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The alarm has sounded and it is time for South Carolina conservatives to awaken from their comfortable slumber, take note of what is happening all around them and rise to the occasion, if they hope to remain relevant in representative government and remain free from tyranny.
Today, conservatives are on the verge of losing control of the Republican Party in the Palmetto State, and the South Carolina Republican Party is even closer to losing control of the General Assembly and the Governor’s Mansion. The national Republican Party establishment long ago ceased to be guided by traditional conservative values and mandates, the party platform, or for that matter, the Constitution of the United States.
Republican Party primary elections in South Carolina have been subverted by the opposition. Virtually anyone, regardless of political persuasion, can become a nominee of the Republican Party by bringing in their friends and supporters across party lines to vote in open Republican Primary elections.
For decades, Republicans and Democrats respected an honor system and did not attempt to disrupt the primary elections of their opponent. With the influx of newcomers into the state, the sacred honor important to “Southern Gentlemen” has been replaced with a political system best described as “dog eat dog.”
The surprising victory of Sen. John McCain in the South Carolina Republican primary last week and the landslide of Sen. Barack Obama over two opponents including a native South Carolinian in the Democrat race more recently are only the beginning of a disturbing trend away from representative government in the South Carolina tradition.
American society is undergoing a drastic transition that does not bode well for the preservation of freedom and liberty. Conservatives must do more to challenge the negative impact of the transition. Many younger voters know little or no history and very few have ever read the Constitution of the United States, know how the government is structured or how it is supposed to function. These citizens, deprived of basic knowledge, do not have the ability to act intelligently and rationally, yet their vote counts as much as any other. They can only act on emotions or humanistic desires. They could be persuaded to trade freedom for themselves and future generations for promises of security and material things. They could become totally dependent on government for their livelihood and would not likely be willing to risk their lives to defend the Constitution from either foreign or domestic enemies. They will tend to vote for individuals who are good-looking or have a way with words.
Delegates to the last two GOP State Conventions voted to instruct Republican elected lawmakers to change the open primary system and require registration by party. The will of the people was ignored by the elected officials who suffered no consequences.
The impact of failure to require registration by party in Greenville County has been devastating to individual freedom and property rights. Once conservative Greenville County Government is currently implementing a leftist agenda advocated and supported by liberal Democrats. The same has occurred with a liberal takeover of the Greenville County School Board now in its second decade with a debt in excess of one billion dollars that exceeds the assessed value of all private property in Greenville County and will be paid with interest by homeowners for the next twenty-five years.
Conservative citizens should insist that their representatives in the General Assembly give a high priority to requiring registration by party as soon as legally possible to preserve the integrity of the “two-party system.”
If we do not act decisively and act now, we can explain to our grandchildren how we failed to do our duty to preserve, protect and defend the freedom our forefathers fought and died for.
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