STATEHOUSE REPORT | ISSUE 14.17 | APRIL 24, 2015
Today’s edition is an abbreviated edition due to travels of editor and publisher Andy Brack. We’ll be back in full force next week.
Is America still exceptional?
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher
PARIS — Walking along the River Seine flanked by grand palaces and magnificent French Empire buildings, it’s easy to think of how the French once ruled the world and captured riches galore.
Just like the sun once never set on the British Empire. Or how the Spanish conquered the Americas and enriched themselves with gold, gold, gold. Or how the Dutch discovered places never dreamed of in days long gone by.
These days, it’s clear the influence of these Europeans countries has peaked on the world stage, although they are far from inconsequential and their people generally live in societies with outstanding qualities of life.
But there’s a palpable tension here between political, historical and daily realities that causes one to pause when thinking about America and her future. Is what has happened in France, Great Britain and other former world powerhouses the future path for our country? Is the notion of American exceptionalism waning?
Interestingly enough, a Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, coined the notion that there was something special about the United States. In his Democracy in America, published in two installments after an 1830s trip across the then-expanding country, de Tocqueville noted:
“… [I]t may be believed that no democratic people will ever be placed in a similar one. Their strictly Puritanical origin, their exclusively commercial habits, even the country they inhabit, which seems to divert their minds from the pursuit of science, literature, and the arts, the proximity of Europe, which allows them to neglect these pursuits without relapsing into barbarism, a thousand special causes, of which I have only been able to point out the most important, have singularly concurred to fix the mind of the American upon purely practical objects.”
Often cited as components of American exceptionalism are the country’s vast natural resources and its revolutionary history of creating a democratic republic that still inspires freedom in people in countries across the world. American innovation and her zeal for knowledge led to great inventions and wealth. There’s a sense throughout the country that Americans have a destiny of freedom peppered with the fruits of capitalism to continue to fulfill. And then there’s the sheer firepower of the United States, which has the mightiest armed forces in the world and a big place at the tables of diplomacy as the world encounters one international crisis after another.
But with all of America’s exceptional qualities, there’s also a sense feeling for some that America’s time of preeminence is in danger of passing, perhaps to Asian tigers like China. There’s a notion now that politicians and other leaders aren’t doing enough to secure the nation’s premier place in the world. Republicans and Democrats bicker worse than ever before. They moan. They groan. They seem unable — or are just inept — to find common ground and get real things done to make differences in people’s lives, whether in Washington or Columbia.
For example, where in Washington is the bipartisan commitment to do something against the gun violence that slashes through the country on a daily basis? Where in Columbia is a vigorous team approach to do something more than talk about improving education so tomorrow’s leaders in the Palmetto State will have the intellectual framework to continue to be the innovators of the future? Why is it taking so long to get measures passed to curb domestic violence, fix roads, spur economic and business growth, and deal with endemic poverty?
These are the kinds of questions that need to be asked of national leaders as they visit South Carolina in the months ahead as they try to get you to vote for them in a presidential primary. Instead of accepting what they say in routine stump speeches, demand that they tell you in specific detail how they’ll continue to ensure that America remains exceptional — and doesn’t go the way of France, Great Britain or Spain on the world stage.
Riley Institute at Furman University
The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring Statehouse Report to you at no cost. This week’s spotlighted underwriter is The Richard W. Riley Institute of Government, Politics, and Public Leadership, a multi-faceted, non-partisan institute affiliated with the Department of Political Science at Furman University. Named for former Governor of South Carolina and United States Secretary of Education, Richard Riley, the Institute is unique in the United States in the emphasis it places on engaging students in the various arenas of politics, public policy, and public leadership.
- Learn more about the Riley Institute.
Several enjoyed Hollings column
Several readers posted comments to Facebook reacting to last week’s commentary by publisher Andy Brack that thanked retired U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings for his long years of public service and serving as a mentor to staffers through the years. Among the comments:
- “Fritz Hollings is one of the last true statesmen.”
- “Well done! All best wishes to “the father of Federal and State Coastal Zone Management in America,” among other very accomplished titles!”
- “You can be sure that as long as Sen. H. is alive, he’s also kicking! What a great history of service.”
- “Working with him … has been one of the highest high points of my career in the book publishing business.”
Send us a letter. We love hearing from our readers and encourage you to share your opinions. Letters to the editor are published weekly. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity. We generally publish all comments about South Carolina politics or policy issues, unless they are libelous or unnecessarily inflammatory. One submission is allowed per month. Submission of a comment grants permission to us to reprint. Comments are limited to 250 words or less. Please include your name and contact information. Send your letters to:feedback@statehousereport.com
Town hall, Salters, S.C.
Although never incorporated, Salters, S.C., has a town hall,” writes Kingstree, S.C., photographer Linda W. Brown. “Built around 1900 as a project of The Salters Social Club, it hosted community and club meetings and was a venue for school commencements, community plays, dances and suppers.
The social club members bought stock at $10 a share to raise money for its construction. The stock purchases raised $1,000 to build the structure in Williamsburg County, she said.
Leadership and “leadership”
Thumbs up
Post and Courier. Congratulations for winning the Pulitzer Prize. Now let’s get the legislature to pass meaningful legislation to curb the tragedy of domestic violence.
Boeing. The jet maker’s chief executive says he’d be winning to sit down and work with a union in South Carolina if workers wanted one. Hear that, South Carolina politicians who have been trying to portray unions as monsters? [Of course, the executive’s announcement is pretty convenient after the union withdrew a vote recently.] More.
Sonoco. Kudos also to the head of South Carolina’s largest home-based company for calling for an increase to the gas tax to fix state roads so that the Palmetto State remains competitive. Hmmm … seems like a trend here — corporate America calling for reasonable solutions when politicians can’t get to them. More.
In the middle
Body cameras. We know politicians are hellbent on getting a body camera bill passed this year to assure the public that police will be watched — as well as people intercepted by police — but technology isn’t going to solve problems that many South Carolinians have with excess force. Only building bridges in communities will do that.
Tempting fate? It’s good news to hear that forecasters are predicting no hurricanes to make landfall on the East or Gulf coasts this summer, but it feels awfully eerie — as if they’re tempting fate. More.
Thumbs down
Putnam. A bill introduced by novice Rep. Josh Putnam, R-Piedmont, to provide death by firing squad as a way to pursue state-ordered executions of criminals sentenced to death sounds like the kind of political Pablum that suckles politicians wanting to make headlines, not headway. Bad idea. Makes us look like a banana republic.
4
The number of years it is going to take for a state database that already is 17 years late to be completed. South Carolina’s beleaguered state Department of Social Services is the nation’s only state child support agency without a database required by the federal government almost two decades ago. The mess has caused lawsuits, settlements and more.
Constructed between 1857 and 1859, Redcliffe was the homeplace of South Carolina Governor James Henry Hammond and three generations of his descendants. Located in western Aiken County near Beech Island, Redcliffe served as an architectural and horticultural showplace, as well as the center of domestic life for the Hammond family. By 1860 it functioned primarily as a headquarters for Hammond’s extensive cotton plantations, which were sustained by more than three hundred slaves.
Hammond worked closely with contractor William Henry Goodrich to design and build the two-story, frame mansion at Redcliffe. Transitional Greek Revival in style, the house also displays restrained Italianate elements, unusual in South Carolina. Greek Revival features include a series of rectangular frieze-band windows, exterior doors with transoms and sidelights, Doric porch columns, square, two-story paneled corner pilasters, and pedimented windows. An Italianate cupola, or observatory, once capped the mansion’s hipped roof. A spectacular center hall, fifty-three feet long and twenty feet wide, dominates the interior. Much of the interior woodwork, including doors, library shelves, banisters, and mantles, was crafted from local sycamore trees. The grounds were designed by landscape architect Louis Berckmans and include terraced hillsides. One of Redcliffe’s most dramatic features is a long avenue of southern magnolias.
In 1935, John Shaw Billings, a Hammond descendant and an editor of Time and Life magazines, purchased Redcliffe and began extensive restoration. Shortly before his death he donated the property to the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism. In 1975 Redcliffe State Historic Site was opened to the public as a house museum.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!