Tuesday, 4 p.m. — "I may not be on the right track, but this is where my spirit leads me," says Cheryl Footman of her quest to replace Mark Hammond as secretary of state.
And that’s mainly what it’s about for her. Asked why she was running, she said, "Well, I’ve got to give you the honest answer: It’s a spiritual thing." The Lord inspired her to run. "Politically… I don’t really have a political answer."
But she offered some anyway during the interview. One is that she thinks it would be important to be elected as a black woman, for the "message it would send to the nation."
"Cheryl Footman would be a step in the right direction — it’s sort of a slogan that I use."
More specifically to the job, she says Mr. Hammond spends too much time being a cop — chasing after bogus brand-name merchandise sold at flea markets and such.
She would spend more time providing services to businesses — which have to register with the office (the secretary of state’s main function) — and engaging in other, less conventional, initiatives, such as one to teach young people about respect ("basically, a self-esteem program for youth").
She says she would be free to engage in such things since the "office pretty much runs itself, because there really are no policy decisions to be made."
That raises the natural question of why the office needs to be elected, but she says, "I don’t think that if I had to be appointed, that I would get it."
And that’s important because "If the job is to be done correctly, it needs to be done… by me."
Ms. Footman, an Orangeburg teacher, enjoys singing Gospel music in her free time.
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She seems like a very nice lady but Orangeburg needs all the good teachers they can find. You have to laugh at the Democrats on the national level but I will be nice on the local ones.
She seems like a viable candidate just from this excerpt. Going along with what I posted earlier – I appreciate her vision concerning teaching kids about respect.
I’d love to know how she plans on doing that. I’m just not very optimistic about politicians influencing morals in any way – personally I think that has to happen at the grassroots level, rather than as a “trickle down effect” – (that’s not a comment on Regan – I know very little about economics – I do find it interesting that the Dow reached it’s all time high yesterday….but anyway)
My point is (in response to Herb’s comment earlier) – that yes, there are those who won’t be taught respect and good and right at the supper table. But I’m not sure that politics or schools will or ever can be the answer. I think it has to start with me – with you, with our supper tables, and then how we interact with and reach out to our neighbors and with yours and my community involvement (how we respond on the soccer field when we think the ref is being unfair to our kids, how we treat our spouses, how we respond to our exasperating teenagers).
America, in spite of our involvement in Iraq, has taken on a stance of isolation in many ways. We just don’t want to be bothered. We watch the news on TV and talk about how terrible the crime rate is, and how teenagers these days are disrespectful etc., and we say it’s all Bush’s fault or it’s all Clinton’s fault, and then we flip over to the next channel to settle in for our evening TV marathon – and we don’t even know the names of our neighbors across the street. We work for the week-end, so we can do whatever we want to do. After all, I deserve to have things my way. Ok, I’ve made the point.
So I do credit Ms. Footman for thinking about this and wanting to do something about it. Still what is it she wants to do and how will she get it done.
Sure Annee, I guess I can agree with you to some extent. But my point is, no matter what people are supposed to do, the real world is that they very often don’t do it. We all tend take the easy road.
So . . . we’ll still have to do some political work. Everybody knows where I’m coming from here, so it’ll be no surprise when I quote the New Testament that the governing authorities are ordained by God to keep evil in check—and part of that role of government in keeping evil in check is to protect the weak. “Weak” meaning helping those who cannot, or even will not, help themselves.
I know that we all argue on this blog as to how far that role should go. I would contend that if people will not do it for themselves, then government has to step in and do it for them, in order to prevent worse from happening. Harsh government is better than none at all. Which is a heavy statement, but hopefully will motivate us all to take our civic responsibilities toward one another very seriously. The American experiment has worked in the past, because a good many Americans did take it seriously.
May I dare mention it? I will—the American experiment has worked also because a good number of Americans prayed. Most Americans don’t realize what a significant role spiritual awakenings like the Great Awakening, the Yale “revival” under Timothy Dwight, and the Prayer revivals of the 1850s, or even the Promise Keepers movement in our day, have played in our national situation. Warren Bolton said it well in his recent editorial: “This is a spiritual battle in which we must confront the evil that would destroy our children.”
It starts with prayer that moves to action, including political action. The Red Cross, the abolitionist movement, etc. all had spiritual roots.
Herb, never hesitate to mention the power of prayer. I have never been in a true life and death situation but I read about those who were that find that even many atheists begin to pray when confronted with their end on earth. As far as removing evil from society, we are far too politically correct to do it at this point anyway. Bush is confronting evil and attacking it and is being attacked for doing it. But, that is politics I guess.
I love the platform: Vote for me because I’m black and a woman. Its for the kids. I know nothing about the office. Puhleez!
One has only go to Ms. Footman’s website to see her platform. I suppose that it spells out exactly what she plans to do for the state of South Carolina.
http://www.footmanforsecretaryofstate.com/
Click on “Platform” and get all the answers. Better yet, go to http://www.scetv.org/ and watch her debate.
She does seem like a nice person and a good teacher. HOWEVER, she should not be running. What ended the even the thought of voting for her was going to sing “God Bless America” after a debate on TV. YOU DON’T SING IN A DEBATE. We need a Secretary of State not a spiritual singer. Someone to do the job to strengthen SC not rely on god to perform the duties.
Awakening Spirits
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