OK, I’m shaking off the doldrums here…
Let’s talk about something good that happened in yesterday’s election: We changed our constitution so that South Carolina is no longer a banana republic wannabe. We will no longer politicize the state’s highest military post. We will no longer elect our adjutant general. Instead, the AG will be appointed by duly constituted civilian authority, according to specific requirements, according to actual qualifications.
No, it’s not as big a deal as if we stopped electing, say, the superintendent of education. But it’s something. Set it alongside the decision in the last election to stop separately electing the lieutenant governor, and the elimination of the constitutionally perverse Budget and Control Board, and we’re starting to get a state government that is organized at least for the 20th century, if not the 21st.
Of all the executive-branch posts that, against all reason, we have continued to elect separately from the governor (thereby fragmenting the already-weak executive), the adjutant general was the one that most obviously needed to change. We were the only state in the nation that chose its top-ranking officer in a popularity contest — a partisan popularity contest, which produced the obscene situation of having a serving officer declare a party affiliation.
But it also seemed like the office that was most resistant to reform. The incumbent AG was always opposed to it (politicians dance with the one that brung them, and we required our AGs to be politicians), and those serving under him tended to follow his example, and the public at large tended to give the Guard what it wanted.
But things changed in South Carolina, and that is something to celebrate. Leadership in both parties embraced change, and most importantly, the incumbent AG did, too. And the rest of us followed suit.
And so we took a step forward in South Carolina yesterday. And that’s something to celebrate.
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Have you heard if anyone is going to push for the offices of Treasurer, Comp., Supt., SecofState, AG, Ag. Commish, to be appointed rather than elected?
The reality is, we only have a choice in those offices when the seat is open, and that’s in the primary.
I really hope that yesterday we vote for those offices.
Oh, yeah. That’s great. Considering the narcissistic blowhards we elect for governor, I fail to see how giving the governor more power is going to help South Carolina. I’ve always been more pragmatic than theoretical. Theories rarely seem to pan out, least of all in the world of government and politics. Big winner in SC yesterday: the Quinndom. Big loser: almost everyone else.
I like what Larry Sabato said—that SC would elect a dead dog if the dog was running as a Republican. I find it incredibly depressing that the same state that elected only Democrats for a hundred years or more is now electing only Republicans. Talk about brainwashed sheeple. If I could change just one thing about the election process in this state it would be to get rid of the straight ticket choice on the ballot. I wonder how many South Carolinians know more than a few races that are on the ballot. Straight party voting takes all the work out of it. You don’t have to know who is running, what they say they stand for, what they’ve done in the past, or anything. You just walk in, press the party button(s), deal with those pesky amendments, confirm the ballot, and leave. No more thinking about that stuff for two years. With no straight party choices, at least the voters would have to punch a few more buttons.
I lean Republican—quite heavily actually, not because I agree with everything they say and do. They usually appear to be closer to my beliefs than the Dems. Yesterday, I voted for Republicans, Democrats, and American party candidates. For SC, I think it’s the same old, same old (maybe worse). I’m glad the Republicans took over the majority in the US Senate, and I’m really sorry that I don’t hold out much hope for anything changing—at least not in the ways I wish things would change. We shall see.
“We will no longer politicize the state’s highest military post. We will no longer elect our adjutant general. Instead, the AG will be appointed by duly constituted civilian authority, according to specific requirements, according to actual qualifications.” – Brad Warthen
What lesser-informed than you Brad will soon realize, is that the hidden agenda behind what you term “ONE bit of progress in SC: We’ll no longer elect adjutant general” will come on cat’s feet.
The subversive aim is to install as soon as possible a lawyer with negligible military leadership experience beyond his/her service in the Judge Advocate General (JAG Corps). What is wrong with that proposition you ask?
Gee, I dunno, why not an army nurse or navy dentist? Too late voters, you have been hoodwinked. Don’t believe me yet? Wait and see. The first JAG lawyer will be the precedent for all who follow. Recruitment for the SCNG will suffer.
Have no fear, the resulting NG vacancies will create job openings for well-qualified replacements –Not!
Glad we won’t be electing this position anymore. It was ludicrous.