By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | It’s gotten so bad in the caldron of American politics that you wonder whether people are itching to argue about the color of the sky.
“It’s blue,” one might say. “No,” says another. “It’s orange. I saw it on TV in Oregon.”
“You’re both wrong, it’s black.”
In truth (real truth, not fake truth), all three are correct.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | America is coarser these days thanks, in part, to the politics of vitriol, greed to make a fast buck and the often self-absorbed bubble of the internet.
But have you noticed an increase in kindness, too? Especially since the coronavirus pandemic upended lives across the world?
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The founders of America’s experiment in democracy rebelled against monarchical rule from England because they wanted to do things their own way. They set up a map on how to govern, the U.S. Constitution, that’s become the envy of the world.
Now there’s a president in the White House who seems to view the constitution as a guideline, at best, that can be bent to his personal preferences. And an entire political party has changed, part in fear of retribution and part in the craving need to keep power, to enable the rusting of our democracy’s foundation.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Mark Sanford is onto something: If the United States doesn’t get control of the exploding national debt and deficit, the country will fade away.
As of Friday, the national debt was $26.6 trillion dollars. That’s 266 followed by 11 zeros. This number is mind-numbing.
By Andy Brack, editor an publisher | Don’t let yourself be conned by the Con Man in Chief: Postal workers will deliver your mailed-in ballot just fine, thank you very much.
In fact, President Donald Trump, who unpatriotically has been denigrating the U.S. Postal Service, believes in mail-in voting so much that he’s going to vote (wait for it) by mail.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | They called him Big Thunder. His rich baritone soared when he talked and resonated even more when he sang.
Former state Rep. Floyd Breeland, who passed away Tuesday at 87, loved public service, first as a teacher, then as a high school administrator and finally in the Statehouse. After representing the Charleston peninsula from 1993 to 2007, he continued to serve by running a College of Charleston program to encourage young Black men to be teachers and role models for kids.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Let’s see how excited we got about the sales tax holiday put on by the state over the past weekend: Whoop. Nope. Hooray. Nah. Yahoo. Not quite.
South Carolina’s annual sales tax holiday is not only very bad public policy, it isn’t pandemic-friendly. In normal circumstances, the tax-free weekend is a bad idea because of the multiple inequities it creates. But during the coronavirus pandemic, it is extra risky because it encourages people to get out to shop when they’d be smarter by staying at home.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Blustery Donald Trump is scared he’ll lose the November presidential election. He’s mortified of being called the worst thing in the book: The biggest loser.
On Thursday as three presidents and the nation remembered the consequential life of U.S. Rep. John Lewis at an Atlanta funeral, the current president of the United States schemed to get into headlines by actually suggesting something expected in banana republics — not our democracy. He had the gall to float the idea that the November election should be postponed.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | America’s culture wars are wearing us out. There’s too much distrust, frustration and pent-up anger. Some want to make America great again, but that sends red flags to others who see the sentiment as dog whistles for a more divided society. Others wonder when America wasn’t great.
Perhaps we can all agree on one thing: America is more polarized and divided than ever in recent memory. And maybe. Just maybe, we can use that which divides to unite us.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | There’s been a lot of huffing, puffing and bantam-roostering of late by Gov. Henry McMaster and Republican legislative leaders about when schools should reopen.
Turn the cluck off, folks. We need to do what’s right and safe, not anything related to the politics of the moment.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina! (2019) by editor and publisher Andy Brack offers incisive commentaries on the American South, politics, the common good and interesting South Carolina leaders. Available exclusively for Kindle for $7.99. A paperback version will be ready soon. Learn more.
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