Charleston Currents – Andy Brack

Andy Brack

BRACK: Culture of ignorance on rise in America

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | There’s a reason that a horse wears blinders: So it won’t get spooked by something weird that’s outside of its vision tunnel.

All across our country, too many people are wearing blinders on an array of issues that is unraveling the fabric of the American way of life. We are ignoring big problems, hoping they’ll just go away. But they get worse and worse.

Instead of proactively confronting issues from race and gun violence to immigration reform and the decay of our democracy, we keep drinking from the font of ignorance.

by Andy Brack · 07/01/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Houses of worship can lead way on racial healing

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher, part 2 of 2 | If you ignore the bloody prick of a rusty nail, the wound may become infected or lead to something much worse.

Across America, but particularly in the South, the underpinnings of our society continue to be infected by the ooze of racism. While there are laws on the books to provide equal access and treatment for the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness, there’s still a lot of unfinished business bubbling under the surface that inhibits progress.

by Andy Brack · 06/24/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

A grave marker at a Kinsler family cemetery.

BRACK: Dealing with Southern ghosts of the past

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher, part 1 of 2 | This is the story of three cousins. Well, they’re pretty sure they’re all cousins because they think they are linked genetically to the same man. But they’re not 100 percent sure because some of the records are lost.

They do know, however, that they’re linked by circumstance and family to that man, a South Carolina plantation owner who moved his family and 14 slaves to Florida before the Civil War. Later he moved back to the Palmetto State, signed the state’s Ordinance of Secession, fought and served in the state Senate.

by Andy Brack · 06/17/2019 · 1 comment · Andy Brack, Views

A classroom at Francis Marion University. Photo provided.

BRACK: When something named “liberal” really isn’t

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Millions of American students attending college for a classic liberal arts education don’t sit around watching MSNBC, attending Democratic Party meetings or reading The New York Times.

Unfortunately, the word “liberal” in the three-word educational phrase has morphed into a pejorative term, often leading to misunderstandings for what’s intended to describe a broad-based education that expands how students understand and relate to the world.

by Andy Brack · 06/09/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: A hotter South Carolina has some steamy policy impacts

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Regardless of whether you are a climate change denier or someone who believes that science shows the globe is warming, there’s one thing we can all agree on: It’s been hot. Real hot.

Summer’s annual blast furnace of high heat and humidity came earlier than expected this year as the middle of the country dealt with lots of flooding and a whole bunch of freaky tornadoes.

by Andy Brack · 06/03/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: State budget shows legislators’ values

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | There’s a lot that goes on in a legislative session: Thousands of bills are filed. Hundreds of news stories are written about those bills. Scores of committee meetings underscore why making laws is as unsightly as making sausage.

Through it all after several months of work, much hot air was expended. Tempers flared. Filibusterers filibustered. Lobbyists lobbied. Visitors gawked. And a few laws got passed.

In 2019, legislators agreed enough to pass 113 measures – everything from the $9 billion budget to rejiggering voting precincts in Anderson, Greenwood, Dorchester, Pickens, Abbeville and Dillon counties. In fact, they seemed to like fiddling so much with Greenwood County’s precinct maps that they did it twice, first in March and later as the session was coming to a close.

by Andy Brack · 05/27/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Nerf candidates for mayor up to it again

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The Nerf candidates of Charleston’s mayoral race are up to no good again.

Instead of working to make Charleston more livable and better, as exemplified by what Mayor John Tecklenburg is trying to do, these nimrods are spewing slimy spitballs during council meetings and generally wasting time.

And perhaps, they’re showing their intelligence and leadership, or lack thereof. Or maybe they’re just taking attack bait supplied by the Tweedle Twins, West Ashley council members Bill Moody and Keith Waring, who have spent three years plotting against Tecklenburg.

by Andy Brack · 05/20/2019 · 1 comment · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Not hard to connect the dots on CHE finalist

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | An ultra-conservative culture warrior is not the right person to lead the state Commission on Higher Education (CHE).

But hey, this is red South Carolina where some folks apparently think that a past editor of a neo-Confederate journal who got a Ph.D. in government and international studies is a good choice to be a finalist to lead the state agency with oversight for new college programs.Hmmm. Wonder if this means someone wants more God in public liberal arts education?

by Andy Brack · 05/13/2019 · 1 comment · Andy Brack, Views

State Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley, discussed the future of Santee Cooper last week in the state Senate.

BRACK: State Senate has changed a lot over two decades

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Anyone who doesn’t believe government doesn’t change needs to look to the South Carolina Senate. Compared to what it was 20 years ago, it’s almost a hot mess today.

Two of the differences are easy to see. First, some once familiar names that dominated headlines – Drummond, Fair, Courson, Ford, McConnell, Hayes, Leventis, Martin, McGill, Ravenel, Washington, Wilson, Thomas – are no longer there. Of the states 46 senators, only 11 serving today were in the chamber 20 years ago.

by Andy Brack · 05/06/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: While I breathe, I wish and I hope

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | I wish there were ways to scare the living daylights drivers riding on my tail without them causing problems for or harm to other drivers.

I wish one could gain the benefits of exercise without actually having to exercise.

I wish it were possible to eat a lot of chocolate without ingesting any calories, fat or sugar.

by Andy Brack · 04/29/2019 · 2 comments · Andy Brack, Views