SC legislators need to work together to create bipartisan, climate-smart policies

Climate-smart policies

Republicans in Congress have shown strength over the years when it comes to advancing bipartisan climate-smart policies that prioritize conservation and economic success. Bills such as the Trillion Trees Act, which was co-sponsored by Congressman Joe Wilson last Congress and anticipated to be reintroduced this year, is one example.

The original legislation offers a natural solution to the harmful greenhouse gas emissions into our atmosphere that threaten environmental sustainability and global health. By planting a trillion trees, it is estimated that America could offset nearly two-thirds of all man-made carbon since the industrial revolution. It also offers a comprehensive plan for the restoration and management of our forests to ensure they are resilient and have long-term health. This could help stimulate the economy by investing in rural communities, and creating new jobs for forest restoration and conservation at a time when we need fiscal growth the most. This policy is a common-sense solution for reducing carbon emissions.

I urge South Carolina Republicans to support climate-friendly, pro-growth solutions as they are reintroduced in Congress. The only way we can truly build a more sustainable, stronger future is through bipartisan work.

Wylie Shaw, Moore

Medicaid

Too many Republican politicians are refusing to help the poor citizens of our state because they are stuck in a regressive, centuries-old way of thinking about tax revenues. This was recently encapsulated when S.C. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said, regarding Republican opposition to expanding Medicaid enrollments in our state: “I’ve got a real philosophical problem with giving free stuff to able-bodied adults.”

Massey’s words could’ve come from sixteenth-century religious reformer John Calvin, who was instrumental in creating what has been called the Protestant work ethic. Unfortunately, that concept has been perverted to divide society broadly into “hard-working Americans” vs. an “underclass of loafers and welfare cheaters.”

Viewing Medicaid expansion as simply a ruse to trick our state government into accepting burdensome medical expenditures further down the line is linear, narrow-minded thinking on their part. What they should consider is the improved health and well-being of many South Carolinians, plus the beneficial flow of federal dollars into our state’s rural hospitals.

What they fail to grasp is that governmental taxes to support public health, infrastructure and education projects are not dead-end expenditures, but rather wise investments in the future of our society as a whole.

Ed Aylward, Columbia

Cancel culture

I read with interest your article about our great statesman, John C. Calhoun. A swell of pride grew in my chest, as I recalled what a forward-thinking man that Calhoun was, and how he nobly served his nation and South Carolina. However, I cannot wrap my mind around the act of removing his statue in Charleston. You say that he was a proponent of slavery; he was.

We cannot place 2021 thinking into the vein of life in the 1800s. Removing the reminders of our Confederate past and those of our great statesmen only contributes to the ignorance and the waste of cancel culture.

Vivian Leese, West Columbia

USPS

The recent in-depth article (3-21) concerning USPS was helpful in understanding this complex government service and why the officious Postmaster Louis DeJoy has a position locked in place. The drastic actions taken during his tenure under the guise of improvement in efficiency is always needed in any government department, but his actions were suspect in their severity and concurrence with the upcoming national election. Despite the constraints placed upon them, our USPS performed perfectly, and all mail-in ballots were delivered on time.

There seems to be a transition toward privatization in our country which is segueing into our public school system, as witnessed by the proliferation of private schools, so we fear for our postal system.

In my long ago Civics class, I learned that the U.S. Postal System was established by the Founding Fathers, with Benjamin Franklin as the first Postmaster General, as a service to the people and not a source of revenue for the government.

Maxine Dexter, Aiken