Governor’s words about hunting Dems reek of earlier injurious time in American life | Opinion
No joke
Governor McMaster said recently, “I look forward to the day that Democrats are so rare, we have to hunt them with dogs.” Do you know who else gets hunted down like dogs? People about to be lynched.
When the leader in our state — a man elected to serve ALL of his constituents — thinks this is okay, we are in deep trouble. His office claims this was a joke, but I fear it reveals something far more insidious.
These words are reminiscent of a plantation owner’s — when enslaved workers dared to rebel. They reek of supremacy, of dehumanizing those with differing values. They are primitive and dangerous. And they came from our governor.
We no longer live in the 1800s, Gov. McMaster. Your statement gave us a glimpse into your heart, and it worries me.
Carla Damron, Columbia
Saving lives?
Gov. McMaster, I’m sure you’re feeling very noble and good about signing into law the six-week fetal heartbeat abortion ban and therefore “saving the lives of unborn children immediately.”
Now please share with the people of South Carolina how you’re planning to sign into law legislation that will save the lives of children in our schools, churches and public places whose beating hearts can so easily be stopped by gun violence.
Suzanne Morgan Wilkins, Lexington
Bad legislating
Listen to women. The abortion ban proposed by our male legislators will close clinics and cause desperation and death, preventing many otherwise healthy women from having a future of planned pregnancies and happy children.
Harry Spratlin, Columbia
Inspection law needed
I enjoyed Brian Tolley’s article on changing a law in The State on May 21.
It has been said that our legislators will not take up the discussion of a revised law on annual vehicle inspections.
Every day we see on TV or read about a story in the news concerning a vehicle wreck or crash when people were injured or killed.
Every day my wife and I see vehicles that have no business being on South Carolina roads. Lights that are not working on vehicles, bald tires, no front-end bumpers.
Can an investigative report on the lack of a state law dealing with vehicle inspections help in changing the attitudes of the public and the legislators make a difference?
Certainly, the previous law was flawed, but those flaws could be addressed in writing a new law that would have a chance of passing.
Ed Cerny, Elgin
Confusion reigns
I am so confused by the Republican Party. They believe in the sanctity of life and that is why they support the ban on abortion.
They say they are “pro-life” when it appears to me that they are “pro-fetal life.”
The GOP blocks any legislation that ensures equality for all God’s children. They will not take a “pro-life” stand on gun control because the gun lobby is funding their campaigns.
Now they are trying to reinvent the First Amendment, legislating what we can read because they do not want the American people to think for themselves.
C. S. Lewis taught that the triumph of evil depends entirely on disguise. They are hiding their agenda by saying they are protecting parents’ rights. I am a parent and my rights are being ignored — my right to free speech, thought and reading and writing.
They are hoping we will not realize what they are doing is propaganda similar to what Hitler did in Germany, spreading lies and rhetoric until it becomes believable.
Ann Swindler, Columbia
What’s happening?
Today’s news makes me wonder if an alternate universe is being scripted somewhere.
The words expressed do not appear anchored in fact or reality.
For example, the twice impeached and indicted former president is running again for the White House. He says he wants to “terminate” our Constitution, giving him almost dictatorial power. Also, he has promised a pardon for convicted Jan. 6 insurrectionists.
And now, the Florida governor is positioning himself to be more extreme than the others. The evidence is clear. He is fighting with Disney, the No. 1 tourist destination in his state, while the legislature there is doing his work by passing laws restricting personal freedoms of Floridians.
Our former governor is running to be a compromise candidate although many believe she is simply running for the vice-presidential nomination.
South Carolina’s junior senator is running for president with little evidence he can do anything but take votes away from other candidates of his party.
The South Carolina legislature has joined several other red states in restricting the reproductive rights of women and their families. Call it abortion rights, but in reality, it’s about women’s health care.
Earlier in the year, our state approved open carry of weapons without training or permitting. Gosh knows where that will lead.
In many states, legislatures are attacking our LBGTQ+ neighbors and friends by threatening to pass laws restricting their human rights.
An advocacy group “Moms for Liberty” is traveling across our country seeking to ban books that they say shouldn’t be read to or by our young students.
“Thoughts and prayers” for the USA!
Jim Palmer, Clemson
