OPINION

Rain pelted the white vinyl top of the tent pitched in Canon Park in downtown Charleston on Thursday, April 2. Beneath it over 150 people waited for the speeches to begin. The former site of Charleston’s museum was saturated with three days of precipitation. Latecomers were picking through the puddles. A battery of news cameras were perched above people’s heads on a platform at the back. An empty podium stood at the front between State and US flags, their poles tied to the tent top so they wouldn’t topple into the mud.  Upbeat music played. It was the same type of good time, 70s and 80s retro that politicians from Obama to McCain select to pump up the crowd.

If you listen carefully you can get past the impression that you’re in some sort of step aerobics class for people in suits and figure out if you’re at a “red” or “blue” event. Red events play more country music, not George Jones, but the new kind without the “twang” that shows up on ipods and SUV entertainment systems. Blue events can be sorted out by the occasional appearance of John Cougar Mellencamp’s “this is our country.”  Both sides may use “Born in the USA.” The Republicans use the chorus. The Democrats listen to the words between.  Nobody goes to extremes, even in the presence of the faithful.  You won’t hear “Where Have all the Flowers Gone?” or “Proud to be an American.”

The musical references to people who sweat at their jobs indicated the gathering under the tent was a “blue” event.  Linda Ketner, was beginning her primary campaign for the Democratic nomination for Congress for SC’s first Congressional District. She has an opponent for the nomination, Ben Frasier.  Incumbent Henry Brown, has two challengers for the Republican nomination Katherine Jenerette or Paul V. Norris.

The First District has the opportunity to demand a vigorous, competitive campaign between the people who would represent us in Washington.  In this time of “change” and economic trouble, we should make sure there is a real campaign test between all the candidates.  We could simply reelect the Republican incumbent, but that makes no more sense than selling something cheap. The person representing our part of the Lowcountry for the next two years will work harder, longer and smarter if they have to fight for the job.

Where did the people crowded under the tent come from?  At one time Democratic challengers and their support game from our microscopic progressive underground. But this crowd was too large and too young for that.

After the endorsement speeches started, the origin of all this money and muscle was clear. The decision to defund art, culture and community made during the Regan years at National and State levels had forced development of a massive, local non profit sector.  What were tiny startups on kitchen tables with handwritten mailing lists in 1985 are large, endowed programs today. They have staffs, computer networks, file rooms full of information and money in the bank. Grantsmanship, public relations, networking and fundraising are their daily business. Many are up against a rising flood of human need, for the necessities of food and shelter. (Ketner once ran crisis ministries and the post Hugo relief fund.) Others are working to make sure something more than mere survival is available in the Lowcountry, education, culture and environmental protection.

Twenty five years after the rounds of budget cuts began, the Lowcountry’s left has learned to keep books, tell a story, say the Pledge of Allegiance, acknowledge they go to church and build a connected community of activists.  The Republicans created this not by giving them money, but by taking it away.

Everyone who spoke was clear that they weren’t there representing the non profit groups they worked for. They expect to be watched, taped and audited. They were off the clock, taking advantage of a soggy early lunch or flex time to get in a few moments as public citizens. Their friends from the private sector were with them, the small businesses who donate and sponsor events and the people who want to make a difference when they’re not working. With them were newcomers who brought a hope for change with them when they moved here. Wired into a national progressive universe and each other by the Internet, they’re a new thing.  They may not be able to beat the local Republican political axis, but they can certainly make it work to hold on to power.

The best way to get rid of these people would be to pass out a lot of government money with no strings attached so their organizations and networks get flabby and self indulgent. It’s not likely Conservatives are daring enough to adopt that strategy, so they’ll face a lean, muscled opposition instead.

The responses to letters I’ve sent Henry Brown promise say it’s not his problem.  It may be true that he has no influence over the decision of where to put a US Postal Service drop box, however Mendel Rivers, Fritz Hollings and Strom Thurmond didn’t send me letters like his.  I’m informed Brown’s letters to Veterans are likewise discouraging.

Ketner’s opened a campaign headquarters on Johnnie Dodds Blvd. in the middle of Republican Mt. Pleasant.  Henry Brown’s website is online now.

We can make Brown, Ketner and the other candidates work for the job so we’ll get a congressperson who understands they need to work for us. The stimulus program expenditures needed to keep us out of a depression and rebuild our national infrastructure will result in the distribution of hundreds of billions of federal dollars between 2009 and 2011.  A congressman who has sweated through an election and believes they’ll need to sweat through the next one will do a better job bringing those dollars home. If they’re not working hard and smart, those dollars will go stimulate somewhere else.

Future industry, employment and investment will be going to the places with new schools, sustainable transportation infrastructure and higher qualities of life. When we emerge from this harrowing transition, we may be committed to an economic trajectory based on what our congressperson accomplishes in the next two years.

East Cooper can force a competitive campaign on all concerned. We need to invite whoever will come to speak to our civic groups and introduce them to our neighbors, even if their opponents don’t want to show up. Before the primary, each party has multiple candidates to appear. In an area as hard to campaign in as spread out, deurbanized East of the Cooper, it takes local help to make campaigns operate on the ground.  We need to open opportunities for our candidates to talk to us and then give them something to talk about. We need to check websites and ask hard questions.  If you didn’t like the answer you got to the last letter you sent to your congressman, get it out again and try it on all the candidates.

A fast, competitive world will emerge from the current economic contraction. The Lowcountry can’t rely on hoping nothing will change to protect us. We can’t pretend that money doesn’t matter. Real jobs do not pay six dollars an hour.  When the flag drops after the globalized shakeout, it will be the areas which spent a lot of time building big engines in the garage that will pull out front. These engines are going to have to run on renewable resources and information. We can’t afford to let this congressional election go by without forcing a competitive campaign where blue and red both have to work up a sweat and show some smarts.

(William Hamilton can be reached on his website at www.wjhamilton.com. He is an attorney who lives and walks to his practice in I’On Village. See more columns at www.moultrienews.com.)

Title:


Comment:


Your Name: (optional - shown on website)

Enter text seen above:

---