Everything Wrong With South Carolina’s Roads Is Tom Davis’ Fault?

THAT’S WHAT THEY’RE SAYING … 

|| By FITSNEWS || If you’ve been reading any mainstream media outlet in South Carolina over the last few days, you’ve no doubt heard about the “failure of the S.C. General Assembly to pass a bill to fix our crumbling roads and bridges.”

And you’ve probably heard that a South Carolina Senator by the name of Tom Davis is the man responsible for this failure.

Both statements are accurate.  South Carolina lawmakers did not pass legislation this year to substantively address the condition of the state’s abysmal roads and bridges – and it was Tom Davis who waged the filibuster preventing a so-called “roads bill” from passing the State Senate.

As a result, according to the MSM, every pothole, uneven road, decaying bridge or stalled construction has become Tom Davis’ fault.  And every bad thing flowing from those road issues is Tom Davis’ fault.

Take a look at this text message our founding editor received …

That’s three (count ’em, three) angry faces …

As we’ve noted repeatedly over the last few weeks, though, Davis is to be commended … not criticized … for his obstructionism.

What Davis blocked wasn’t real reform of the S.C. Department of Transportation (SCDOT) aimed at “fixing our roads,” what he blocked was an effort to dump hundreds of millions of new tax dollars into the same old system that’s been failing our state for decades.

Tax dollars which our dirt poor citizens can’t afford to cough up right now …

Pumping more money into a broken system would be “the definition of insanity” he said during his filibuster.

Which leads us to our point: Our roads and bridges aren’t terrible because Tom Davis filibustered a gas tax hike, they’re terrible because our state’s leaders have habitually funded costly new projects (including S.C. Senator Hugh Leatherman‘s totally unnecessary widening of a highway from Florence to Pamplico, S.C.) instead of needed repairs.  Or because they chose to spare wealthy Charleston, S.C. residents a few extra seconds commuting rather than making long-overdue repairs to one of our state’s most vital commercial thoroughfares.

Or more to the point, our roads and bridges are terrible because lawmakers continue funding billions of dollars worth of big government that they shouldn’t be funding … or at the very least that they shouldn’t fund before fixing our roads.

Which reminds us: The same media outlets lying to the public about the true size of the state budget are also lying about who is to blame for our crappy roads and bridges – and what ought to be done to fix them.

Is that Tom Davis’ fault?

Not hardly …

You don’t have to tell us how bad South Carolina’s roads are … we drive them all the time.  In fact we’ve helped point out some of the worst instances of unsafe infrastructure in this state (and helped get some needed repairs done).

As we’ve stated repeatedly, those decrying Davis have approved billions of dollars in new spending on South Carolina’s worst-in-the-nation government-run school system, its duplicative and inefficient higher education system, bailouts for wealthy corporations and shady ‘economic development‘ deals.  In fact lawmakers are spending more than $120 million as we speak on incentives to build an interchange for Volvo – money that could have gone toward far more pressing transportation needs.

None of this is Tom Davis fault.

Again, last time we checked he’s one of the only ones standing up to the failed status quo in Columbia, S.C. and saying “enough is enough.”

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