We shouldn’t be a bit surprised that the feds caved in response to our governor’s libertarian snit-fit over Real ID. After what they’d done with Montana and New Hampshire, they couldn’t go all regulation on SC.
Of course, I suspect the governor was counting on that. However much the anti-government rebel he may want to seem, he tends to make his most dramatic gestures when there is somebody ready to break the fall. He knew the Legislature wouldn’t let him veto the budget. He knew somebody else (Will Folks?) was there to clean up the piglet poop. And he knew Michael Chertoff wouldn’t really inconvenience South Carolinians, which would have made 4 million people really ticked off at Mark Sanford.
Yes, unfunded mandates are bad. And yes, reasonable people can present arguments that Real ID has problems beyond that. (Gordon Hirsch presented a strong set of arguments back on this comment thread.)
But this little anticlimactic confrontation wasn’t about those things. It was about political theater, and everybody played his part. The Federal Government appeared in the role of The Wimp.
And don’t you just love the way they caved — pretending to give South Carolina the waiver that the governor petulantly refused to ask for?
The Department of Homeland Security isn’t even willing to stand its ground against political tantrums on the home front. Do you really think it’s prepared to do what it takes to defend the country?
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Mr. Warthen’s blind dislike for the governor has again clouded his ability to get the point. The point is indeed unfunded mandates that are part of the entie states rights issue which our beloved editor wants no part. States rights are and will become an even larger issue this election when the “dems” lose the White House again, and possible control of one of the bodies of congress. We can begin to hear the call for the abolition of the Electoral College, and the attempt to control our lives and the elections by a couple of the large urban areas which is not what the founders had in mind. States rights never was popular among the elite, it has always been a grass roots movement to keep the power local. Sen. Graham had better learn that his power comes from the locals. Director Chertoff may indeed respect a principled governor.
I’ve pretty much stopped reading anything Big Bad Brad has to say about the governor… after a while it all sounds the same.
I “wounder” when the gov knew the letter retracting the “mandate” would arrive, after the press conferance?
“Theater” may be the best word to discribe the process- Greek tregedy also comes to mind.
I can’t go into much depth on this, but it looks like Sanford’s in charge of the executive branch of state government and Brad’s in charge of the editorial page.
I like it that way.