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Sunday, December 8, 2024 - 08:19 PM

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

First Published in 1994

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

This is the last time this column will appear before the 2014 Mid-term General Election on November 4. Although this column has a lot to say about issues and elections, it does not endorse candidates. Therefore, in the words of Archie Bunker, I will “stifle myself,” and refrain from endorsing a candidate by name and pray that you will make sound decisions based on truth. This is the most important election in our lifetime. If President Obama is allowed to give “amnesty” to millions of illegal aliens after the election, no Republican or conservative of any stripe will ever again win a national election. The makeup of the next Congress could resist that event.

The two constitutional amendments on the ballot are essentially a matter of opinion. With regard to the election or appointment of the Adjutant General, my military background biases my judgment in favor of a clear chain of command. The Governor is the civilian head of the S. C. National Guard. Currently, the military commander is elected and any registered voter of any or no party is qualified to become Adjutant General. In my view, the Governor should appoint the Adjutant General with advice and consent of the Senate. Under that arrangement, the Governor could be held accountable for the Guard and the Adjutant General accountable to the Governor.

Many non-profit organizations want to conduct raffles as fund-raisers. Some are already doing it and are not prosecuted. The proposal would make it legal. Video poker made a lot of millionaires. It also hurt a lot of people who were addicted to gambling. It was outlawed and replaced by the state operated “education lottery.” The same vulnerable people are hurt and a group of insiders are benefiting from the profits. The proposal would legalize gambling that would take place mostly within the sponsoring non-profit organization. Regardless, gambling is gambling. Let your conscience be your guide.

The proposed one-cent increase in Greenville County sales tax is an Obama style “redistribution of wealth” based on misleading and false information. It is a 17 percent increase in the sales tax on consumers that will be used to benefit special interest groups. Low and fixed income workers and seniors spend a higher percentage of their income in the retail trade. Those to benefit financially are paving contractors, real estate developers, upscale neighborhoods with connections, and towns. Millions will be spent to fund projects planned by environmental groups and special interests such as “bike clubs.”

The sales tax will likely be approved. The same gullible people who allowed the school board to circumvent the state constitution and borrow a billion dollars to replace almost every school in the county support it.

There are encouraging signs in the state government. The most powerful man in South Carolina has pleaded guilty to ethics charges and will be out of the political scene for 3 years. He has reportedly agreed to “rat” on his colleagues and a dozen more lawmakers could face charges.

The national and international scenes are frightening, and elected officials who could do something to protect the citizens are apparently “scared.”  We are involved in a worldwide “religious” war. Radical Islam has infiltrated the top levels of our federal government and will not tell the American people that we are at war or identify who is in the process of killing all who do not accept their religion.

The chairman of the RNC, on the same television program with his Democrat counterpart looked and acted like a scared cartoon mouse chased by a vicious cat. Like candidates McCain and Romney, the strongest words he could muster against Obama were, “we can do it better than him.”

The author of a recent book has alleged that there are more than 100 believing Communists in the current Congress and that a coalition of Communists and Muslims are in control of the administration.

If the above claims are fact based, the future is not bright. Without Divine intervention we could face massive beheadings, riots, anarchy, Martial Law and a revolution before the next scheduled election in 2016.

The situation demands that we vote and pray.