finally, make certain your children know never to respond to messages that are suggestive, obscene, belligerent, or harassing. Insist that they tell you if they run into that behavior from anyone on the Internet.

These are a few things we all can do to help protect our children from online dangers. Educating our precious children and ourselves is one of the most effective ways to fight this menacing problem. Our children deserve our best effort. Let’s work together to shrink the threat of online predators by defending our children from them. Then let’s find the predators, lock them up, and throw away the key. A free society should allow no room for these monsters.

Correctional Officers Play Vital Role

One of the most important roles of state government is to provide adequate safety and security for the citizens. Law enforcement at all levels must have the tools they need get the job done. Budget shortfalls in recent years have severely impacted our abilities to fund such needs. With an improving state economy it is important that we now focus on providing additional dollars to better equip and pay our public safety employees.

At the state level SLED and the Highway Patrol are at the forefront and they play a vital and important role in public safety. Like all state agencies budget cuts and fewer pay raises or promotions have affected them. Fortunately the Governor has proposed across the board pay raises for all law enforcement agencies including SLED and the Highway Patrol. I’m confident the Legislature will include these raises in their final budget.

While this is needed and will help, we should not neglect taking a closer look at the needs of one agency in particular, the SC Department of Corrections. More specifically we must consider special pay raises for state correctional officers.

Because they work outside of public view correctional officers are often overlooked or forgotten. Most of us rarely think about the vital role they play in keeping our communities safe. I have personally visited several prisons and observed correctional officers on the job. I can say first-hand that they deserve our deep respect, appreciation and above all, increased support.

Unfortunately pay for correctional officers has not kept pace with other law enforcement professionals. In fact at current pay levels correctional officers working to support his family often qualifies for public assistance. With a starting pay of just $20,645 a state correctional officer with a spouse and two children is eligible to receive food stamps. For this reason it is not uncommon for some officers to work other part-time jobs just to keep their heads above water.

It is very difficult to recruit and retain quality people as correctional officers. The turnover rate for newly hired correctional officers is very high. In 2004 nearly 60% of the officers hired quit within just a few months. Many of these trained officers left the state system to work for higher pay at county and municipal facilities. This costs the state a great deal of money for training in addition to the lost manpower.

The vacancy rate for correctional officers is perpetually high. In many cases full staffing at some prisons is never achieved. This represents a genuinely dangerous public safety concern. To address this we should provide special incentives to attract and retain good correctional officers. In addition to increased pay, opportunities for anniversary bonuses and special merit increases should be available.

Another idea would be to allow current officers to work part-time on other shifts to help fill the gaps and provide opportunities for extra earnings. Most officers work 12-hour shifts on a three or four day rotation. Rather than work an extra job, many would jump at an opportunity to make extra money working in a familiar setting on a regular day off.

Unlike other law enforcement professionals, correctional officers have regular, constant contact with known criminals. They perform a very dangerous and often thankless job. Safety and security are their primary mission and most correctional officers are very good at what they do. It is time for the state to step forward and show these genuine watchdogs our respect and appreciation for a job well done.

Another Perspective: Turning Waste Into Resources

The South Carolina House Agriculture Committee recently rejected a plan to keep the Barnwell low-level nuclear waste site open to all 50 states and will instead permit dumping only from South Carolina, Connecticut and New Jersey after 2008. The vast majority of material collected at this site is solid, low-level radioactive material such as laboratory and hospital gowns, gloves, goggles, and cleaning rags. These are the byproducts of vital medical treatments, scientific research, and even electrical and clean energy production.

It’s easy to understand public opposition to any kind of dumping in our beautiful state, and it’s easy to understand the political impulse that calls for its total ban. Yet, effective leadership often requires educating the public on the larger implications of public policy and nudging public opinion toward the greater good.

While I’m merely an accountant -- not a scientist -- I believe, nevertheless, that too many well-intentioned voices are creating resistance against the very science and the research and development efforts that offer hope and solutions to our most vexing problems. Those scientific efforts, if allowed, can also provide a cleaner, healthier environment, greater economic opportunity, and longer, better lives for us all.

Chem-Nuclear, which operates the Barnwell waste site, is one of our state’s truly outstanding corporate citizens. The company has an admirable record of safety and responsibility. Shipments of waste received at its state-of-the-art facility have produced millions of dollars in fees for the state, the community, and the company. In addition to providing good jobs, the company purchases more than $10 million annually in goods and services in SC. It also pays approximately $600,000 annually in taxes to Barnwell County, and it makes major contributions to public education and to many local civic, recreational, and environmental causes.

Reducing the amount of material received at this site from over 40,000 cubic feet of waste to 8,000 per year will require the termination of approximately half of the 63 employees currently working at the site. In phasing out one of the last low-level nuclear waste sites of its kind in the nation, could we also unintentionally create incentives to move offshore the thousands and thousands of our nation’s medical, scientific, and research and development jobs that produce the waste.

Consider the following. The same God who commanded that man subdue the Earth and have dominion over it, also made us resourceful. In that manner, one remarkably resourceful company has figured out how to convert garbage into clean energy. Another is now converting seawater and polluted water into pure drinking water.

Startech Environmental Corporation is using plasma technology to vaporize solid waste for less than it costs to dump it in landfills. This system provides its own electrical power and any excess electricity can be sold to a local power grid. The system will allow cities to actually make money from garbage, while eliminating waste and providing a cheaper source of power. St. Lucie County, Florida is preparing to erect a $425 million plasma gasification system near a local landfill. It will devour all 2,000 tons of the county’s daily trash, clean up the local landfill, provide electricity to the local power grid, and pay for itself in 20 years. This is a great example of American ingenuity.

Another resourceful American company, LightStream Technologies, uses clean and safe ultra-violet light technologies to convert polluted water into pure drinking water. This technology is being used not only in our country, but also in parts of the world where over two million people are dying annually from polluted water and many more are being sickened by it. This is another great example of American ingenuity.

Let’s realize that the crude oil on which the industrialized world now depends became valuable only because resourceful, inventive people found extraordinary ways to use the messy stuff as it seeped from the ground. As we work today to ensure a better, cleaner environment, let’s remember that it is America’s ingenious free market system that is solving ancient problems, curing diseases, cleaning the environment and providing opportunities for us all.

The day might not be too far off when we’re able to convert the solid waste material at Barnwell into an incredibly valuable resource. That would be yet another great example of American ingenuity.

Power Corrupts

Little more than a decade ago Republicans gained majority status in the U.S. Congress. About the same time, the political landscape in South Carolina was also changing and in 1994, led by reform minded conservatives, Republicans took over leadership and control of the South Carolina House of Representatives and a bit later the South Carolina Senate.

Following the example of the popular “Contract With America,” South Carolina leaders signed pledges and made promises to affect changes that would help bring the American dream within reach of all our state’s citizens. Central to the pledge were real conservative ideas like tax cuts and reducing the size of government. Such bold and ambitious themes gave hope for a brighter future as South Carolina workers would presumably get to keep more of their hard earned dollars.

Unfortunately, in the intervening years memories have faded, yielding to the intoxicating allure and corrupting effects of power. The real and achievable goals of shrinking government and returning surplus monies to the tax payers have been replaced with the old guard pattern of growing budgets and pork barrel spending. Pledges to hold the line on taxes have fallen to the wayside as special interests have managed to overtake even the staunchest anti-tax politicians. The once promising saviors of the overtaxed have become the co-opted pawns of special interests.

The sickening reality is that our state budget has grown nearly 70 percent with the Republicans in charge. Spending is out of hand and the commitment to reign in taxes has all but disappeared. The atmosphere in Columbia has become less about keeping promises to taxpayers and more about rewarding campaign donors.

And to add insult to injury, this year South Carolina government took in more than it needed. In fact, our surplus exceeded $100 million. Unfortunately, rather than return a portion of it to taxpayers, elected officials have chosen, in this election year, to use it for other projects in the various districts around the state.

Even the feared and dreaded IRS has the decency to make refunds on over collections. Why should state taxpayers be treated differently? Unfortunately, the elected leadership in South Carolina has grown complacent and they no longer fear voter retribution. Some are even proposing to increase taxes. Who among us really thinks they are paying too little in taxes?

Whether or not this outrageous behavior continues is up to the voters to decide. No doubt most elected officials have the best of intentions, but many have lost sight of why they first ran for office. It’s important that elected officials hear from you. Tell them they must keep their promises if they expect your vote. Tell them your tax dollars are a sacred trust and should not be wasted. Be a persistent watchdog and attitudes in Columbia will eventually change or the politicians will find themselves out of work.

Remain on Guard to Protect Liberty

It’s been said that “Truth is the daughter of Time,” and the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia striking down D.C.’s stringent gun control laws reflects the wisdom of that old adage.

In defiance of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the District of Columbia made owning a gun virtually impossible. Handguns not registered to their current owner before 1976 were banned, and the few guns permitted had to be kept disassembled. Even those handguns could not be carried from one room to another in a private home without criminal penalties.

Laws like this that ignore the Constitution, our basic freedoms, and common sense, remind us that some politicians and judges have little regard for individual liberty and would instantly discard freedoms gained over many centuries to impose instead what they imagine is in everyone’s best interest. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis warned of such men when he wrote in 1927:

Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government's purposes are beneficent.... The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding.

Today, sportsmen and others desiring to protect their family and property own the vast majority of guns. However, our founding fathers made it clear that the Second Amendment was intended also to protect something even bigger -- our freedoms that had been won during the American Revolution.

George Washington said bluntly, “a free people ought to be armed."

Patrick Henry stated that “the great object is that every man be armed” and “everyone who is able may have a gun.” He astutely advised us to “guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.”

James Madison, the Father of our Constitution, contrasted American freedoms with those of every other nation when he wrote, “Americans have the right and advantage of being armed -- unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”

The Founding Fathers wanted the entire adult populace armed for the protection of themselves, their families, their communities and most especially, for the protection of the new republic where government is of, by, and for the people.

We live at a time when too many of our leaders reject “that jewel” of freedom obtained for us over 230 years ago. Ours is an even more dangerous world today with aggressive regimes committed to killing Americans and eliminating our way of life.

There are bound to be appeals to the Supreme Court seeking to eliminate firearms in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere. In the meantime, every patriot should heed the wisdom of our Founders and guard against the “well meaning” and the not so “well meaning” enemies of freedom who reject these words of Hamilton: “Here, Sir, the people rule.”

Pork A'Plenty

When many people speak of political conservatives in the United States they frequently speak of two distinct branches -- one being economic conservatives who care mainly about balanced budgets and policies favorable to economic growth, and the other being social conservatives who concern themselves mainly with moral and family issues, such as education, healthcare and crime. However, the General Assembly’s recent work on next year’s State budget demonstrates that economic and social issues are very much intertwined.

The recent budget spectacle has managed to unite not only fiscal and social conservatives, but has united some liberals and conservatives as well. What’s more, some of our state’s most liberal newspaper editors, normally of the belief that government can almost never tax and spend too much, have even criticized some of next year’s proposed spending plans. Many people have begun to protest against the selfish promotion of special interest projects arranged by politicians looking out for their own small corner of the state, rather than for the overall good of our state as a whole.

Fiscal responsibility is both a moral and social issue. That’s because the choices we make today shape the kind of lives our children and grandchildren will live 20 and 40 years from now.

State government expects to collect $1.2 billion more in revenue this year than it did last year. Yet instead of returning much of this excess collection to the taxpayers, or setting it aside to help get us through the next recession, or even committing it for overdue repairs of bridges, roads, schools and school buses, some legislators have a “better idea.”

They have decided to use a mere 3% for tax cuts. They also plan to penalize State government by using this year’s new non-recurring dollars, which are here today and gone tomorrow, for new recurring programs that instead should be supported by recurring dollars. Their proposed budget also bloats State government by another 12% on top of its 25% expansion during the previous two years. At the same time, they cut the number of new state troopers in half, fail to provide adequate funding for our prisons, and spend tens of millions on pork projects that sound like a list from Ripley’s Believe it or Not.

People complain about “pork-barrel” spending by elected officials. But are these complaints justified in South Carolina? Consider the following.

Among local projects benefiting from a controversial slush fund are The Pigs on the Ridge Festival, The Piggie on the Rock Festival, Squealin’ on the Square, and the Chitlin Strut. Do these sound like pork to you? Are you satisfied to see your taxes increase so that your family’s money can be spent on projects like these?

As in past years, Governor Sanford will veto many of these outrageous ways that some of our legislators have found to spend our hard earned money. But we can also expect that, as in the past, some legislators will show their disregard for the financial sacrifices and patience of taxpayers by proudly overriding most of the Governor’s vetoes.

If people really want to stop the questionable spending of their hard-earned money, then the list of legislators who vote to override the Governor’s vetoes could be very helpful. In fact, such a list might be more useful than all the campaign brochures that will be printed and campaign commercials that will be aired during next year’s re-elections. Perhaps voters should carry that list with them to the polls on Election Day.

Time To Go Home

(Originally published May 25, 2007)

Many Americans don’t often publicly discuss their displeasure over the policies and actions of political leaders who offend them. They would rather simply mind their own business. But every now and then when our nation’s security and survival is at stake, Americans turn from their daily pursuits. At such times, a great wave of patriotism, common sense and wisdom rises up, takes the helm from the politicians, and steers the great ship of state back on course. This is such a moment, and the issue is the illegal immigration crisis and the proposed amnesty bill before Congress.

We have an illegal immigration crisis because national politicians have refused or failed to enforce our existing national laws. Their failure to protect our nation’s borders has resulted in a literal invasion of 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in recent years. President Bush recently reported that 6 million tried to breach our southern border between 2001 and 2006. Of these, 500,000 had criminal records. Some proceeded to commit violent crimes in the U.S.

For the first time in our nation’s history, large numbers of Americans have begun migrating out of California and other western states. In the 1990s, two million Americans began a migration from California to pursue new lives in other states. That exodus continues.

Some of the immigrants who have taken the place of these Americans speak of reclaiming for Mexico the land they now occupy in our largest state. Senator Jim DeMint, who has stood for the people of South Carolina in resisting what some have termed “national suicide,” courageously admits that we are “in a fight to retain our country.”

To address this crisis, a small group of Congressional insiders have developed a several hundred-page amnesty plan. They are attempting to quickly pass it without permitting others sufficient time to read it, without Congressional hearings, and in defiance of overwhelming opposition from the American people.

They deny that their proposal is an amnesty plan. But if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, let’s call it what it is. Their proposed amnesty plan is a brazen attempt to create the appearance that the growing immigration crisis has been addressed. Like previous amnesty plans, it will only encourage more law breaking and more illegal invaders.

Their legislation would require illegal immigrants to acknowledge that they broke the law, pay a $1,000 fine, undergo a criminal background check, pay an additional $4,000 fine, complete English requirements, leave the U.S., return to their home country, and then apply for a green card. If some members of Congress really believe that a government that won’t even defend our borders is going to enforce this complicated law, then they believe in what never was and what never will be.

People are outraged by the pie-in-the-sky plan being force-fed upon them. They know that if politicians would only secure our borders and enforce the laws already on our books, the problem could be addressed.

People here illegally, many driven by the lure of good paychecks, will not stay if they can’t find work to support themselves. Our government and America’s employers need to ensure that only legal residents of the United States, including legal immigrants, work in the United States.

To Washington insiders, it’s all about politics. But in South Carolina, it’s all about our families, our homes, our jobs, and our communities. In South Carolina, we also respect our laws.

As for members of Congress who act in defiance of those of us they’re elected to represent, a grassroots revolution seems to be afoot. Americans may be poised to push aside those who refuse to act in our interest and who believe instead that they know better than we do. Perhaps like illegal aliens, when they are denied their jobs in Washington, D.C., they also will find their way home.

Restore Traditional School Holidays

Unique among nations, America’s identity is not founded on race or ethnicity, but upon a powerful spiritual idea that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” These rights flow not from a King, a constitution, wealth, or party, but from God our Creator. The Declaration of Independence, our nation’s founding document, tells us that government’s role is to secure these God-given “unalienable Rights.” To this end, our founding fathers boldly proclaimed their “firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence.”

Our Constitution reveals the profoundly Christian roots of our republic. For example, consider this phrase: “…if any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him.” Sundays are “excepted” on the same reverential grounds that mail isn’t delivered on Sunday.

There is ample other evidence of our Christian roots. Christmas and Easter are national holidays, the Presidential Oath of Office asks God’s blessing, every session of Congress and the Supreme Court begins with prayer, and chaplains have served our military since Washington commanded the Continental Army.

We can ponder if it would even be possible to write our founding documents in today’s America. Some among us are determined to make this a very different nation from the nation established by our founding fathers. Groups like the ACLU have succeeded in their unrelenting campaign to rewrite America’s history and to ban our religious expressions from the public square and from our schools.

But our schools are supposed to instill in our children a sense of what it means to be an American, teach American history truthfully and accurately, and develop good and virtuous citizens. How can schools possibly do this when school systems across America are refusing to acknowledge the historical fact of America’s Christian roots? They’ve even gone to the extreme of renaming Christmas and Easter breaks as “Winter Break” and “Spring Break.”

America has been blessed in the past because it honored the covenant that was drawn up in Philadelphia and secured with the blood of patriots. Should we then be surprised by what is happening when we have let our schools be stripped of prayer, have let textbooks be purged of all references to the religious roots of our nation, and have failed to even acknowledge those major religious holidays revered by the vast number of our citizens?

Not surprising, many once fine schools now have become places of deadly violence. Our popular culture has become debased and our country has become a place that earlier generations would be unable to recognize.

If America, the “shining city on a hill,” is to enjoy God’s continued blessing, our nation must return to its historical roots. When one has taken a wrong turn, it can be a long way back. But turning back can be the only way forward. A couple of school districts in other states have taken a small step on the return journey by restoring the terms “Christmas Break” and “Easter Break” to their school calendars.

Here in South Carolina, we should “stand in the gap” and refuse to yield any further to those who scorn our nation’s Judeo-Christian roots. At a minimum, our local school districts should respect the observances of our families, and our national holidays, by restoring the terms “Christmas” and “Easter.” At the same time, let’s continue, as we’ve always done, to protect the right of others in our society wishing to observe any of the world’s other religions -- or even no religion at all -- to pursue their choice in any way that doesn’t interfere with our right to honor the faith of our fathers.