Photo courtesy SHTF Blog.

Contested Primaries key to the future of South Carolina, America

March 16th is the start of the two-week filing period for South Carolina statewide and county elections. In our open primary state, candidates who want to retain their power or make a new difference file in a partisan primary for offices up for grabs across the state.

Nothing should be new, but it should be even more imperative that even more partisan primaries are contested. In South Carolina, as in most other states, the results of our November general election contests are already set in stone because those contests generally have been drawn to guarantee which party wins the seat.

This will be more accelerated in 2022 with the unpopularity of the Democrat Party, Joe Biden and elected education “leaders.” This is the opportunity for a complete reconstitution of elected officials to reflect our values in the June primaries. This takes our communities and voters paying attention to what is happening in our state and country.

SC House Speaker Jay Lucas. Photo courtesy  schousespeaker.com

In the Palmetto State, the lines are drawn to heavily favor Republicans. Yet, as Republicans hold near super majorities in the state legislature, incremental improvements in our way of life have been advanced at best over the past couple of years. Republicans even picked up seats in the senate and house in 2020, mostly no thanks to the SC Republican Party.

With these kinds of GOP margins in the legislature, the will of conservative constitutionalists should be reflected. In our state, we get half-measures.

Just in the past week, our state house gave unanimous support for income tax cuts and election reform. That every Democrat agreed to these “reforms” shows that a supermajority state house did not go nearly far enough. In the same breath, an overwhelming majority of the house, 88-27, voted to table (basically kill for this session) a measure to close primaries to include those who register with the party whom they are casting a vote. Most incumbents enjoy having crossover Democrats in the Republican Primary to re-elect them. They are “nice guys” after all.

Elected Republicans (and Democrats) should reflect their party’s platform and their beliefs at this point in time of history.

Unfortunately, the opposite is the case time and time again. Incumbents rarely face opposition in primaries and if they do, it is from a challenger who lacks the resources necessary to win. If there is an open seat without an incumbent, forces like the Chamber of Commerce or education union-types pick a favorite who faces little opposition. The interests of the powerful are represented while the majority are not.

This legislative session, Gov. McMaster and our legislature appear to be headed towards making no progress (again) on the important issues of vaccine mandates, men competing in women’s sports and countless other issues. If your Republican elected officials make no progress  – much less oppose legislation – on these issues and many others, they should have no business being re-elected and that decision should be made in the primaries. God bless “Trucker Bob” Harrison Musslewhite for challenging McMaster and taking him to task in the upcoming primary.

“Trucker Bob” Musselwhite.
Photo courtesy votetruckerbob.com.

The members of congress who defied reality and voted to impeach President Trump over the January 6th events or parroted the legacy media narrative over January 6th deserve to have strong primary challengers. That is a good thing. The reality is that these members of congress, including our own Nancy Mace and Tom Rice, should have already been challenged for their seats. Tom Rice has a terrible record of neglecting taxpayer dollars and his constituents.

In 2020, I argued that the South Carolina Republican Presidential Primary should take place. The SCGOP canceled the primary. The primary should have taken place. President Trump would have trounced the competition and built his momentum. The same goes for any primary locally. When you have the best ideas and the best results, competition is not a problem.

Gov. Henry McMaster. Photo courtesy CountOn2.

Gov. McMaster has been a do-nothing governor throughout his tenure and during COVID-19, he killed SC (mostly small) businesses. All the while, he is now proclaiming that businesses have their own autonomy to mandate whatever regulations they want on employees and customers. He supports individual liberties being trampled in the name of businesses making decisions. He doesn’t live in the real world. Yet, as has typically been the case with Republican challengers to Sen. Lindsey Graham, the list of deep-pocketed and/or influential, well-known challengers has not formulated.

Any politician, such as McMaster or recently re-nominated Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, who have been an enemy to the basic freedoms of our country, should have strong candidates knocking down the door to challenge them.

Whether it be from the leadership to the rank-and-file, elected politicians good and bad should face challenges whether it be at the ballot box or at a town hall. And there should be an electorate who cares.

Preston Baines can be reached on Twitter/GETTR @prestonbaines and prestonbaines@gmail.com.

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