WHAT IS IT WITH SOUTH CAROLINA POLITICIANS CONSTANTLY TRYING TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT?
For the last decade, South Carolina politicians who habitually funnel money into our state’s worst-in-the-nation public education system have been savagely attacking those who support reform. In fact to hear them tell it, the reason that public schools in the Palmetto State are so bad is that the state’s educrat establishment has been “distracted” by the reformers – most notably school choice supporters like us.
Really?
Clearly that’s a ridiculous argument. Our schools are bad because there’s zero accountability – and zero competition. That’s the problem … not the fact that people are engaging in a vigorous public debate about their lack of accountability and competitiveness.
Anyway, because our politicians, bureaucrats and mainstream media aren’t interested in fixing our state’s increasingly expensive system (which continues to fall further behind the rest of the nation), every year taxpayers are forced to pump more money into the failed status quo …
And every year we are treated to a vilification of those “evil outsiders” who have the audacity to try and raise achievement levels for all South Carolina children (especially those in low income regions of the state).
It’s a classic case of “killing the messenger.”
So why does this argument … a classic ad hominem logical fallacy … continue to be accepted in our state?
Easy: Because the mainstream press keeps accepting it … and promoting it … and not just on the issue of education, either. Name the issue and you’ll find politicians avoiding responsibility – and casting the blame on their critics.
Take S.C. Senator Wes Hayes, who takes tens of thousands of dollars each year in undisclosed taxpayer-funded retirement income – even though he hasn’t retired. It’s all part of a shady deal that state lawmakers (including Hayes) self-approved over a decade ago.
Recently Hayes was called out for this dubious arrangement … which of course has prompted him (and his sycophants in the mainstream press) to go after the organizations attacking him.
“We don’t know who they are, what they’re spending, where they’re getting their money,” Hayes said during a recent debate. “They really don’t exist – you can’t find them. That’s cowardly. We need to put a stop to that.”
Really?
Last time we checked, what’s cowardly is hiding the fact that Hayes is ripping off taxpayers via a shady pension fund that’s not available to other state employees.
That’s what needs to stop …
Anyway, what is our response to Hayes’ bitching and moaning? Well in addition to the eminently well-reasoned article you are currently reading, our founding editor’s new group – Liber-TEA – is running a new radio ad in the Charlotte, N.C. market informing the public about Hayes’ shady pension payments.
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29 comments
Pushing for the awful idea of private school vouchers may not be a distraction, but that doesn’t mean it is a good idea either.
Seriously, is this what you’ve been working on all week? No offense, Will, but you haven’t given us very much red meat so far. I hope this means something big is brewing.
Oh, and seriously, tell Mila Kunis to take a hike.
Amen, bro.
Not a lot going on, I guess. Mila ain’t all that. Gimme Jennifer Love Hewitt or Christine Henderson, now that’s prime. A little cellulose don’t bother me none.
FITS, Nikki Haley has done more to perpetuate School Choice in 2 years than Sanford did in 8.
So I’d say you are as guilty as Hayes when it comes to Killing the people doing the Heavy Lifting, after your guy failed in Obama-esque proportions…
The Voucher lobby strikes again. This has noting to do with Wes Hayes retirement plan. This is an attack because he refused to give private school parents state money to pay for their kids to go to private school. Even though it is money going to SC’s worst in the nation private schools. This site and liber-tea has no credibility on this issue. They are just attack dogs out to unseat Senator Hayes because he would not fork over the dough.
Who is footing the bill for an attack is always relevant. Every citizen has the right to know who is attempting in influence elections, who is paying money to politicians, and what they expect in return. People who hide in the shadows do so for a reason. If you knew who and what they were you would ignore what they had to say. So do it anyway, and rest assured your decision will be the correct one.
These people are just trying to get their hands on your tax dollars. Nothing more. They don’t give a crap about poor children or children in failing schools. They in fact want to abandon those children. They have no ethics, no character and they are willing to hurt anyone, including hard working successful public school children, to achieve their goal.
Yeh really
Is there anyone DUMB enough to believe that the likes of Howie Rich gives a damn about educating poor kids?
I men come on Republiacans !
Stand up for your “principles.”
Say it!
SCREW EM!
Note to Fits: Bringing up retirement payments when addressing the issue of vouchers is an ad hominem fallacy.
Joe will just harm our public schools and if private schools get tax money they will no longer be private. Our public schools deal with every type of problem student. A private school cannot do this. If we take money out of the public schools, we could harm those children who need special help. Our public schools enable many marginal kids to be good citizens and this could be lost. Vote for compassion, duty, honor, country, truth, justice and the American way. Vote for Wes Hayes. To vote for Joe is to vote for greed and the shameful taking of public tax money to fund private schools where wealthy parents do not want their kids to associate with the rest of us.
Sic(k) willie has to do something to justify the voucher scam money he gets from Howie the Voucher Clown.
Face it sic(k) willie. Howie’s voucher scam is dead in S.C. A Midlands’ elected official said so.
The voucher scam would only leave those who need help the most even further behind. Anyone who says otherwise is just a voucher clown.
Lack of accountability in public education?
That’s just voucher (s)crap.
The voucher clowns know the real issues facing public education involve lack of balanced funding (see the Corridor of Shame), latent racism, poverty and the host of social ills that follow those issues.
But voucher clowns don’t care.
They just want to “rob from the poor, to give to voucher clowns.”
Cut sic some slack. He’s got to earn the Howie check. I mean the man has obligations and a man has to do what a man has to do.
SC schools suck because the SC public are dumbfuck hicks who defecate dumbfuck trash into the world.
I’m fine with school vouchers though since those who care enough to rescue their offspring and NOT burden the system should be allowed to do so.
No, SC schools are dumbfucks because of region. It all depends on where you live. If rural, you’re fucked. Damn, it’s a social engineering problem. You got to learn the dumb fuck parents first before you can ever reach the chilren. Poverty sucks big time. No good teacher want to teach the dumb fucks.
Wes like a turkey vulture in that pic.
Joe Thompson does have a connection with far right, anti-government anarchists through his radio program, Patriot Talk co-host Jeff Mattox (Kershaw County) and has invited guests such as Larken Rose, author of “When It’s OK To Shoot a Cop” to appear on the show.
In August 2011, Mattox caused a major flap over his indication of approval of Larken’s article when it appeared on the Kershaw County Patriot’s Facebook page. Mattox was forced out of the Kershaw County GOP when his connection to Larken gained state and national scrutiny, even making it into Politico.
All this occurred while Mattox was co-hosting Patriot Talk with Joe, as shocking as that might be. Joe was silent on the subject then and even recently when Rose was on the show about 6 weeks ago.
Thompson is a weak candidate with questionable connections and a tool of out of state special interest groups. He’s guilty of the rankest hypocrisy and a shoot-from-the-lip mentality.
Will,
Serious question:
I read an article that described “elusive” attacks on Wes Hayes….are you saying that the group was definitely a pro-school choice group, or even that you could identify the group?
It looks like they are diverting attention from the real reason. The pensions plan in on the state web pages and easy to look up. The real reason they are lying about the pension plan is they want school vouchers. If you look at the pension plan, it is easy to see Wes did not do what they claim. The plan he has is the same one that was in place when he started serving. Early this year the legislator unanimously changed the plan and now legislators are on the same plan as teachers and other state workers. Just google South Carolina Retirement Systems. The same is true about the ethics claims, the house and senate could only write letters if they found a member was unethical. The Attorney General would have to do any police action if the member had violated the law. The house and senate can now fine and write a letter of reprimand, but the Attorney General is still the way we can prosecute a member if the violation is criminal. The legislature only makes law. They do not enforce the law.
The pension is not “shady”. It is a legal pension. Just as legal as tax avoidance for off shore accounts, tax deductions for child care, acceptance of winnings from the education lottery, acceptance of millions of dollars (Sanford) for conservation easements on property they never intented to sell or build on anyway, or a social security check. Any one of the Senators who is eligible to go the pensioni route would of course take it. They would be a fool not to. Instead of attacking Hayes as an individual, why don’t we demand of all the legislators that they reform the pension program?
As to school choice or the voucher program, it is not a magic potion that will cure all SC’s education problems. It it a toxic idea that would allow the kids who are already going to excel to continue to do so, while the ones who are at risk and need our help the most are kicked to the curb. Vouchers will not be of any use to poor kids, whose parents care very little about what happens in their lives. But we must care. We can’t afford not to.
Undisclosed retirement income? You mean you really want everyone getting checks from the state retirement fund to disclose? Really?
The pension stuff is just a tool. If he was doing what your paymasters wanted, the pension stuff would never come up. It’s a tactic that liberal groups used in Wisconsin – attack on anything that gets voters to respond and for God’s sake, keep the real agenda hidden. Most people call that lieing.
Yesah i can write your garbage for you and then hide it behind another subject yesah it’s the approach we should take heers in SC. Yesah if it does not work i will buttchug with you. Yesah my marriage is still a front I LOVE YOU HOWIE and Only You
Vote for right-in candidate Joe Thompson. I don’t know much about him, but it can’t be any worse than Hayes. It’s time for him to go.
http://thompsonforsenate.us/
Thompson is nothing but a tool of the voucher lobby. He is being pushed by that group because they want someone who will vote to take money from public schools and give it to SC’s worst in the nation private schools.
So if you want the state to take your money and give it a guy with kids in private school, so he can afford for his wife not to work and to pay for his country club membership by all means vote for Joe Thompson.
I would love to see Will write an insightful article that actually uses real data to support his continued insistence that a voucher plan would improve the overall state of public education in South Carolina. This is such a tired subject and not one proponent of school choice has ever offered up hard facts to support the argument that this makes sense in South Carolina.
That would be impossible.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again: Wes Hayes needs to be on the South Carolina Supreme Court and not dicking around in the legislature. He has the intelligence, integrity, character, temperament and clean background to stand up to Queen Jean Toal. NO ONE on the court now can do that. Our hope was Kaye Hearn and that has been neutralized, damn it.
Wes has the personality of a wet paper towel on the campaign trail. I saw him recently and he stammered and stuttered his way through the conversation like he was Sylvester the cartoon cat. Wes Hayes on the Supreme Court? Wes is a closet ambulance chaser. He makes his living doing soft tissue injury cases that are based on Chiropractor “medical” bills and disability claims. He made it to West Point because his dad was a circuit court judge. Don’t kid yourself. Supreme Court…that is rich!
Another Voucher clown. Give me money or I will say bad things about you. Typical.
Ok this is so wrong and you are so ignorant of history. I could have gone to West Point the same year he did. The Vietnam War was going strong. SC was able to pick up a considerable number of unwanted scholarships to West Point from other states that year. Most did not wish to take a chance of going to Vietnam. A lot just up and moved to Canada. Then Wes did something special after he got there. He was elected the class president. Then he went into the army and jumped out of planes and stuff like that. He is older now but is sharp enough to get the old video poker machines outlawed and will probably keep them and others like them out of our state. Maybe you are one of the ones that made money with video poker.
If you notice Joe Thompson claims he will not use the pension plan. Before the legislature unanimously made the changes this year he would have HAD to opt in. With the new system new legislators can opt out; however, that is not a wise idea. What a DUMMY! Sometimes nature fails and the principals of natural selection are not enforced.