WHILE I BREATHE

The U.S. House of Representatives Freedom Caucus was formed in January 2015 by a group of conservatives and Tea Party Movement Members with the aim of pushing the Republican leadership to the right.  Its first chairman, Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, described the caucus as a “smaller, more cohesive, more agile and more active” group of conservative representatives. 

In April, 2022, the South Carolina House of Representatives formed its own state Freedom Caucus under the leadership of upstate Representative Adam Morgan.  (Morgan was recently unsuccessful in his bid to defeat Congressman William Timmons.  Granted, Congressman Timmons is less than flawless (none of us are), but he certainly is not the obstructionist Mr. Morgan has been in the Statehouse.  I served in the Senate for a whole two years with Timmons and he was quite delightful!)  After suffering through countless Freedom Caucus debates, proposals, arguments and diatribes it is apparent its “freedoms” are more Old Testament dogma and passé social customs than modern

Americans believe in religious freedom, freedom of speech, assembly, the press, etc., but the Freedom Caucus believes “freedoms” are what it decides them to be.  I find that to be no freedom at all.  I question what is the “right” religion for the Freedom Caucus?  After recent events, whatever it is I don’t think some of these members are practicing it.  The Caucus has sued school districts over issues that could have been solved in a meeting and rational dialogue.  Therein, a primary problem.  The Caucus is as dedicated to rationality as it is to freedom, which is to say not at all.

We all want lower taxes, the Freedom Caucus wants no taxes, so it votes against the entire state budget and funds for improvements in their home district.  It doesn’t want to fund law enforcement or public education, but it does want to support private schools.  It doesn’t  understand the core functions of government, nor does it want to try to understand.

And then there is the Freedom Caucus’ attitude about.  As one state legislator so famously said to me, the Caucus apparently believes women are “lesser cuts of meat” and should be subservient to men.  Most if not all Caucus members think women should never “rule” over man and certainly not be in politics at any level.  They believe men who think as does the Caucus should make all decisions and that women should stay home and become a baby factory. 

I am pro-life and I believe everyone deserves the best health care available.  No woman or girl should be forced to carry to term a pregnancy resulting from rape or incest.  The life of the mother is of utmost importance and a woman and her making her health care decisions should be hers, her spouse’s and doctor’s, not legislators.  But thanks much to the Freedom Caucus, women in South Carolina are told their choices are for government to make.  That’s a remarkable problem for an organization so vehemently opposed to government overreach! 

There are 15 counties – 1/3 –  in this state with no OBGYN!  That is the legislature’s fault because the government wants to tell doctors how to do their job and threaten them with prison if they for using their own trained judgement!  Here’s a thought; the next time you have a medical emergency, call your state representative instead of 911. 

The South Carolina Freedom Caucus is a tyrannical, radical group of power hungry ideologues that is going to make laws even more arcane, archaic and restrictive that wants freedom and control for itself, not South Carolinians.