I noticed something the other day that really rubbed me the wrong way.
It was 3:45 AM and I was driving to work on Rivers Avenue in North Charleston, and there in front of my eyes was Jim Clyburn.
On a giant billboard, there he was, looking smarmy and insincere, with a reminder of the date of Election Day for his supporters not quite smart enough to know when it is, including the day of the week. Seriously. They honestly think the voting public is stupid and has to be hand-held & coached by telling them the day of the week and the date to go vote.
My biggest problem: Rivers Avenue is not in Clyburn's district. Clyburn claims to represent South Carolina's Sixth District (when he's not getting his daughter a cushy job at the FCC, or kissing the asses of Obama, Reid, and Pelosi, or crying racism) and yet here he is with giant billboards on Rivers Avenue, Ashley Phospate Road, and on Highway 17 near Red Top, none of which are in his district. These are in District One, soon to be won by Tim Scott, I might add.
I did see one billboard on Highway 17-A in Round-O, which is in Six, but barely.
You see, the location of these billboards reveals not only a strategy but also a sad fact: In order to reach his constituency, he has to place his ads outside his district because the vast number of his constituents in my local area have to leave the district every day for work. We commute to Summerville, North Charleston, Goose Creek, and Charleston proper. The economy in Six is shot and there are no jobs available, so people drive an hour or more to find work. So put the ads on those main roads in greater Charleston to catch them either going to work or driving home.
That's balls. What audacity.
Hey, Clyburn. I live in District Six, in Walterboro, a city of 6,000 people with an unemployment rate somewhere near 15% or so. I get up at 2:30 am and drive 50 miles to the Charleston waterfront for work. I put 500 miles a week on my car. To get a job above minimum wage, people have to leave town. The industrial park by the airport? Nearly empty. Manufacturers are shut down, doors are shuttered, warehouses are bare, and folks are out of work. The city is a free-fire zone fueled by gang violence. We're now a convenient place to dump bodies after murders. And what the hell have you done for the good people of District Six? You spend all your time living the high life in Washington surrounded by your cronies, and being someone's crony. You know damned well that to reach those people who have jobs you have to advertise out of your district and that sickens me.
Three weeks hence, my vote will be for Jim Pratt. I hope you enjoy meeting all your former constituents on the unemployment line when you go looking for the benefits you think you're entitled to.
You're preaching to the choir. I had to make the same drive for a while, and I got lucky enough to transfer to a hospital ten minutes from my home recently.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the frequently call you off for low census. Frustrating.
In my city, we had two vibrant paper mills. One is closed and the other is a shadow of it's former self. My grandpa worked there his whole life.
All the manufacturing is gone. The biggest building we have downtown now is the govt center and the county jail.