Tag: Republicans

Pearl Harbor Day Then and Now

As a Navy veteran, December 7th, what my grandmother called Pearl Harbor Day, has special meaning to me. In recent years, however, its symbolism has taken on new dimensions.

Seventy-four years ago, without first declaring war, the Japanese Imperial fleet attacked the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor causing considerable damage to the Navy’s Pacific Fleet and bringing America into World War II.

A total of 2,402 American servicemen lost their lives that day, four battleships were sunk and 188 aircraft destroyed. President Roosevelt called it “a day that will live in infamy”, actually a phrase first attributed to Hawaiian Queen Lili’uokalani spoken on the day, in 1893, that the American government overthrew the native Hawaiian government.

The attack broke the U.S. out of its isolationist attitude and presaged America’s ascendency to world leadership. Americans united behind the phrase “Remember Pearl Harbor” as the nation embarked upon a nearly four year war to defeat the armed forces of Japan, Germany and their allies.

True, on December 6, 1941, the isolationist members of Congress still held great sway in the halls of that institution as the fighting in Europe was considered best for America to stay out of. One day later, everything changed in Washington, D.C. and across a now united nation.

Seventy-seven years later, none who survived that day remain and the cohesiveness and combined
commitment of that time are not apparent in today’s political environment or society at large. We face great challenges, possibly greater than we faced on December 7, 1941, although economic dangers are not as easy to identify as military dangers from foreign forces.

We should be clear, however, that today’s dangers in the national economy are every bit as grave as the military dangers we faced 74 years ago. The industrial might and national wealth that the U.S. marshaled to support its war effort, and those of its allies, have been lost.

Budgets - Cuts, Spending and You

Our State Legislators and Tax Increases

Horry & Georgetown Republican elected state legislators are behaving more like Chicken Little than responsible problem solvers.

We may be a Red State, but our Horry & Georgetown elected Republican state legislators still act like tax and spend Democrats. This is somewhat surprising after the message that was just sent to the “ruling class” during this past general election. Donald Trump received more primary votes than just about every Republican candidate running prior to his bid for the presidency. The populace is definitely tired of tax and spend Republicans and the establishment Republican Party. Evidently our local elected Republicans did not get the message.

No one would argue against coming up with a plan to fix South Carolina roads as they are in desperate need of repair. However, the current knee jerk reaction (the sky is falling, the sky is falling, raise taxes!), is not the responsible course of action. In manufacturing and other successful business entities, when a problem is identified, the company initiates a formal corrective action process. This process begins by clearly defining the problem and then doing the necessary homework to identify root causes of the problem. Future containment actions and corrective actions stem from the root cause analysis.

Numerous organizations within South Carolina and some responsible Republican office holders have identified the primary root causes to South Carolina’s bad roads. These root causes fall into the following categories:

Curtis M. Loftis Jr., South Carolina’s treasurer

Curtis Loftis Speaks Out

Below is a post by SC Treasurer Curtis Loftis. In it, Loftis describes the oligarchy that is South Carolina state government.

This oligarchy has been the tradition in South Carolina since there has been a state government. This one-party government, controlled behind the scenes by a few rich donors, causes all of the problems that we face in the state today.

South Carolina is now a Republican state. For over a century, it was a Democratic state. However, the party labels mean nothing – the politics in the state have never changed.

In most instances, those that are Republicans today come from families where the fathers and mothers were Democrats 50 years ago.

Party affiliation means nothing when it comes to philosophy of governing. It’s all about getting elected and staying elected. Nothing else matters to most of our politicians.

And to do that, these same politicians must line up and swear blood oaths to the ruling powers behind the scenes.

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By Curtis Loftis

I ran for office and was elected on the sole purpose of reform.

I’ve found, after 6 years of battling the system, that there is no “infrastructure” for change. The levers of power are managed by and tilted in favor of a status quo that is controlled by a handful of people.

To move an issue that results in meaningful change is almost impossible unless there is a calamity of some sort such as a natural disaster or mass shooting.

The system is rigged in favor of a small number of powerful people and their rich cronies that control our government.

Obamas-1984

Liberty, Mother’s Milk and the Poison Pill [Poll]

We found out over the past week that the constitutionally guaranteed privacy, civil liberties and freedoms of U.S. citizens have been effectively assigned to the scrap heap by our own government.

Okay. For nearly 100 years, the U.S. government has sought to spy on American citizens through a variety of programs, most of which can be tied to the Department of Justice and FBI reign ever since J. Edgar Hoover got the nod from Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to establish the DOJ’s Intelligence Division in 1919.

It took Hoover less than a year to collect files on over 150,000 American citizens who, through his perverted sense of propriety, were considered a threat to the U.S. government. Those files were amassed in the days when typewriters were the most modern piece of equipment in government offices, a telephone in a private house was still somewhat of a novelty and the Model T Ford was only 10 years old.

But, Hoover demonstrated how quickly a small government department, with the help of private citizens spying and informing on each other, could invade the lives of American citizens.

A Vote for the Libertarian Party

As political deadlock continues in Washington and the two major political parties in the country continue to play ‘gotcha’ politics that do nothing to address the needs of the nation, the Libertarian Party becomes an attractive alternative to the Democrats and Republicans.

The following is an op-ed from an American in his early 30’s who has serious concerns about the political atmosphere in the country and what this means for the future.

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Ladies and Gentlemen, Please join me in welcoming the band formerly known as the G.O.P.

After this week, they go by a new nickname, “The Band-Aids.” They released a new hit this week called, “A Very Wasteful Band-Aid.”

Pondering 9/11 and the Future

The eleventh anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks is a time to look back and remember that awful day in 2001 when Arab terrorists attacked our homeland. However, it is also a time to look back on significant changes in America over the last 11 years and ponder whether the country needs to reevaluate itself.

During those 11 years, our national debt has increased from approximately $4 trillion when George W. Bush took office to approximately $15 trillion today. It took 191 years (1789 – 1980) for the U.S. to amass a national debt of approximately $1 trillion. Now we do that every year and neither of our two major political parties has demonstrated an ability to change that trend.

Our politics are probably more polarized than at any time in our history since the 1860’s. Our politicians exhibit all the characteristics of a bunch of empty suits crowding around one or the other of two extreme poles with a yawning chasm between them.

Spending the State’s Excess Cash

Spending the State’s Excess Cash

When S.C. Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom’s office reported recently that state agencies had approximately $166 million in excess cash from last year’s general fund budget, one place you knew it wouldn’t wind up is back with the taxpayer.

Politicians in this most conservative of states are constantly preaching the mantra of reduced spending, smaller, less intrusive government and greater individual freedom. It just never seems to work out that way.

The overall state general fund budget for FY 2012 was approximately $5.48 billion with state agencies not spending the $166 million mentioned above. General fund revenues are projected to increase during the current fiscal year, FY 2013, to $6.09 billion.

Lexington County GOP Eating It's Own

Lexington County GOP Eating It’s Own

The Lexington County GOP will consider a resolution Monday evening that will allow party officials to ignore a state party rule in order to support non-party candidates in the generalelection.

The county party is trying to find a way to support petition candidates, should they become eligible for the ballot, who failed to file candidacy papers in accordance with state law so they could appear on last month’s primary election ballot.

These petition candidates will be opposing duly nominated Republican Party candidates on the general election ballot.

Of course, we all know what exactly is happening here. The county party is trying to find any way possible to kow tow to Gov. Nikki Haley and support her Best Friend Forever Katrina Shealy in the upcoming November general election.