Charleston Currents – common good

Post Tagged with: "common good"

FOCUS: Vigorous government action needed to curb spread of virus

By Fred Palm, contributing editor | Correct and effective state action to battle COVID-19 is required. Now. Otherwise, more lives and livelihoods across South Carolina will suffer as a third wave descends upon the state.

Gov. Henry McMaster’s Oct. 23 public relations visit to Myrtle Beach revealed a guy who is in over his head with no way out. That means we have no way out.

“We’re vigilant. We’re trying to do our best,” he said during the visit. “We’ve heard from a lot of people in a lot of different kind of businesses; we’re taking all of that into consideration. These restrictions, it’s uncomfortable. Sometimes it imposes great hardship; we’re aware of that. All of these decisions are made not quickly.”

by Fred Palm · 10/26/2020 · 1 comment · Focus, Good news

BRACK: We can do better for all

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | So what happens when Americans start getting their $1,200 federal coronavirus checks or small business owners start receiving tens of thousands of dollars of rescue money?

Will they finally wake up and realize government isn’t the enemy, despite four decades of self-serving GOP rhetoric dedicated to drowning it in a bathtub? Will they finally remove political blinders and realize an ideology devoted to personal wealth and greed has hoodwinked them and taken away countless opportunities?

by Andy Brack · 04/13/2020 · 2 comments · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: New normal involves shared sacrifice for common good

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | For the record, I didn’t like the old normal. Too much of substandard education, social injustice, unbalanced tax structure and vitriolic politics.

You can imagine what I think of this new normal, coronavirus. I dislike it more. People scared. Toilet paper hoarded. Businesses cratering. Politics, well that’s still vitriolic.

But let’s try to look for a silver lining.

by Andy Brack · 03/23/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

NEW for 3/23: Stay at home; Shared sacrifice; Disaster loans

IN THIS EDITION OF CHARLESTON CURRENTS
TODAY’S FOCUS: Leaders say to stay home, stay distanced, stay safe
COMMENTARY, Brack: New normal involves shared sacrifice for common good
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Titan Termite & Pest Control
NEWS BRIEFS: Small businesses can apply for disaster loans for working capital
FEEDBACK: Hooray for South Carolina
MYSTERY PHOTO: Outdoor room with a view
CALENDAR: Take a look at some virtual events

by Charleston Currents · 03/23/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Full issue

FOCUS, Palm: Whistleblowers, inspectors general and the common good

By Fred Palm, contributing editor | The role of a government inspector general is much in the news lately. The position has evolved from military tradition to ensure that government-funded entities use taxpayer money in careful, frugal and legal manners. We don’t want, for example, our hard-earned tax dollars wasted, ripped-off, squandered, thieved or frauded.

The inspector general was first used here during our Revolutionary War. General George Washington smartly recognized that his militia leaders and those that reported to them sometimes distorted, exaggerated and plain lied about their fitness and capabilities.

Washington appointed an inspector general modeling a practice of the Prussian Army, then the world’s elite war-fighting army. Back then, one of the practices of the Prussian Army was to require field inspections for war-fighting fitness to be conducted by knowledgeable staff who were independent and outside the reporting chain of command. They were intentionally free from the obligation to follow orders.

Washington and his command staff used an inspector general to provide a potential pathway for the truth. The obligation of Washington’s inspectional forces was to objectively determine capability and to accurately report on the conditions …

by Fred Palm · 10/07/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Common Good, Focus, Good news

BRACK: Thank you, Fritz Hollings

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | No one in modern time has given as much to South Carolina as Fritz Hollings. In seven decades of public service – starting as a young officer in World War II to becoming governor to being elected seven times to the United States Senate, Hollings has given back in big ways.

Most recently, he made news [in 2015] after he asked for his name to be taken off of a federal judicial annex in Charleston and for it to be named to honor the late U.S. District Judge Waties Waring, the courageous civil rights jurist from Charleston who paved the way for landmark school integration in the United States.

Through the years, Hollings has left a huge mark that is still paying dividends today. He’s the guy who pushed through stable funding for schools in the early 1950s and later started the technical college system, which attracts companies like BMW and Boeing. …

by Andy Brack · 04/08/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

FOCUS, Palm: Local business leaders need to step up now

By Fred Palm, contributing editor | The Lowcountry is a dysfunctional area because in many situations, the business community organizes “business councils” that serve as sounding boards and advocates for enlightened public policy for the common good to achieve a turnaround. Unfortunately, they’ve been mostly dormant and now is the time for our business leaders to step forward to contribute community service for the common good. Here is why.

The fiction that ‘growth is good’ and that ‘growth pays for itself’ is exposed in Summerville for the shams that they are. All elected politicians know them to be big lies. Only some have the courage to give voice to truth and the reality of numbers – and to come up with workable solutions.

by Fred Palm · 06/11/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Common Good, Focus, Good news

An aerial view of Pacific Mills and Olympia Mill village in Columbia. Copyrighted image courtesy the Richland Library.

4/9, full issue: On I-526; Likely friendship; Not wasting time

IN THIS ISSUE

MYSTERY PHOTO: Gold top
FOCUS: Interstate 526 completion isn’t actionable plan, but smoky scheme
COMMENTARY, Brack: S.C. friendship touted in new book isn’t all that unlikely
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Magnolia Plantation and Gardens
CAREERS, Fanning: Video on how to stop wasting time
GOOD NEWS: New education report seeks to provoke education change
FEEDBACK: Send us a letter
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Mill villages in South Carolina
CALENDAR, April 9+: Beers with dogs and books, more

by Charleston Currents · 04/09/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Full issue

MY TURN, Palm: Let’s focus on the common good

By Fred Palm, contributing columnist | The recent eighth government shutdown since 1980 provides an opportunity to consider the “common good” in America and why we need to embrace it.

After our Revolutionary War the winners set about to invent a way to govern a nation that was not available. The founders gathered in Philadelphia to specify a model of governance to provide the people with the opportunity for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” that was expressed in Declaration of Independence in the prior decade.

The common good is central in the construction of our constitutional institutions. The executive, legislative and judicial powers expressed in the Constitution of the United States are divided at the federal level and similarly divided among the three elements in the states in a federalism structure. For good measure, the “bill of rights” amendments are carved out to specify what was out of reach of governance and belonged to the people, as opposed to those holding authority.

by Charleston Currents · 02/19/2018 · 1 comment · Common Good, Views

FEEDBACK: On the common good, New Hampshire

Judy Hines: “Wonderful article [on the common good], embodying so much of what I believe is essential if we are to get out of this quagmire of partisan bickering and selfish decision-making. ” Other comments from Anne Saunders and Janet Segal, both of Charleston.

by Charleston Currents · 07/31/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Feedback