Ain’t it funny how the headline always emphasizes Clyburn – backed in any win that occurs on South Carolina Democratic ground?
Not that we’re asking because many of us don’t look to Clyburn as our election guru- given that his multi decade success at retaining his seat in his district has far more ramifications than the blessings of the political gods and hardly trickles down to his state and us outside of his namesake and county…is our opinion.
But it just seems like he never minds being the preface to victory…which sort of splits the victory…you know what we mean…
Well, moving right along.
We’ve read the encomium of the new South Carolina Dem Party SCDP Chair and we’re disappointed not to be met with the early acceptance speech and pledge to perform, that typically attends these things.
After all, every contender has winning ambitions so when they fall short of the 72 hour window to show us that they were not only awaiting but anticipating the victory, by harnessing our attention with a list of immediate things to do…then we get nervous, political PTSD, the feeling that the pageantry is over and the Party will retreat to its blue print of proclamations without performances.
It’s not that a handover takeover exercise would be difficult, given that the outgoing Chair has nothing to handover after a flamboyant tenure, outdone only by his rage tweets and hard fought losses that have left the Party with less Congressional seats than ever before.
But the pageantry is the point…the first black woman….which we salute but won’t elevate over the expertise and administrative needs of the times. For us who go to the polls as civic duty, understanding that the vote is to give us improvement irrespective of how small the increment, we want to see critical changes immediately…which should have been marinating during the run up to the elections.
We’re sure the grass- root- issues oriented new Chair is aware that the SCDP State website is not only deficient but virtually defunct and doesn’t present the State Platform’s political vision for counties to follow.
And that’s not a small issue, nor is it fair for counties to just wing it and for us to just play along. State Party leadership is vital to operational success. We expect the extrapolation of the Democratic National Congress’ mission to be packaged for the State which will filter to counties.
What’s the purpose of the Party’s Executive Director ED and exactly what is directed ‘executively’? As far as we voters could see, the title was effectively worn by a radio host of select programming, in specific counties and with hand picked interviewees. The position has done exactly nothing to promote the Party as a viable alternative to the raging South Carolina Republican Party.
We’re aware that both Chair and ED are salaried positions which exist because our votes validate the Party as a political entity which qualifies it for funding under Federal and State provisions. So we’re asking because we have a stake in this thing.
And we’re not going to accept that there are more of a GOP demographic inclination and that the voting culture and racial apportionment to the polls is the dominant factor…not when we run on increasing Democrat registration in the forty six counties every election cycle and on motivating voters to get to the polls.
If we’ve been doing that for the past 20 years and we are where we are, then we need a new thing….
…which is why we were so enthusiastic about a change in Party Leadership because the obsolete blue print was recycled producing the same recycled failures in every voting cycle and at every voting level, for the past 2 decades.
For us who vote to be part of public policy, to have the government recognize our social needs and service them as the political arm, we’re tired of the Party being presented as some kind of club with a ‘king maker’.
Most of us who take our civic responsibilities seriously needed no one to tell us to vote Biden in 2020. As much as we loved Elisabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Corey Booker, we knew their political footprints were not large or deep enough to get them through the primaries and even if they’d won, they would not have fared well with political opponents in and out of Government.
We knew the comparative length of service and aggregate experience that Biden brought was our best antidote to the infection that is Trump…and needed absolutely no king or king maker to give us advice.
And this why we rebuke the media.
Just as it elevates the deficiencies and inadequacies of Trump to normalcy, it mythologizes the influence of the Congressman as some Pied Piper of us docile voters who walked like mice, to the tune of his flute, to the X against Biden.
Here we are again, another election, another king -maker crowning and we’re off to the fairy dust, pompoms and blinking lights of the stardust trail to political bluster.
The list of ‘First Ever’ …the new South Carolina passion…is to be applauded because it marks the evolution from the social pain of the days of the Dixiecrats to a modern day Democratic Party that is comparatively inclusive. And we salute these pioneers who are now at the forefront of this political progression.
But we won’t be distracted by it, won’t be diverted by it, won’t be led on an extended excursion of celebration by it because the Party is where we invest our electoral commitment for tangible civic returns.
Every year is an election year and 2023 is no different. This year is filled with election dates and we want to see plans for participation that are not the usual rhetorical sloganeering but are viable and practical in every single one.
And no, its not asking for too much of the new Team. The underpinning of successful planning is anticipation past winning; which is just the starting point to what happens when the tape is breasted. For us, the historic reference will be pertinent in retrospect, if the ensuing results are equally as significant as the ‘Firsts’.
Current challenges are escalating without the institution and application of feasible plans. Elections don’t stop to celebrate partisan victories. Voting for office is as early as May 9th 2023 in South Carolina…new Democratic Leadership notwithstanding.
We’ll say again that we are indebted to the civil rights participation of Congressman Clyburn that has made the Civil Rights Acts law but this doesn’t deify him or make him immune from criticism.
If anything, we expect him to understand the principle of turning wheels and to step away from any over shading that the media may ascribe to his mere presence.
We expect him to know that he will always be a son of the South Carolinian Democratic Party soil. He doesn’t have to cast shadow over every occurrence.
There’s many a reference to politicians who join the ranks of the over stayers…often leaving what’s left of their reputations in tatters.