The Problem of Virginia and The Political Map of South Carolina: A Legislative Picture

In an article dated February 16th in The Roanoke Times, Bob Gibson reported that, “ Virginia’s General Assembly session is hurtling …  to make up for lost time and pass bills rarely allowed out of committees in recent years.” To advance the Democratic majority, Governor Northam and the General Assembly are pushing through bills to remove Lee-Jackson Day and replace it with Election Day and bills that give the right to local authorities to remove or alter Confederate monuments as they see fit.

In a state whose attempts to replace and remove monuments coincide with attempts to increase voter turnout while simultaneously bypassing voter protections in the electoral college, South Carolinians should see their own dark shadow. While Virginia voters in five national polls support Confederate monuments, the second highest number of which are in their state, they are losing them at the hands of legislators who no longer represent their interests.

To take the assertion further, the same legislators who promised Virginians their sanctuary cities have ignored the interests of the same Virginians who polled more favorably for Confederate monuments than they did for second amendment rights. As a poll by the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University indicates, while 86 percent of Virginians favor stricter background control checks and 73 percent favor “red flag” laws, 51 percent of the same group oppose giving local authorities the rights to alter or remove Confederate monuments. Five more polls by NPR, Reuters, Morning Consult (Politico voters), Quinnipiac, Huffpost, and Public Policy Polling attest that the majority of voters do not favor Confederate monument removal by at least twenty percentage points in most cases.

These polls reveal that monuments are the top priority, even across ideological and political lines. However, these constituents are losing their voices in Virginia and discovering that legislation to remove monuments dovetails with ‘bipartisan action’ to curtail second amendment and pro-life rights. But where Virginia has joined northeastern trends that privilege federal over state and constituent interests, South Carolina can be an oppositional, reactionary model.

In a recent scoring conducted by the Republican Liberty Caucus (RLC), eight South Carolina legislators received perfect scores for their legislative records. The RLC scored participants based on their votes to advance, “ the principles of individual rights, limited government, and free markets.” Legislators were particularly scored on their attendance for the legislature’s top ten key votes.

Of the eight legislators who received perfect scores, six also voted to keep Confederate monuments in place, while another legislator (Ashley Tranham) filled the position of a legislator in the district that also voted to protect monuments. Of these eight, four ran specifically on monument preservation platforms and overwhelmingly won in their respective districts. These included Representative Bill Chumley of District 35, Representative Josiah Magnuson of District 38, and Representative Steven Long of District 37. Representative Mike Burns, who scored a 90 on the scorecard, not only voted to protect southern monuments but also wrote an editorial in USA Today supporting a measured defense of these monuments and the importance of allowing South Carolina constituents the right to make these decisions in coordination with the legislative process.

Additionally, Representative Bill Chumley has since sponsored not only a bill that seeks to honor African American Confederates, but along with Josiah Magnuson, Steven Long, and many of the other legislators sponsored, in my opinion, the most pro-life legislative bill in the country, the SC Fetal Heartbeat Protection from Abortion Act, which bans almost all abortions in the state.

Legislators who support monument preservation and defense have also consistently protected second amendment rights, educational choice, protections against constituent tax-hikes in favor of certain businesses and corporations, and pro-life legislation. Ultimately, those who delivered on their promises to protect monuments consistently support additional legislation for which their constituents voted them into office. They not only deliver on one promise, but also have the highest records for attendance, voting consistency, and follow through on the promises they make to their constituents.

Conversely, those legislators who voted against monument protections in the state have also voted inconsistently on second amendment rights, pro-life legislation, and tax breaks for corporations at the expense of constituents. In a South Carolina House whose average score is 48/100 on the RLC scorecards, we would do well to support representatives Bill Chumley and others like him who prioritize the needs of their constituents above their own political expediency.

 

Kathleen Hines received her doctorate in Renaissance Literature from Southern Methodist University. Among her interests are portrayals of corporeality and disease in Renaissance poetry and drama. Outside of the academy, she has also written about women of the antebellum South and the politics of Christianity in the Middle East. 

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