Alex Thornton got smoked in her first foray into Palmetto politics (this month’s special election for the S.C. Senate seat vacated by Robert Ford). Seriously … smoked. As in she got just 98 out of 7,862 votes (1.2 percent).
Yeah … ouch.
But this smokin’ hot Libertarian (note the big “L”) isn’t giving up. Far from it. In fact she’s making it her mission to transform the Libertarian Party in South Carolina into a legitimate contender at the statewide level. She’s also staying focused on advancing the issue nearest and dearest to her heart – the elimination of South Carolina’s individual income tax.
“I’m going to be a one-woman army against the income tax,” Thornton told FITS this week.
Good … she can press us into service whenever she wants.
This website loves income tax cuts. In fact we’ve consistently argued that broad-based individual income tax relief (as opposed to crony capitalism on behalf of big businesses) was the best way to reverse the Palmetto State’s chronic lack of competitiveness.Why? Because the individual income tax doesn’t just adversely impact the consumer economy … it similarly stunts the growth of sole proprietorships and small businesses which form the backbone of our state’s economy.
The classic double whammy …
Unfortunately Republicans and Democrats in South Carolina are united in their opposition to tax cuts (they prefer ill-conceived tax swaps). Nor do they believe in returning surplus money or government “savings” back to taxpayers in the form of tax relief.
Thornton wants to change that.
This 26-year-old Charleston photographer originally hails from Tennessee – a state which has managed to thrive despite its lack of a state-level income tax. In fact Volunteer State ranks No. 15 on the latest Tax Foundation assessment of state business tax climates (compared to South Carolina’s No. 37 ranking).
Thornton knows all about this … because she’s a policy wonk who just happens to be hot. In fact when we spoke with her briefly this week, we were blown away by how smart, savvy, substantive and yes … sexy … she is.
Thornton is under no illusions about the failure of the two-party system – but she’s also well aware of the stigma associated with the Libertarian brand.
“I can’t tell you how many times people on the campaign trail asked me if I smoked pot,” she told us.
She doesn’t smoke pot – but she doesn’t think it should be criminalized either (a view embraced by growing numbers of Americans). Thornton is also a good Christian girl – although in true libertarian fashion she doesn’t wear her faith on her sleeve (when she wears sleeves).
The most impressive thing about Thornton? In listening to her discuss issues and politics, one gets the sense she simultaneously understands the game … yet remains unassailably indifferent to it. In other words she is wise enough to see the strings at the puppet show … yet naive courageous enough to believe she can succeed without letting anyone pull her strings.
In short, she’s the perfect weapon for a party looking to capitalize on the pronounced ideological shifts taking place in South Carolina – and across the country – the unstoppable rise of self-identified “independent conservatives” who have no allegiance to either major party but desperately want the government to stay out of their wallets and bedrooms.
Bottom line? Alex Thornton is going to get a lot more than 98 votes her next time out …
27 comments
Oh hell Yeh,
In a statewide race?
Maybe 2-3%
Does Will Folks enjoy writing about stereotyping people? What is he like professionally to work with?
Oh poop.
Poop. I likey mikey.
Does Comic Book have a point? What do the others posting from the main library think about working with him?
Wait another gurl who likes Ron Paul but what am I supposed to do? Did she graduate from the Citadel Well if she did she wasn’t firrrrsty like me and if she had been there we’d had made fun of hurr LOL.
Ms. Thornton got 92 more votes than I got when attempting to be a delegate to the SC GOP State Convention one year — but that’s another story for another time.
No sir. That is a story for all times.
She should move back to TN if it is so great.
Very pretty, good lines.
Five states have no state income taxes, including Tennessee.
However, those states have engineered methods to generate revenues to compensate for eliminating those revenues.
Alex states at her website, http://alexforscsenate.com/ending-the-income-tax/:
QUOTE:
In the 2011-2012 state budget, the individual income tax revenue accounted for $2.6 billion, or 50.2% of the general fund revenue sources (other sources are retail tax, corporate tax, and “other” taxes). The total state budget was $21.4 billion, a $2.6 billion reduction leaves $18.8 billion, or 88% of our budget for our government to use responsibly, which can be easily done by eliminating inefficient and unnecessary spending.
UNQUOTE.
She’ll squeeze ten percent out of the state budget — $2.6 BILLION — by “eliminating inefficient and unnecessary spending.”
No details provided. Politically, she’s a moron.
This is a ridiculous post, Will, but I’ll give you an A+ for her pretty picture.
Like Nikki, she’s gorgeous, so she has a promising political future in state government.
Your pal,
Possum
eliminating inefficient and unnecessary spending? How about the billions wasted on crony politics and the war on drugs, like she mentioned on her site?
Another libtard with a tax rebate plan. Now what are the details again? Oh that’s right, no one has any.
Yeah well, Will’s latest purty young thang who thinks like him has a hard row to hoe if she wants to get the SC Libertarians into line. She needs to try to find one male Big L dude in the state with some intelligence who doesn’t spout insane
shit about Bilderbergs, TriLats, Lizard Bloods, 9-11 Truth, Illuminati,
Bohemian Grove ,etc., and get with that one sane one and make a whole
bunch of babies and maybe clone out a few and indoctrinate them to go out
and preach their cause, and maybe by 2043 or so they will have something
going on worth writing about.
Plus — and this is not her fault — she looks about 15, which may be the main reason she didn’t get many votes.
“Transform the Libertarian Party in South Carolina into a legitimate contender.” Dumb fuck. People, not parties, are contenders for public office, Candidates are simply whoring for the ideals of the collective. Like weight training to improve a back hand swing, collective action of groups doesn’t do shit to strengthen citizen authority to limit and redress corrupt acts of particular servants. Which is the only thing (individual authority) that protects a weak minority from subjugation of a majority and assures we rule ourselves by our own free will.
The idea that this group (LIbertarian) can magically use collectivism to strengthen citizen individual authority to restrain public servants is beyond stupid. It’s true this gal might be a good tool for the party, and a temporary change from usual. But we don’t need party tools who ‘discuss’ and ‘play the game’. We need servants who demonstrate public service to citizen needs come before politics.
“We need servants who demonstrate public service to citizen needs come before politics” like all the people you vote for who spend our tax dollars on pet projects that happen to line their own pockets? Not a single member of the SC legislature is honest or cares about serving the best interest of the citizens. Alex is and does.
Pretty face but she’s got the crazy eyes just like Jennifer Wilbanks (the runaway bride). Also, if you’d posted a body pic instead of just the head shot, you’d see that she should wear sleeves because she’s kind of a big girl.
“kind of a big girl”? Have you even met Alex? If by “big” you mean a grown-up, then yes, she is bigger than a second-grader. And what does her weight have to do with whether or not her policies would be good for SC?
Fits made an issue of her looks. Big girl is a nice way of saying she’s chunky.
Wow – that’s pretty rude and ignorant. I know Alex, and she’s definitely not chunky. In fact, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t think she’s beautiful. You should try saying crap like this to her face instead of behind the safe anonymity of your computer screen, coward.
Did I hurt your feelings, SaltMiner? She’s a little on the chunky side but that’s no big deal. Big girls need lovin’ too. Again, I never would have commented on her looks except that it was the subject of Will’s post. If you don’t like it then take it up with him.
You didn’t hurt MY feelings, but what if Alex was reading this? How do you know she hasn’t lost a lot of weight in the last few years and is really self-conscious about her appearance? I find Will’s comments on her appearance to be just as irrelevant, but at least they don’t have the potential to be hurtful. And no–her looks weren’t the subject of this post–her views on tax policy were. Maybe YOU don’t need an income tax cut, but I know plenty of people who wouldn’t mind having 7% of their income back. Maybe starving the beast is the best way to get them to do their job more efficiently–if there’s less money to be wasted on corruption, there will be fewer corrupt people interested in wasting it.
If she gets her feelings hurt over a comment on a blog post then she has no business running for public office… which is probably true anyway.
You’re right – if she does read it and gets her feelings hurt, she probably needs thicker skin if she wants to be in politics, but that doesn’t give everyone the right to just go around insulting anyone they don’t like. People wouldn’t have to have thick skin if other people could learn to be more respectful instead of hateful for hatefulness’ sake.
1.2% of the vote! No wonder all these Libertarians are running as Republicans.
I know you wrote otherwise, but that photo just screams vapid.
When a woman’s green eyes turn gold, she is pissed. Look carefully at the picture.