Would an Education Scholarship Account law be found constitutional in South Carolina?

Education
Blog · February 9, 2023

With not one, but two education choice bills moving in South Carolina, it is time for some straight talk about the likelihood of education choice legislation being found unconstitutional if passed by the General Assembly and signed by Governor McMaster. But in order to arrive at an answer to that fundamental question, we must first

2023-2024 Palmetto Freedom Agenda

Blog · January 27, 2023

Dear Friend, As the newly appointed President and CEO, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Wendy Damron. I moved down to the Charleston area from Michigan in 2013 with my husband, Jason, and our two children to escape the cold climate. We instantly fell in love with the people, the culture, and the beauty of South Carolina. I immediately saw so much potential here and

Education vs Indoctrination Dossier

Education
Blog · December 6, 2022

Since the onset of COVID-19, movements of parents have sprung up overnight in America. Some have adopted names and launched Facebook pages. Some have incorporated themselves as permanent organizations. Others are (for now) just email trees and group texts.   Whatever their size or level of organization, these “little platoons” (as Edmund Burke admiringly called

Feed the Pig

Tax & Budget
Blog · October 27, 2022

In our Palmetto Playbook, we decided to take on fiscal policy more aggressively. After all, what policy area is more crucial to the future of South Carolina than how the state handles its money?  Since then, we have been writing about fiscal responsibility regularly.  Thanks for your positive response! Our Playbook look back at state

ESG…OMG!

Energy
Blog · October 20, 2022

Conservative author and commentator William F. Buckley famously said that “a conservative is someone who stands athwart history, yelling ‘Stop!’” He also suggested that there would be consequences for attempting to shovel sand in the gears of the progressive machine. Among those who were thought to be Chicken Littles were conservative financial policy experts who

The Rest of the Tax Cut Story

Tax & Budget
Blog · October 13, 2022

During its 2021-22 session, the South Carolina General Assembly passed a cut in the personal income tax rate. Whew! Finally, the highest marginal personal income tax rate in the South (7%), which has never been cut since its adoption in 1959, is headed for extinction. That’s great news. It was also good to see the

Chart of the Century?

Quality of Life
Blog · September 15, 2022

American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Senior Fellow Emeritus Mark J. Perry estimates that over the last fifteen years he has posted some 3,000 infographics to cyberspace—charts, graphs, tables, figures, maps, and Venn diagrams—each serving as his famous “Chart of the Day.” For some of us, Perry’s charts are  “eye candy” because of their combination of simplistic

Three Cheers for Free Speech

Education
Blog · August 24, 2022

Three Cheers for Free Speech  Though a few decades have passed since I matriculated “where the Blue Ridge yawns its greatness,” I am quite certain that during my undergraduate years at Clemson there was an openness to a wide range of opinion. The dominant view among faculty, administration, and students was that college should be