I happened to be driving through Shandon just after 8 this morning, and there was John Courson, walking his dog on Wheat St.
I rolled down my window and stopped in the middle of the street to chat. No one was coming.
He said something about the shock of having lost four friends this past week, three of them younger than he is. I assume three of them were Lee Bandy, Steve Morrison and Ike McLeese. I didn’t ask him who the fourth was (I sort of hated to say, “Who was the fourth?,” because that would seem to diminish that person’s death by the fact that I had to ask), but my first guess would be Will McCain.
Will McCain
McCain, who had been then-Gov. David Beasley’s chief of staff, died before any of the other three, and it was a real shock to me. I didn’t think I was at the age at which I would start to peruse obits daily to see if my friends are there, but seeing Will McCain’s picture there as I was flipping by the page — looking just as he did during the Beasley years — made me think, “Maybe I am at that age.” Because he was born the same year I was.
We weren’t really friends; I don’t remember when I had seen him last. In my mind, he actually still looked that way — which added to the shock of seeing him on the obit page.
Maybe the senator had someone else in mind. (And Kathryn and Phillip give good reason below to think so.) In any case, my purpose in writing is to relate something else he said.
Sen. Courson said those deaths reminded him that he should get together with his friends and enjoy their company before they suddenly leave this vale. So he said he’s arranged a lunch with “some of my Democratic friends,” because his baseball buddy Ike was a Democrat. And then, he’s going to have lunch with some of his Republican friends.
Because that’s the way John Courson is. Cynics will say that’s the way he has to be, being a Republican (one of the most ardent admirers of both Ronald Reagan and Strom Thurmond I know) who lives in a largely Democratic district. Just as they might say Nikki Setzler, a Democrat in a largely Republican district, has friends and deals fairly with people on both sides of the aisle because he has to.
Maybe so. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Maybe swing districts, which aren’t too strongly either way, attract people who already are the kinds of people who reach across the aisle and try to represent all their constituents, not just the ones of their party. Or maybe it takes people who are just as partisan as most lawmakers and makes them into statesmen who rise, out of political necessity, above narrow considerations.
Either way, we need more districts like that. We have far too few of them, because lawmakers make it their business to make as many districts as possible either super-Democratic or super-Republican. And it’s tearing our country apart.
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I’d rather see them DO SOMETHING. This legislature is about as useless as they come. I don’t want compromise or feel-good buddy-buddy congeniality. I want to see action and results. They spend all their time creating boards, forming commissions, doing studies… and nothing happens.
Start with reforming the tax code. It might take someone with half a brain a week to slash out all the foolishness in it. Put a list of all the exemptions on the table and allow and up or down vote on each one. Let’s get everyone on the record.
Start putting ideas out there to create jobs and fix this state. Start voting. Get out of the back rooms with the lobbyists and put things out there for the public to comment on.
Collegiality is sort of necessary to them “doing something.” Unless you count the kinds of things that ideologues cram through because they have the votes, with no regard for the at least 40 percent of the electorate who will disagree strongly with what they’re doing.
Representatives who care about the views of all their constituents, across party barriers, are more likely to work to “do something” that is in all our interests, rather than just try to impose an ideological agenda.
“Representatives who care about the views of all their constituents, across party barriers, are more likely to work to “do something” that is in all our interests, rather than just try to impose an ideological agenda.”
Can you name a few who do that and have some actual accomplishments in recent history?
What is Vincent Sheheen going to do over the next twelve months to deliver actual change in this state? What’s he waiting for? Let’s see some tax reform… or education reform… or ANYTHING meaningful.
Well, in my book, when the Department of Administration becomes law, finally, something will have been done in the interests of all of us.
And credit for it will be broad. The original bill was Sheheen’s, but Nikki Haley has worked hard to make it reality as well.
The world isn’t separated into black hats and white hats. Sometimes people who are usually quite partisan otherwise do something that is good for all; sometimes even UnPartisans do something petty. That’s life. And that’s one of the things wrong with the partisan model — it assumes that members of MY party are always right, and members of that OTHER party are always wrong. The world isn’t like that.
Sometimes everybody’s right. Sometimes everybody’s wrong. But most often, the truth lies between…
“Well, in my book, when the Department of Administration becomes law, finally, something will have been done in the interests of all of us.”
Let’s see someone try to sell that to voters as a major change. Sounds just like all the reorganizations I’ve experienced at corporations throughout my career. Changing job titles and who they report to doesn’t impact any of us. Just like the whole ethics reform. More words than actions. Little impact.
Vincent Sheheen is not going to get much of anything done as a member of the minority party in South Carolina when the other side is intent on making sure you don’t get anything accomplished.
It’s hard enough in South Carolina to get something passed as a member of the majority party. Near impossible as the minority- even if they support your idea.
Agree.
As someone who use to work at the state house, being able to get along with the other side- and actually like them is key to “getting something done.”
What Doug doesn’t APPEAR to understand, – If people don’t respect you, and you don’t respect them and show it- they aren’t interested in working with you on anything.
I respect people who get things done. I don’t respect people who form committees. The SC legislature is full of people who do nothing. What has it accomplished this year? Last year? Considering the money spent on salaries, pensions, and expense accounts, they have a return on investment approaching zero.
Robert Pruzin, longtime USC professor, and SCPhil horn player?
I think quite likely, Kathryn. Bob was a member of Trinity Episcopal, where Courson is a member, and there was a packed memorial service for Bob at Trinity on Friday morning. Bob also lived I think just a couple blocks away from Courson in Shandon.
You could be right, then. But at least I got to mention Will McCain, which I had meant to do back when I saw his obit…