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If you’re wondering why a ruby red state with ‘Republican’ legislative supermajorities and total GOP control of its executive branch continues to crank out left-of-center policies, South Carolina’s ruling uni-party continues to provide us with the answer.
The Palmetto State is ‘Republican…’ or at least that’s the partisan self-adhesive most of its status quo politicians affix to themselves. Increasingly, one cannot get elected in South Carolina without the red “R” by their name. Yet when it comes time to govern in accordance with purported GOP principles – i.e. less government, lower taxes and more personal freedom – these ‘R’s’ consistently vote alongside the Democrats they claim to oppose (and who previously ran the state into the ground).
Sadly, that shouldn’t surprise anyone seeing as most of the ranking “Republicans” at the S.C. State House are all former Democrats.
Whatever is driving the dissonance, as GOP ranks swell at the S.C. State House so does the state’s bloated budget…
For the past four years, South Carolina has been home to the most liberal “Republican” legislature in America – one which loves to blow taxpayer money, empower corporate cronyism, enable institutional injustice and generally promote inefficiency and all manner of atrocious outcomes.
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During the last legislative session, a small group of conservative GOP lawmakers sought to hold party leaders and rank-and-file establishment members accountable to their campaign promises – and to the will of the electorate which installed them in power.
How did the establishment respond? By kicking them out of the party and spending millions of dollars trying to kick them out of office…
That effort failed miserably. Not only did the upstart Freedom Caucus survive the seven-figure onslaught with all of its seats intact, it managed to knock off several establishment leaders.
“House leadership spent millions of dollars in the past two years attempting to defeat members of the Freedom Caucus,” the group noted in a recent post. “In every single instance, House Leadership lost, and the Freedom Caucus won.”
“Despite their negative campaign, the Freedom Caucus recently extended an olive branch in good faith to the House leadership in order to work together to advance conservative policy in the state,” the post continued.
How was this olive branch received?
Not well…
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Led by S.C. House speaker Murrell Smith, the GOP establishment has once again mandated all would-be members of its Republican caucus to sign a “loyalty oath” barring them from endorsing primary challengers ahead of the 2026 GOP primary elections.
According to the Freedom Caucus, this “escalated” loyalty oath is nothing more than “leadership’s attempt to bully conservatives into silence and subjection.”
“This new and more strident pledge is a direct attempt to benefit moderates in power who largely control the chamber while weakening and dividing conservatives fighting for conservative principles,” the Freedom Caucus noted in its statement. “It protects incumbents who have voted to kill legislation to keep boys out of women’s sports, opposed life from conception bills, who have refused to bring closed primaries to the floor for years, and who continue to allow Democrats to chair budget and judiciary committees.”
Freedom Caucus members were having none of it…
“(We) once again refused to bow down to the establishment,” they noted. “We’ve been sent to Columbia by you, the voters, with a mandate to protect your rights, shrink government, cut taxes, crush corruption, fix the roads, and make our state a free and fair place to do business for everyone, not just the powerful and well-connected. We urge everyone to contact their State Representative and demand they revoke their signature of this dictatorial loyalty pledge. The moderates in the Republican Caucus have used this pledge to divide the conservatives in the legislature for too long.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.
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3 comments
These SC RINOs should take a look around as the MAGA train is now rolling along. The American people finally had enough of the lying imposters that pretend to care. God Bless the Freedom Caucus.
The conservative leaning people of SC voted Donald Trump into office because we want to live by those conservative principles and to raise their children in the Bible Belt to build a mora standard that will revive America.
Seriously, did you really mean to use “moral standard” and “Donald Trump” in the same paragraph?