Where is the South Carolina Democratic Party?

 

September 14, 2005 -- I have noticed over the course of the last month that The State newspaper has published numerous articles bewailing the absence of the Democratic Party in South Carolina.  Its writers have been unable to disguise their grief regarding Inez Tenenbaum’s decision not to run for political office in 2006, nor their fear that they cannot readily identify a strong Democrat to challenge Governor Mark Sanford.  Well I have good news for the writers, reporters, and editors of The State.  The Democratic Party is stronger than it ever has been in South Carolina!  It’s just doing business under another name – the South Carolina Republican Party. 

 

That’s right; the Democrats are now Republicans and what few real Republicans there are in South Carolina, the Goldwater Republicans if you will, are being squashed by the political phenomena commonly referred to as moving to the center, which has given birth to the most despicable of creatures; the moderate democrat or moderate republican. 

 

So here’s a newspaper headline for The State to consider – South Carolina reduced to one political party – It’s called the Republicratic Party, and it just stinks.  It is a lukewarm cesspool of self-serving, self-preserving chumps and chumpettes that are unwilling to rock the boat or defend the liberty and freedom of the people. 

 

This makes for boring, boring, boring political campaigns that feature candidates from both sides of the same isle that have very few remarkable differences.  If they do run a campaign on a claimed difference, it really doesn’t matter much because once thrown into the cesspool, they are quickly gobbled up by the caucus sharks that tell them how they better vote if they expect to get re-elected; that they must vote the centralist party line - Can anyone say Senator John Kuhn? 

 

So what can The State do about this situation?  It’s very simple.  In 2006, cover all political candidates equally, regardless of whether the person running for office stands a chance of winning or not.  Let the voters decide who has a chance of winning by giving every candidate a chance in the media.  Cover the Libertarian Party candidates, the Green Party candidates, as well as the Constitution Party, Independence Party, and United Citizen’s Party candidates. 

 

Better yet, instead of equal coverage, every newspaper and media outlet in South Carolina should cover these candidates more frequently than the Republicrats, simply because the smaller parties have fewer resources to get their message out.  And when it comes to debates, The State newspaper and every other should refuse to cover any debate that the Democrats and Republicans engage in unless all of the candidates running for the same office have been invited to participate in the debate. 

 

By making this the political coverage standard for 2006 and forward, South Carolina politics might become interesting and meaningful once again.  This sort of media coverage will pry the Republicrats out of the safe center cesspool, and back to their party platforms.  Trust me when I tell you that the smaller political party candidates will keep the Democrats and Republicans honest if the press grants the consistent venue to do so.  As always, I’m certain that The State will do the wrong thing because that’s just what they do best.