The State of South Carolina

I am going to take a tour of the State of South Carolina because elected officials from this state appear a lot in the news, standing for the conservative right. What’s going on there that would compel one to want to listen to the views of South Carolinian? What makes this place the bastion of ideals that Americans would want to follow?

Surely, I have driven through the state and most admire their license plates featuring a palmetto that looks like a palm tree. Is there more?

According to Wiki, “A cornerstone of mercantilism and the slave trade, South Carolina was the first state to declare its secession; the resulting formation of the Confederate States of America started the American Civil War.”

Today about 70% of the state population is native born. They don’t move around much, and perhaps a little diversity might help.

http://sc.gov/Pages/default.aspx

There is no copy line on the front page, though there are some scrolling themes that I will try to capture before they disappear: “Outdoor licenses, campaign finance, traffic tickets, spending transparency.”

There is a small picture of Governor Mark Sanford, the one who ran away with a woman from South America, was AWOL from office for awhile before returning to say that he was sorry before getting into a messy domestic settlement resulting in divorce. He surely has the whitest teeth.

The people in this state place high priority in having licenses to be outdoors. They want to finance campaigns, take care of their traffic tickets, and watch their money while it is being spent by crooked politicians.

Oh yes, don’t overlook that there is a lottery to finance education. That means, if you’re a child, you might get an education if you win the lottery.

Where does South Carolina stand in ranking of best educated? SC would be #29.

http://www.statemaster.com/graph/edu_bes_edu_ind-education-best-educated-index

“DEFINITION: "This fourth Smartest State designation is awarded based on 21 factors chosen from Morgan Quitno’s annual reference book, Education State Rankings, 2005-2006. Featuring four new factors, this year’s award de-emphasizes spending for public schools and instead measures states based on student achievement, positive outcomes and personal attention from teachers." - Morgan Quitno Press”"

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Ain’t all bad.

In the story below, it gets a little confusing. Republicans object to ads criticizing a democrat from South Carolina for backing Obama stimulus package. Why do they object? Because the democrat is bringing home the bacon, that’s why.