MINORITY PARTY MAKING MOVES
It hasn’t been a good time to be a Democrat in South Carolina lately. For decades after reconstruction, white Democrats ran the Palmetto State into the ground … not unlike white “Republicans” are doing today.
Dum Spiro Spero (“While I Breathe I Hope”) may be the state’s motto, but in practice it may as well be “Mo (Taxpayer) Money, Mo Problems.”
All that’s changed over the decades were the labels of those controlling the state’s all-powerful legislative branch – which has continued to devote escalating sums of taxpayer money toward steadily worsening outcomes.
Just look at “former” Democrat Hugh Leatherman, who basically runs the Palmetto State from his influential post in the State Senate (laughing all the way to the bank, we’d like to add).
In title, anyway, Democrats simply do not factor into South Carolina politics. They control zero statewide offices, zero U.S. Senate seats, just one of seven U.S. congressional seats and are the decided minority in both chambers of the state legislature.
Democrats aren’t completely impotent, though – at least not under the State House dome. Their leaders routinely cut deals with GOP leaders to advance fiscally liberal policies – forming a bipartisan “governing majority.”
That constitutes real, outsized influence … for a handful of Democratic legislative leaders, anyway.
This week, though, the Palmetto State’s perpetual minority party took its first step toward some renewed electoral clout with a surprisingly competitive showing in a special election for South Carolina’s fifth congressional district.
Mere hours after those votes were counted, an attractive young attorney announced his intention to run for the state’s first congressional district – which could very well be within striking distance of “poachable” status for Democrats.
So … is the worm turning? Is a decade-and-a-half of unchecked “Republican” rule in South Carolina suddenly on the verge of collapse?
No …
A better-than-expected performance in a low-turnout special election – combined with the emergence of a fresh-faced prospective nominee in an upcoming general election – doesn’t give Democrats much to hang their hats upon.
In fact the liberal ebullience over these developments seems to us compelling proof of just how desperate Democrats have become in South Carolina.
Having said that, “Republicans” would be wise to recognize that their brand is continuing to lose credibility (especially amongst younger voters) … diluted by party-switchers and the overt embrace of liberal ideology.
Bottom line? If the GOP continues on as virtually indistinguishable from the Democratic party, why not just elect Democrats?
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