Column: Voting is important and elections have consequences

Feb. 24—Well, today's the big day. South Carolina is holding its Republican presidential primary, and all eyes are on the Palmetto State.

I guess it's time to address the elephant in the room: Who are you voting for?

I once heard the late Carl Langley, a wise and veteran journalist, say there are three things you don't discuss in polite company: religion, politics and college football.

The irony is that he told this to Phil Lader, who was running for governor many moons ago. I recall that got a chuckle from Lader, who ultimately didn't win that race but later served as U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

But I digress. In the weeks leading up to today's primary, I've had several interesting conversations about the Donald Trump vs. Nikki Haley race.

The former president is ahead in the polls, and there is speculation about how much longer Haley can hang on if she can't win in her home state.

I also was curious about how many of South Carolina's GOP establishment support Trump and not Haley. This includes the two U.S. senators, five of the seven U.S. representatives, the governor and many others in the Republican hierarchy. A number of our local lawmakers also favor Trump over Haley.

"If that's the kind of people Trump wants to surround himself with, he can have them," Haley quipped to a big crowd at USC Aiken earlier this month. "I don't want them. That's not who I'm fighting for at the end of the day."

Suffice it to say that Haley didn't make a lot of friends during her time as governor, with the knock being that she was more about herself than her fellow Republicans in the state legislature.

I guess it's ironic that Trump tabbed Haley to be the ambassador to the United Nations, and now they are opponents. But that's politics, I guess.

The Haley camp has been touting that she is the only person who can take down Biden in November. The thinking is that some Democrats and independents would cross party lines to support her, something they are unlikely to do for Trump.

Back in the real world, I was with a group of friends recently and the talk shifted to politics. One of our party, a small business owner, made clear his position.

"Who would you rather have run your business," he asked. "Donald Trump or Joe Biden?"

The group overall was no fan of Trump, but acknowledged that he was probably the better choice to run a business.

And that's kind of what it boils down to for a lot of people: How will it affect me, my business or my pocketbook?

One of my colleagues and I discussed the race, and agreed it comes down to the economy. Many people are concerned about Trump's legal problems and bombastic style, but at the end of the day they think his policies will be better than Biden's.

On Friday morning, I had an interesting conversation with a couple who own a small business that I frequent. They know I work at the paper, and they asked me what was going on around Aiken.

I told them the GOP primary was the big news, but they wanted to talk more about the Powderhouse Connector and asked about some of the buildings that are going up around Aiken. I tried to answer their questions, and explained that projects like the Powderhouse Connector have been years in the making.

They talked about some of the restaurants near their business that have failed, and I blamed COVID-19 for some of the woes. They pointed out that they would like to hire some more folks but are having trouble finding people who want to work.

"I guess the government is giving them money," the woman said.

I agreed that could be one of the reasons, and I told them there was one way to possibly change things: get out and vote.

Today's the last day South Carolina residents can have a say until November. Make it count.

Thanks for reading.