By Phil Noble, special to Statehouse Report | When I was born, my father was a Presbyterian minister in the Upstate.
A few years later, he took a new church and moved us all to Alabama. It was there at a very young age I learned the most important lesson of my life.
As a man of God with a civic conscience, Dad believed he was called to be a voice for civil rights and human dignity. In the beginning, I didn’t know that he realized what it would cost him.
Every morning, before taking me to school, he’d open the hood of the car to check for explosives. At night, he and my mom slept with a loaded shotgun under the bed.
Once, when I became aware this was not normal, I asked him if we should be worried about bad people hurting us.
In his most reassuring voice, he said, “Phil, it’s not the bad people we need to fear. It’s the good people who know something is wrong and do nothing to make it right.”
I am running for governor because I believe our state government is so mired in corruption, one-party politics and dark money that it cannot do what is right by our people.
- We have the worst schools in the country and no plan to reform education.
- We have highways and bridges that are crumbling and no plan to rebuild them.
- We have good, hardworking people in need of health care but refuse to give them access to it even though it would cost the state nothing.
- We have children in our schools and people in Bible classes being shot and our state leaders have done nothing doing to prevent exactly the same tragedies from repeating themselves.
- Our utility industry and those responsible for overseeing it have been completely corrupted and our state government has failed to hold anyone accountable or protect South Carolinians who will have to foot a bill of $7,000 per family.
Our state government is desperately in need of radical reform from the bottom up…and I believe the Democratic Party is the best and only chance to make that happen.
The problem with the Democrats is that we have drifted away from our core values. We know what has to be done but lack the political will and courage to do it. We have been compromised, bought off or convinced that our best chance to lead lies in being more like Republicans.
Incumbent Democrats have even colluded with Republicans to gerrymander congressional and legislative districts in ways that assure Republicans of a permanent, majority status.
This year, Democrats have a very real opportunity to change the course of this state and, not just fix problems in state government, but become a driving force for reform that will transform it.
Unlike my opponents, I am not an incumbent legislator who can call on his network of lobbyists and special interest for campaign donations, or a wealthy corporate attorney who can write a gigantic check to her campaign.
However, I do have voice, and a lifetime of working to make this a better state.
This fall, South Carolinians have the chance to set a new course, and Democrats have the chance to take us there. With your help,
Dr. Gloria Tinubu and I will help our party re-discover the values that once made it great and guide South Carolina into the future it deserves.
It is never too late to do what we know is right.
Phil Noble is a business and technology consultant from Charleston who has founded three statewide nonprofit initiatives. Learn more: https://philnoble2018.com/
EDITOR’S NOTE: Through June 12, Statehouse Report is running opinion pieces by gubernatorial candidates with primary challengers. Five Republicans and three Democratic candidates for governor have been invited to submit messages they want to share with voters.
Recent candidate contributors
- GOP, McGill: South Carolina is worth fighting for (April 19)
- GOP, Templeton: “The called me the ‘Buzzsaw’” (May 3)
- GOP, Warren: “We deserve better from our leaders” (May 10)
- DEM, Willis: People run for office for lots of reasons (May 16)
- Have a comment? Send it to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!