Former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford engaged in personal indiscretions. To the point, his behavior was reprehensible. He lied to his state, claiming to be taking a trip along the Appalachian trails, when he was visiting his mistress in Argentina. Shortly after the revelation, the South Carolina legislature censured him, and he had to pay the largest ethical fine in South Carolina's history.
Despite his personal failing, one should not neglect the greater good that he encouraged in his state.
He attempted to pass a statewide school choice program, which would have permitted students to enroll in any school of their choice. ABC libertarian journalist John Stossel spotlighted this courageous effort, which unfortunately failed in the state legislature. He refused the Obama administration's wasteful stimulus dollars in 2009. He also resisted pork and excessive spending, even bringing two pigs to the state legislature to mock the spend-thrift laws passed.
These reminders are not meant to minimize his personal failing, yet voters should not neglect the good which he did for his state.
If Mark Sanford was seeking higher office merely because he wanted to solidify any forgiveness for his previous peccadilloes, that would be unfortunate. However, the state of South Carolina should not settle for a liberal Democrat just because of the one-time libertine past of the fiscal conservative, limited government Republican running for the seat.
A short rundown of Sanford's Democratic opponents major views should be enough to discourage anyone from giving her a term in Washington:
On fiscal policy, she refuses to rule out higher taxes:
In the short-run, I do not support new taxes. Before we raise taxes, we need to drop the foolish idea of across-the-board cuts and use the regular Congressional process to enact measured, targeted cuts. I’m not saying that will be easy or make everyone happy, but that is Congress’ job.
"Before we raise taxes". . .as if taxes need to be raised! She outlines the non-partisan sources which expose the waste and fraud in government. As if cleaning out the waste and fraud justifies taking more from hard-working families.
Colbert Busch's statements on economic policy and green technology should also raise red flags.
I support investing in a clean-energy economy. Here in the 1st District, alternative energy provides good jobs with salaries above the national average. The market is growing—projections estimate that the wind industry alone will add an additional 20,000 jobs, $2 billion in wages and $600 billion in state and local revenue in the next two decades.
Has she already forgotten about Solyndra, the $500 million boondoggle which cost taxpayers because of faulty, perhaps fraudulent, loan guarantees to a California solar panel company that went bust in 2011? The Obama administration floated taxpayer-backed loans to nineteen green tech companies. Clean energy investments will only clean out the taxpayer and will not clean out the waste and fraud which Colbert-Busch claims to care about.
The debate in Washington has been just as frustrating because too often it’s just about politics. Everyone is either all for the Affordable Care Act or all against it.
It’s time to be practical and not political. I believe there are good and bad provisions in the new law and that more needs to be done. I will work with patients, providers, hospitals and businesses in the 1st District to implement what works and fix what doesn’t.
The law needs to be repealed. Even members of her own party have called the law "train wreck." Despite the Supreme Court ruling in 2012, the law faces new, "taxing" legal challenges.
Mark Sanford has a record of cutting costs and cutting spending. Looking past his personal failings, South Carolina voters in the first Congressional District should not fail to elect Sanford to Congress, and prevent one more rubber-stamp vote for President Obama's liberal agenda from advancing any further.
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