Following Nikki-speak Part II

Nikki Haley said, and then said again, that she is proud to live in a "right-to-work" state.

Well, "right-to-work" is pretty much like, right-to-try-to-avoid-starving, or right-to-sustain-on-the-job-injuries, or right-to-work-as-many-jobs-as-it-takes-while-your-kids-forget-what-you-look-like.

When Nikki Haley says "right-to-work", it's like when Jim Demint says "freedom"-- freedom for Jim Demint, not so much the rest of us.

The bad old unions that Nikki Haley is saving us from are what would allow us to strive toward a living wage, decent benefits, job security.  We were on our way to that goal, and then Ronald Reagan, greater actor than we ever thought he was, convinced us that our bad economic times were because of the evil union, not the greedy corporations.

Sure some businesses will still move down here, in spite of the bad schools, bad roads, bad economy.  They'll take all of our tax incentives, bring in all their management level staff, and hire our low-level, inadequately trained high school grads (or drop-outs), pay them as little as they can get away with, with insufficent benefits and no job security, because we are a "right-to-work" state.

Some businesses will not do that, though.  They will not want to move their management to a state where "minimally adequate" is the standard for public schools, and too many people can't afford to buy the stuff they make.

Meanwhile, Nikki Haley is proud that our unemployment is so high we have to take whatever job we can, and there are no unions around to help us negotiate a living wage.


I want to switch, not topics, but races here.  Because we have, in Congressional District 1, a candidate who is not afraid to stand up for workers' rights.  He knows that workers need good, safe jobs, with a living wage, with health care for themselves and their families, with job security.  When businesses are able to shut out unions, and the workers are squeezed, the economy will suffer.

Rob Groce wants to go to the House of Representatives and fight for the right for all of us, not just to work, but to live and work.

So, two things:

Spread the word about Vincent Sheheen for Governor.

www.vincentsheheen.com

And get to know Rob Groce.  He is running under the Working Families Party, because that is what he believes in.

www.groceforcongress.com

 

Following Nikki-speak

I believe it is true that if you nod your head, and speak without hesitation, people will believe or accept what you are saying.

Take Nikki Haley's performance in the second gubernatorial debate.  I felt my head nodding right along with her as she said that her plan to save failing schools would be to have faith-based communities be actively involved in poor school districts and "in the poverty areas".

In fact, she said, it won't cost the taxpayers a dime.

Here's where my head stopped nodding.  Huh?  Did she just say what I thought she said?

When I ran it by a black co-worker, she got it much faster than I had the night before.

Nikki Haley's plan for failing schools and poor communities is to allow the churches to have at it; that is, allow them to be responsible for moving these people forward instead of the government.  So, basically, the churches are going to help the poorest areas and the worst schools, so that Nikki won't have to increase taxes.

So... isn't that what we've been doing???  And isn't that why the poor communities are still poor, and the failing schools are still failing?


Don't let Nikki Haley's double-talk work in this debate.  Talk to your friends, family, and community about this inherently racist proposal.

If the Old Stuff Doesn't Work

I got to work today and the first thing I saw was Saturday's headline in The State.  Apparently, Nikki's ugly media blitz is beating Vincent Sheheen's not-so-nice ads.


So, I'm thinking, if the same old stuff isn't going to work, and I think it's fair to say it is not working, maybe it's time for Democratic and/or Liberal candidates to try something different.


Suppose Vincent Sheheen campaigned with other like-minded candidates?  Suppose he went on the road with Tom Clements, Green Party candidate for US Senate .  How about if they both came to Charleston and campaigned with Rob Groce, US House of Representative District 1 candidate, who is running under the auspices of the Working Families Party.


Now that they are campaigning together, they can pool some of their resources, run a real media blitz.  They can do interviews together, and explain how their philosophies and positions on the issues really do benefit the people of South Carolina.  Just think of the interest and free coverage they will have just because of the way they are running.


More important, they can focus on the issues, and the impact of their positions versus the destructive impact of the positions of their opponents.


Frankly, I'm tired of seeing ads that try to attack the character of the candidate.  I'm sure Nikki Haley is a lovely person, but her policies would devastate the people of South Carolina, except for those of us who happen to be corporations.  Her budget cuts would continue to devastate schools and libraries.  She would not support the social services that we desperately need as we try to survive the economic tsunami of the Bush/Sandford years; in fact, the ranks of the unemployed would continue to swell as she puts her campaign promises to her corporate sponsors into effect.


As for Jim Demint, I believe we voters have come to accept that he is "too big to fail".  But if our candidates -- and I don't mean Alvin Greene or Ben Frasier -- were united against Demint's hypocracies they would be heard.


And the most important thing our candidates need to do differently is to stop cowering.  I'm tired of hearing how Vincent Sheheen will work with the republicans and with big business.  If he actually stood up to these monied special interests, not only would he be newsworthy, he would get voters excited about going to the polls.


So, yes, we will probably lose, and lose big.  We have some top-notch candidates, who have thrown a lot of time and money into this, put their lives on hold for this campaign.  Isn't it time they stood together and told the voters what they could do for South Carolina?

A Really Independent "Ticket"

Since we have the kind of convoluted primaries in South Carolina that pretty much allow the most corrupt to win, and we aren't going to get that changed in the near future, we can pretty much assume that each primary season, we will end up with some odd bedfellows on the Democratic ticket.  That means we need to be independent minded and be sure to learn about others running for office against those "democrats".

So far, I have come up with a truly independent list of people who will get my support:

Governor -- Vincent Sheheen

US Senate -- Tom Clements

Superintendent of Education -- Frank Holleman

US Congress (1st District) -- Rob Groce

I'll keep doing my homework, because this November's elections are critical.  A republican win will set us back to the dark years of the smaller Bush, and the gains we have fought the republicans so hard for will be lost in the blink of an eye.