Tom Davis’ Tweets have brought it to my attention that all the really serious anti-gummint types from across the nation are all gathered in Washington for some sort of ritual or other. Tom is saying 300,000 (when he’s not saying 2 million) and the WashPost says “tens of thousands.” Whatever.
Quick! Let’s convene the Legislature! This is our chance to pass some rational laws, while the main obstructionists, the people who have done the most to hold our state back in the 19th Century, are away…
If we only act quickly, before they get back, we can have:
- Safety laws that prevent, for instance, toddlers from driving ATVs…
- Comprehensive tax reform…
- Adequately funded colleges (we’ve cut funding more than any other state)…
- A Confederate flag-free State House…
And on and on. Oh, if only they would stay there, and allow an Age of Reason to dawn in the Palmetto State. We have way, WAY more than our share of such folk, and always have. It’s why we fired on Fort Sumter, and it’s why we lag behind the rest of the country on so many measures of social, economic and even physical health….
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State funding for colleges has increased at rates greater than family incomes, which means they have outrun the tax revenues.
Tuition and fees have increased at rates 2 and 3 times the rate of family incomes. We need to put some real managers in charge of our schools, to eliminate the bloat, waste and fraud.
Brad, you spent your career at The State fighting every tax reform proposed, with the excuse that we had to wait for “comprehensive tax reform”.
On whom were waiting?
The same crooks who created this mess?
Well, yeah. But today, a lot of them are in Washington (exempting my good friend Tom, of course; I’ve never figured out how he fell in with that crowd). So if we could just assemble a quorum without them…
Yeah, if you “progressives” could just get those nasty old taxpayers out of the way, you could impose your exalted vision on the world.
The inability of you “reformers” to precisely articulate what “comprehensive tax reform” and “health care reform”, would look like, makes it appear that you either haven’t put any thought into it, or you know it is not really reform that honest taxpayers want.
Plenty of opportunity for you, Brad, to enter the political system to try and influence the votes.
I remember once when you said YOU would do anything to bring down the Confederate flag from in front of the state house. What’s stopping you now? It’s right there in front of you every time you have breakfast up there high above Columbia. Maybe next week you could walk down and stand in front of the flag with a protest sign.
Would love to see you provide some factual evidence to refute Lee’s statistics about the colleges. But then we already know that if USC is for it, you’re for it. You know the same guys who have blown hundreds of millions of dollars on the disaster known as Innovista. You think that has been a good example of what USC is capable of?
That’s the way to run a democracy. Wait till those you disagree with are unable to participate and vote in the programs of the minority thereby disenfranchising those who chose the representatives with whom you disagree. Representative democracy so long as the views of those with whom you disagree are not represented. Beautiful.
Greg, surely you didn’t think I was serious. I mean, think of the practical barriers to such a plot…
Besides, if you eliminate those with whom I “disagree,” you can’t assemble a quorum. I disagree with everyone about something.
My point is that there is a certain element in S.C. politics, and always has been, that prevents sensible policies from being enacted. Those who embody that destructive impulse tend to be attracted to yhe sort of event that Tom was describing.
Once, all the people most possessed by that destructive impulse were Democrats (or, for a brief period, Dixiecrats). Now, there is a somewhat greater likelihood that they will be Republicans (relatively few are actually declared Libertarians, which would make more sense). But it is a problem that defies simple party identification, and which certainly doesn’t fit the simple labels that some try to give it — least of all “conservatism.”
Anyway, I hope I’ve made my point clearer now, without the disguise of facetiousness…
No, I did not think you were serious, but I do think there are certain groups of people whose beliefs and ideas you consider to be less worthy, which is a dangerous premise which will lead (and has led) to all sorts of mischief. I will confess that my sensitivity is due in part to the fact that in many instances your definition of moving ahead is not mine. Calling my beliefs a “destructive impulse” is to me troublesome. Your sensible policy may not seem so to me (and I know that you can a list proposals we would both consider sensible).I continue to believe that any action which does not adversely effect the person or property of another should not be prohibited or regulated. I know we will continue to disagree on this, but when sincere disagreements become littered with terms like “destructive”, “keeping us in the 19th century” and “nutjob” the prospects for progress fade.
The networks and newspapers tried to avoid covering the huge rally in Washington this weekend by real Americans.
They called them names, like “astroturf”.
Keep stealing their money and enriching the Obamas and Rahm Emmanuels. Keep on tricking them with backroom deals, and passing legislation without reading it. When you totally disenfranchise the honest taxpayers and shut them out of the process, don’t be surprised when they organize and pass referendums, replace your toadies with new representatives, and maybe even resort to fighting violence with violence.
Brad, you like reading about people who were on the right side of history, but at this waterhed moment, you choose to be a Tory.
September 12 rally opposing socialist corruption was the largest protest in U.S. History.
DC Police estimate crowd at over 2,000,000
Roads cut off – perhaps 1,000,000 more on the highways unable to get to the Capitol mall.
Images of crowds up Constitution Avenue, the entire Mall, and all the side streets.
http://moderateinthemiddle.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/update-media-credibility-plunges-to-new-low-aerial-views-added-d-c-police-close-roads-to-buses-people-on-foot-estimate-1-2-million-abc-cant-count-912-party-on-patriots/
Lee – As someone who works for a SC public university, you are incorrect on your assumption that state funding has increased at SC universities. In fact, it’s just the opposite. USC receives so little after the latest rounds of budget cuts they could seriously begin discussion on becoming a private institution.
BillC,
There has been a detailed study for over 20 years of the funding of the state colleges and universities by a retired professor, which counts all the funding sources: state, federal, donations, and tuition and fees.
He has also adjusted them for the actual numbers of students who stay in class, not the gross numbers used by the schools. With a 47% failure rate, the fundings per student are actually much higher than claimed.
My beef with the higher education is their refusal to control costs to the students, which have increased 2 to 3 times faster than family incomes. Lack of oversight by the CHE and legislature has allowed the schools to divert funds into pet programs, like Innovista, graduate schools, etc, at the expense of the undergraduate students, who are supposed to be their primary mission.