The Time has Come for Some Good Old Fashioned...Sanity

This week I am writing in amazement at how ex-legislators are avoiding prison in statehouse corruption cases. It seems as though the SC Legislature is the place where criminals go to get away with practically any and everything. To say this episode has drug on for nearly eight years suggests that all one has to do is have enough money and prestige to drag out the process and end up getting the proverbial "slap on the wrist" for what would put most ordinary citizens in jail. As well this establishes that there is a wretched relationship between legislators and judges. Or I should say conservative judges and politicians of the same persuasion.

In the case of former Senator John E. Courson, the judge was handing down sentences that seemed like she lost track of what she was doing and started playing pattycake. The punishments didn't remotely fit the crimes committed. There is something to the allegation of politicians having influence over the judges of whom they get a vote in their seating. Former Speaker Bobby Harrell received a probated sentence for what the average citizen would have been sentenced to jail. It just does not make any sense.

Right now, the legislature is being encouraged to stiffen sentences for people who commit gun crimes by the governor. Since he is also a Republican, we guess those harsher penalties do not relate to him. What a mockery these folks have made of government. They are elected to represent what appears to be just one party and let the other party be dammed. Whatever happened to the time when politicians knew they were elected to represent all people?

The time has come for some good old-fashioned manners to be introduced back into politics. Or should we use the term sanity instead of manners? Everything we are enduring from our legislative body appears to be symbolic of a legislature that has lost its way. They are floundering around, trying to find something on which to legislate. And in many instances, once they realize nothing of substance exists, they resort to testing the wind. At that point, anything that comes up suffices as an agenda. In that kind of crazy system, we guess what they like gets the most attention. We think that is why they never met a gun law they didn't like unless it suggested getting rid of assault weapons.

Every time we turn around, they try to legislate something with no legislative solution. If you were wondering how issues rise to the level of legislative review, it is left up to politicians to come up with legislative ideals. Can you imagine a politician thinking about something that would benefit all people? My friend, this is outside the realm of possible things your average politician would ever do. Their minds are so congested with things like abortions and allowing anyone who wants to carry a gun to be able to do so for anything legitimate to cross their minds. It almost makes us consider what the world would be like without a bunch of crazy politicians running around trying to steal everything available to be stolen.

We guess, in some way, all of this is pointing to the end of time, where we have been forewarned it won't be easy to make sense of anything. Even the weather will become unpredictable—mothers against daughters, fathers against sons, nation against nation. I don't have a solution, but it seems the time has come for all of us to turn back to GOD. WAKEUP!

Luke 11: 46-54 says, "Woe unto you, lawyers! For ye have taken away the key of knowledge: Ye entered not yourselves, and they that were entering in ye hindered. Woe unto you, lawyers also! For ye load men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.

Sincerely Yours,

What A Crazy State Of Affairs We Have Created.

Elder, James W. Williams

Chairperson, Advocacy Organization, Lifelineplus