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This week’s big political news in South Carolina was the release of a surprising survey from one of the nation’s most reputable pollsters – Robert Cahaly (a.k.a. the “Oracle”).
While the top line results from this survey (.pdf) caused head-scratching amongst Palmetto politicos – and prompted jokes that Cahaly’s crystal ball might need some polish – there was one interesting section of the poll which resonated with a lot of people I spoke with.
I’m referring to its line of questions about South Carolina-based efforts to implement a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) like the one launched in Washington, D.C. by Elon Musk.
According to the survey, a whopping 75.1% of likely GOP primary voters in the Palmetto State support “the creation of a SC DOGE-type organization to find state government waste and report it to the legislature and governor.” Nearly six in ten primary voters (57.9%) strongly supported such an idea, per Cahaly’s data, with 44.1% of them saying it was the “most important (issue) for the legislature to get accomplished this year.”
Hold up… even more important than FITSNews’ decades-long obsession with eliminating the income tax? Yes, according to Cahaly’s numbers. Even more important than that.
Momentarily discounting the fact the GOP-controlled legislature has been the source of such waste for decades – including just last year – the survey highlighted the extent to which Republican primary voters are embracing the concepts of government efficiency and accountability. That means the ground is indeed ripe for a wide-ranging DOGE campaign in South Carolina – although I’d hate to see it solely limited to “state government waste.”
The problem, as our audience is well aware, goes much deeper than that. And its roots are far more insidious than that.
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There’s a flip side to the DOGE ebullience, though. Also released this week was a survey from Winthrop University. That poll found only 38% of South Carolinians viewed Musk favorably – compared to 41% who viewed him unfavorably. The intensity gap skewed toward the negative on the brash billionaire, too, with only 21% expressing a “very” favorable view of him compared to 31% who viewed him “very” unfavorably.
In other words, the man most closely associated with DOGE is a definitional lightning rod – just like Donald Trump.
While I remain agnostic when it comes to Trump, I’ve always been a big fan of Musk – particularly his commitment to reestablishing free speech as a core value in the global digital space.
Obviously, the necessary work of slashing government waste, cutting contracts, eliminating positions, reducing bureaucracy, challenging entrenched interests and proposing long-overdue consolidations and privatizations is not a popularity contest. It never will be. Which is why politicians have refused to do it.
Enemies will be made. And politicians don’t like enemies.
But again, it’s bigger than that.
Once the true objective of all this DOGE-ing becomes evident – i.e. once it becomes clear all of this is (or should be) geared toward reclaiming individual freedom and restoring free markets – expect to see increasingly violent pushback from those who built their empires on the graft-industrial complex.
Don’t believe me? Just look at what’s happening across the country right now as the far left torches Teslas in response to Musk’s DOGE campaign at the national level.
That’s why Musk – who isn’t a politician and doesn’t need anything from the political system – is one of the only people in the world capable of doing this work. Non-state actors engaging asymmetrical tactics with absolutely nothing to gain – and nothing to lose – well, that’s the only way to move past cosmetic “political” change and start effecting transformative societal realignment.
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RELATED | TESLA ATTACKS SHOW DANGER OF LEFT’S POLITICAL VIOLENCE
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Is there a person capable of that in our state? And forty-nine others like them in other states?
In South Carolina, the early favorite to head up such a crusade is Rom Reddy – a Wharton Business School graduate, ex-energy executive and entrepreneur from Isle of Palms, S.C. In fact, Reddy has already started an organization focused on these objectives – DOGE SC.
“DOGE SC is a grassroots initiative dedicated to eliminating the overreach of administrative agencies — commonly referred to as the ‘fourth branch’ of government — that create, enforce, and adjudicate their own rules, often in violation of constitutional principles,” Reddy’s website stated. “DOGE SC is more than a movement; it’s a call to action. Together, we can reduce the influence of bureaucracy, empower citizens, and secure a brighter future for South Carolina.”
During an interview with radio host Keven Cohen earlier this week, Reddy shared his take on what is underpinning his calling.
“If you step back and look at it – people know something’s wrong, they feel it.” Reddy told Cohen. “They just can’t put their finger on it because it’s happened over time – and what’s happened is the power and the money, actually it starts with the money… has just gone over to government.”
Exactly…
“We’ve given up this thing,” Reddy said. “There’s a whole generation that believe that freedoms and rights come from the government. And it doesn’t.”
Unlike so many who have undertaken this work in the past, Reddy sounds like a true believer… a limited government champion with core convictions who sees the work he is engaged in as a moral imperative, not the pursuit of some specific financial or political outcome.
Could he be the sort of non-state actor South Carolina desperately needs?
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: The people of the Palmetto State – the individual citizens and taxpayers who drive its growth – have been waiting decades for a fundamental reorientation toward freedom and free markets. They gave the GOP supermajorities to do it, but the GOP has failed. Virtually all of South Carolina’s chronic problems are systemic – rooted in the absolute power held by a corrupt, uniparty cabal controlled at every turn by entrenched bureaucracies, embedded special interests and self-serving crony capitalists.
My only hope? That this latest push to undo that cabal stays true to the moral imperative… and lives up to its promise to bow to no one save God.
Perhaps then the Palmetto State will finally have a fighting chance…
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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 eight children.
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6 comments
Who wants to get hopped up on ketamine and wave a chainsaw around like a jackass? Step right up! You too can be one of the most hated people around!
“Non-state actors engaging asymmetrical tactics with absolutely nothing to gain – and nothing to lose – well, that’s the only way to move past cosmetic “political” change and start effecting transformative societal realignment.”
Curious about this word salad sentence – is this your description of Musk?
S.C. does not need someone cutting law enforcement, child protection and safety or needed S.C. jobs. We don’t need someone from out of state who has no ties to our beautiful wildlife and lands to come here and take this rich culture and turn it in to Tec land. People are already nervous about their retirement with what the Federal government is doing and saying. If you are. Near or past retirement age you should worry too when the stock market drops everyday and the Presidents mouthpiece talks of cutting Social Security. Not only will Children be homeless and hungry so will the elderly. I am waiting for that Shing light we were promised on Day 11.
I don’t know that a state-level DOGE is going to find a whole lot in the way of outright fraud – things like falsified payment or benefit claims. There are probably some overpriced or unnecessary service contracts. The big stuff really seems to be right out in the open in terms of pork barrel earmarks by our elected legislators and massive business recruitment subsidies in which no one ever really goes back and figures out if we actually realized the claimed job numbers and fiscal impact- and in the handful of cases where we do figure it out, no-one ever claws back the subsidies when the business fail to meet up to their promises. The government just shrugs and moves on to the next corporate crony deal. Then of course there is the massive black eye of “Nukegate” that probably hurt the taxpayers and ratepayers’ wallets more than all the possible state level fraud, waste and abuse combined….not that I’m against the ongoing efforts in trying to complete those projects, but there cannot be a new deal that shifts all the risk of failure on our backs like the last deal did.
Oh yes, please!!!! We do need someone to look into state agencies and what some are getting paid and what some are NOT! Why is an executive assistant getting paid over $80k a year? Why are State Police getting paid top dollar when many have no previous law enforcement experience and local sheriffs office and small town cops are getting paid Pennies to do the most dangerous road patrol in the most dangerous counties?!
There needs to be a deep dive into State Law Enforcement agencies. They do pay top dollar and yet have low staff or no staff. Drive through SC and see how many troopers you spot.