By Paul Gable
It didn’t take long for ‘stupid’ to raise its head in the current legislative session of the SC General Assembly.
Yesterday state Rep. Mike Pitts (R-Laurens) introduced a bill to clamp down on the media in the state.
Called the “South Carolina Responsible Journalism Registry Law”, Pitts proposes to set requirements for journalists working in the media, including registration requirements with the Office of the Secretary of State and fee payments.
Even Pitts acknowledges his bill stands no chance of passing (it is unconstitutional as well as being plain stupid). But, such is the way of the General Assembly in most years.
According to reports, Pitts told one media outlet his bill is meant to stimulate discussion of how the Second Amendment is treated in the press (according to Pitts’ interpretation of articles at least.)
If I get this right, we have a South Carolina lawmaker who wishes to violate the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law…abridging freedom of speech or of the press,” in order to guarantee the Second Amendment is not criticized.
That’s virtually straight out of Lenin and his Bolshevik revolution – grab control of the press so you control the message and eliminate all opposition to your political views.
I seriously doubt there is a nascent Communist Party rearing its head in Columbia, but ‘one never knows do one?’
However, for a member of a body, one that faces difficult decisions regarding crumbling infrastructure, poor schools and lax ethics among other problems, to waste even one minute on such nonsense is inexcusable.
There is a reason James L. Petigru said ‘South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum’.
Elected officials who care little for the people’s business but much for their own personal agenda demonstrate nothing much has changed in Columbia in the intervening 155 years since Petigru’s comment.
Speak Up…