Saturday March 27, 2010 at 6:30pm at 206 Marsh Point Road, Seabrook, SC

I rode to DC with my constituents because I believe our federal government has embarked upon a course of action that is deforming the relationship between Americans and their government.

There is hope; no need to throw in the towel just yet. As Adam Smith said, “there is a lot of ruin in a nation,” and a country has to travel long and hard in the wrong direction before the damage becomes irreversible. But too many people fail to even realize we have taken a wrong turn.

Our elected officials have failed us, and there’s plenty of blame to go around. I am angry not just with the current administration and governing parties in Congress, but also with Republican leaders who have in recent years voted for massive new entitlements. That said, however, the Obama Administration has certainly stomped on the accelerator.

If you share my concerns, or if you simply like participating in lively political debates, I invite you to become a “friend” of my Facebook page, where I periodically post stories of interest (well, at least of interest to me!). You can also follow me on Twitter.

Tom

By Tom Davis

There will be a march in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 12 to protest recent federal government actions — runaway spending, unsustainable borrowing, trillions of dollars in debt being passed on to future generations, attempts to nationalize health care and enact a ruinous cap-and-trade bill, the bailouts — and I will participate alongside thousands of other South Carolinians.

America’s tradition should always be one of expanding individual liberty, but in recent years, we have seen our federal government veer dramatically from the principles on which it — and this nation — was founded. And what we have seen in the past 200 days has been shocking. Our elected leaders seem hell-bent on deforming the relationship between the citizen and the state.

I’m glad to see senators and congressmen so shaken by the raw town-hall meetings held in recent days to debate the proposal to nationalize health care (one-sixth of our nation’s economy). These politicians are not used to dealing with outraged individuals who have finally had enough, and their education on how far the policies now being pushed in Washington have drifted from the American mainstream is long overdue.

The politicians in Washington tell us this anger is not genuine, that it is being whipped up by special interest groups. They’re wrong. I know that they’re wrong because I hear that anger at the community forums I regularly hold in Beaufort County. Folks from all over our county — from Hilton Head Island to Bluffton, from Port Royal to Beaufort to Fripp Island — are furious. They realize something that makes America unique in the world is being lost.

Actually, it’s those politicians who are beholden to the special interest groups. They have the usual suspects on board — the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the American Hospital Association, America’s Health Insurance Plans and the AARP, which is leaning toward an endorsement. But what they don’t have are the people those groups say they represent.

Look at the AARP. It has kind words for a health care plan that would cut several hundred billion dollars over 10 years from Medicare, even though that plan is opposed by seniors more than any other age group. My constituents in Sun City, who speak eloquently and intelligently against the plan, are a far more authentic voice for seniors than the leadership of the AARP busy selling them out.

And as members of Congress are discovering during their recess, cutting deals with the special interest groups’ lobbyists to cram nationalized health care down the throats of Americans will not be enough — not when they’re facing a genuine grassroots revolt by people who are being ignored by everyone who is supposed to be representing them.

The populism we are now witnessing has long been part of American politics. And while liberal intellectuals preach the virtues of populism when their leaders direct it against “the malefactors of great wealth,” they cry foul when it is turned against the aggrandizing of federal power.

The stakes now are very high, and Mark Steyn puts it well: “When governments annex a huge chunk of the economy, they also annex a huge chunk of individual liberty. You fundamentally change the relationship between the citizen and the state into something closer to that of junkie and pusher — and you make it very difficult ever to change back. Americans face a choice: They can rediscover the animating principles of the American idea — of limited government, a self-reliant citizenry and the opportunities to exploit your talents to the fullest — or they can join most of the rest of the Western world in terminal decline. To rekindle the spark of liberty once it dies is very difficult.”

Those of us heading to Washington, D.C., on Sept. 12 seek to remind our elected federal officials of those “animating principles of the American idea.” Of course, they might well decide to continue “annexing all the responsibilities of adulthood” (Steyn again). But if they do, the flames of the conservative populist revolt will burn even brighter, and there will be hell to pay come election time.

Tom Davis is the South Carolina state senator for Beaufort County.

Media Contact
Sherri Zedd
District Director – Senator Tom Davis
843-252-8583
sherri@senatortomdavis.com

Statement by Tom Davis re: Governor Mark Sanford

Over the past two weeks, South Carolinians have been disappointed, angry and embarrassed by the actions of Gov. Mark Sanford. I share these emotions. We cannot control the unfortunate circumstances that got us to this place, but we can and must control how we now move past them.

I have been Gov. Sanford’s friend for 30 years and the First Lady’s friend during their 20 years of marriage. God willing, we will remain friends for the next 30 years. I have not hidden my concern for Gov. Sanford and the First Lady or my support for them as they try to move forward together.

This is why as a friend, I asked Gov. Sanford on several occasions to consider resigning for the sake of his marriage and his family.

Gov. Sanford told me that discharging the duties of his office would not prevent him from working on that reconciliation, and the First Lady told me the same thing. I am not going to second-guess them in that personal matter.

As a state senator with responsibilities to my constituents, I met yesterday with SLED Chief Reggie Lloyd and Attorney General Henry McMaster to determine whether Gov. Sanford had violated any statutory or constitutional obligations. Both have assured me that Gov. Sanford did not break any laws and that he did not spend public dollars in this process.

Accordingly, unless any new facts are disclosed, I think it is time for me and other public officials to get back to work on the serious challenges facing our state.

That said, and as Gov. Sanford knows, he has no margin for further error in this particular matter. South Carolina simply cannot afford any additional embarrassment.

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Statement by Tom Davis re: Governor Mark Sanford

I came to Columbia today because I have a responsibility to the taxpayers of Beaufort County and the people of South Carolina. Obviously I have tremendous concern for my friends, Mark and Jenny Sanford and their family, but I also have a job to do as an elected official.

Before any important decision I make comes due diligence, and I owe it to my constituents to perform that due diligence before taking a public position on an issue as important as whether to call for the resignation of a duly-elected statewide official.

Accordingly, I have met today with the governor and members of his staff; I have had telephone conversations with my friend, Jenny Sanford; I have talked with the governor’s legislative supporters and opponents; and I have talked with key reform leaders who have been fighting for the issues I believe in – fiscal responsibility, limited government, market principles and individual liberty.

I am also planning on speaking today with Attorney General Henry McMaster and SLED Chief Reggie Lloyd, and am I particularly interested in learning the outcome of SLED’s review as to whether the governor has ever illegally used any state funds. I am told that review will be completed by tomorrow.

Again, this is a critical decision for the State of South Carolina and I want to rely on firsthand conversations, not media reports, rumors, political pressure or speculation.

Based on these conversations, I expect to form my official position very shortly. But I can assure you that whatever official position I ultimately reach will be one that I truly believe to be in the best interests of the people of Beaufort County in particular and the state of South Carolina in general.

In the meantime, I would encourage all South Carolinians to keep the Sanfords in their thoughts and prayers.

MEDIA CONTACT
Sherri Zedd
843.252.8583
sherri@senatortomdavis.com