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by WILL FOLKS
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Finding common ground on issues accruing to the benefit of citizens and taxpayers is a noble endeavor. Hosting smart, substantive conversations in search of credible consensus is critical to the proper functioning of representative democracy – something we’d all be wise to remember in our hyper-reflexive political climate.
Sadly, in South Carolina – just as in Washington, D.C. – political labels aren’t reliable demarcation lines anymore. Nor, for that matter, are ideological differences.
There’s a ruling elite… and then there’s everybody else.
At FITSNews, we take our role in the marketplace of ideas surrounding these power centers seriously – which is why years ago we instituted an open microphone policy welcoming all intelligent perspectives (including those with which we disagree).
Our modus operandi is simple: we’re going to say our piece… and invite you to do the same.
At some point, though, the proverbial rubber must meet the road. Talk must be accompanied by action. And action must yield the promised outcomes. Otherwise, people are just wasting our oxygen.
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Also, citizens and taxpayers at some point must be told the truth about the machinations and motivations of those responsible for this litany of unfulfilled promises… as opposed to allowing the same people who are perpetually ripping us off to keep inartfully stage-managing so-called “solutions.”
This week at the S.C. State House, a new group – comprised mostly of second-tier politicians and retreaded operatives who’ve been helping hold the bag for those doing the stage-managing and plundering – announced its formation. With a 1990s-era soap opera star lighting the way, the South Carolina Forum launched with the apparent intention of exploiting the mushy middle of populist pablum in the Palmetto State via some undefined method of consensus building.
Its likely objective? Checking the growing momentum of the conservative movement in the Palmetto State so the business of the banana republic can continue unmolested…
What does this group believe? That would appear to be a moving target…
According to its website, the forum intends to “spotlight South Carolina as a leader among states in using accessible online and offline deliberative approaches to produce trusted, >70% majority-backed solutions across political, economic, racial, religious, and geographic lines of difference.”
Um… producing majority-backed solutions? Sounds a lot like a North Korean electioneering slogan to us, people.
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So far, this mealy mouthed entity has embraced such weighty truths as “leaders should answer to the people,” “change starts when we answer the call to show up” and “we must replace partisan gridlock with problem-solving.”
How original…
There’s even a hackneyed “roll up our sleeves” reference on its social media feed, which has attracted a whopping 58 followers since it launched six months ago. That small following is attributable in part, we’re sure, to a cringeworthy ‘Two Old Muppets in the Balcony” clip that (at the time we posted it) had drawn only 219 views in the two weeks since it was unleashed on the world.
We hate to break it to these consensus-compoops, but there is no partisan gridlock in South Carolina. There is, however, a bought-and-paid-for uni-party – one that moves concisely (and corruptly) at the command of a handful of powerful insiders.
One of this group’s two co-chairman, Trav Robertson, is no stranger to failed launches. Robertson presided over the accelerating collapse of the S.C. Democrat Party (SCDP) from 2017-2023. He couldn’t get his candidates to 40% in general elections, which raises questions about whether he would be able to identify a ‘majority-backed solution” if it were to bite him on his ample backside. Another co-chairman is Dave Wilson, a “Republican” insider who spectacularly flamed out as leader of the notoriously hypocritical Palmetto Family organization three years ago.
Wilson’s partner in flaming out, Catherine Glenn Foster, occupies one of the key leadership positions in this emerging amalgamation of omphaloskepsis – indicating just how unserious this group intends to be.
Seriously, Matt Leber has more credibility than these yammering yokels… and he is operating at a credibility deficit.
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The group also boasts über-liberal lawmaker Neal Collins and status quo shill Brandon Newton as two of its “Republican” advisors, reinforcing the belief that the forum intends to frame debates at the S.C. State House in ways that benefit the establishment – as opposed to meaningfully changing or challenging it.
It’s a lot like when former Democrat congressman Joe Cunningham launched the ‘No Labels‘ organization in the Palmetto State three years ago… only less serious.
Don’t take my word for it, though… hear what truth-tellers on the progressive left have to say about these doofenschmirtzes.
“This new ‘Forum’ is being framed as people over parties,” Javar Juarez of the Columbia Urban Broadcasting Network noted. “But look closely at the roster. These are elected officials. Party insiders. Legislative power players. Not grassroots organizers. Not everyday community leaders. Not the people knocking doors in forgotten neighborhoods.”
“If we are serious about change, the question isn’t how to platform politicians more elegantly,” Juarez added. “South Carolinians are frustrated because decisions are made without real consequences at the ballot box. Until that changes, ‘common ground’ is a talking point, not a strategy.”
Indeed…
Juarez is as far to the left as many believe I am to the right… but we both clearly agree more competitive elections are desperately needed in the Palmetto State. And it took both of us less than half a minute to suss out that this new group is a joke.
That, friends, constitutes real consensus… not the partisan-approved, pre-packaged insipidity these clowns are peddling in an effort to insulate the failed South Carolina uni-party from the reckoning coming its way.
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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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3 comments
You name a lot of names in this piece—many of whom you apparently have no use for and hold in contempt. I have noticed that also in many of your columns you come back to the same theme: that real progress in South Carolina is continuously thwarted and stymied by “ a handful of powerful insiders” who care only for their own wealth and power at the expense of the state. Who exactly are these people? May we have some names? An enquiring public would like to know.
Your comment started with a shocked tone about how many names were mentioned and then you conclude with “may we have some names.” Your defensiveness is blaring.
At this point I’d be willing to back a Republican that respects the Constitution, but those seem to be in very short supply.