Letters to the Editor
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Rationality does not exist in SC politics
It's all about grand-standing, culture wars, and heck, sheer entertainment.
I've covered South Carolina politics, and it's berserko even on the local level. I don't know if it's something in the water, a talent for crazy time passed down through the generations or if churches there radiate something that blasts your brain cells. People there don't use rationality to vote. They vote for Billy Bob because he's "a character," not because the guy might actually have ideas about public policy.
I'm from North Carolina, and the cultural chasm between the two Carolinas could not be greater. North Carolina was the last to secede during the Civil War and wound up losing the most people in battle. Yet somehow we moved on and became a state with booming industries and cultural diversity (in some pockets: The Triangle, Asheville). South Carolina was the first to secede and did not lose nearly as many people as NC did. Yet somehow they still hang a Confederate flag on their capitol building, have a gigantic chip on their shoulder about the war and became the home of Jim and Tammy Faye Baker.