Category: Individual Liberty

The budget process spelled out in state law is a thorough, deliberate process, designed to inform citizens at every stage and to maximize their input into the spending of taxpayer…

The new data warehouse – created by last year’s law and this year’s budget proviso – poses serious threats to the privacy of South Carolinians, especially if lawmakers override the…

Download the PDF version here » Lawmakers created a statewide data tracking system via proviso in this year’s budget. The Governor vetoed it, but lawmakers could override the veto when they…

Lawmakers often wait until the closing weeks of session to drop their most controversial bills. This year was no exception, with H.5218 and H.5219 aiming to censor gun violence in…

REMOVING CITIZENS’ POWER TO HOLD THEIR NEIGHBORS ACCOUNTABLE? UPDATE: The final version of the bill placed parameters on the bill’s scope, but the core of the proposal – the violation of…

  LEGISLATION WOULD REGULATE FREE SPEECH EVEN MORE TIGHTLY THAN LAST YEAR’S ‘DARK MONEY’ BILL In its present form, S.255, sponsored by Sen. Hugh Leatherman (R-Florence), would substantially encroach on South…

PRIVATE PROPERTY IS TOTALLY SECURE IN THIS CONSERVATIVE STATE, RIGHT? WRONG. In the wake of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court’s Kelo decision, South Carolina attempted to shore up property rights with…

HOW STATE LAWMAKERS CONTINUE TO STRIKE AT CITIZENS’ FIRST AMENDMENT FREEDOMS Many Americans assume, wrongly, that their state legislatures deal mainly with low-level issues and that only Congress and the…

IN RECENT YEARS, STATE LAWMAKERS HAVE MADE INCREASINGLY BOLD MOVES AGAINST THE SECOND AMENDMENT. LOOK FOR MORE OF THE SAME THIS YEAR. The hostility toward Second Amendment freedoms seen at…

SOUTH CAROLINA POLICYMAKERS HAVE A DUTY TO RESPOND WITH REASON, NOT FEAR State lawmakers are now holding public forums to consider whether the General Assembly should further restrict citizens’ Second…

EMINENT DOMAIN POWER FOR A NON-UTILITY PRIVATE COMPANY?  Update: This bill was ratified and signed by the governor with the provision that eminent domain would not apply to private, for-profit…

● Lawsuit alleges city acted improperly in gun ban. ● Attorney General opinion agrees. ● City’s ban runs against Second Amendment, court precedent. ● Flouting constitutionality a troubling trend in state, local bills. Of…

HOW A BILL IN THE S.C. SENATE WOULD RUN UP AGAINST THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AND U.S. SUPREME COURT PRECEDENT [Click here for a printable .pdf version of this report, and here for a short…

EQUALITY OF THE LAW OUGHT TO MEAN SOMETHING South Carolina has a homeless problem. That’s especially true in Columbia. The problem isn’t that the state and city are overwhelmed by…

FEDERAL FUNDING HAS ENCOURAGED LOCAL POLICE DEPARTMENTS TO MILITARIZE. THERE’S AN EASY WAY TO CHANGE THAT. The image of the public servant police officer committed to protecting the average citizen…

IN SOUTH CAROLINA, THE TROUBLE WITH THE PUBLIC SECTOR IS THAT IT’S BECOMING PRIVATE . . . AND VICE VERSA It’s common shorthand to refer to the governmental and non-governmental…

MORE FREEDOM, LESS CRIME A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be…

THE GOVERNMENT CAN TAKE YOUR LAND FOR ALMOST ANY REASON. HERE’S WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT. In June of 2005 the United States Supreme Court issued its ruling in the now…

FREEDOM TO OWN GUNS ISN’T THE PROBLEM — SOUTH CAROLINIANS SHOULDN’T HAVE TO PRETEND IT IS South Carolina is one of the most gun friendly states in America, according to conventional…

‘SOME PEOPLE DON’T LIKE IT’ ISN’T A SUFFICIENT REASON TO CURTAIL INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY “Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will,” wrote Thomas Jefferson in a letter of 1819,…

SHOULD S.C. PAY FOR SURVEILLANCE? Gov. Nikki Haley’s executive budget grabbed a few headlines for its items on education, transportation, and Medicaid waiver programs. One component of the budget was…

KEEP AN EYE ON THESE Throughout December, lawmakers pre-filed their bills for the 2014 legislative session – 102 in the Senate and 83 in the House. It’s extremely difficult to…

ONCE UPON A TIME, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COULDN’T BAN A PRODUCT SIMPLY BECAUSE IT WANTED TO A bill pre-filed in the South Carolina Senate will likely attract a lot of…

LIKE IT OR NOT, THE FOURTH AMENDMENT EXISTS Among the few excellent bills filed during the 2013 legislative session – and analyzed in our Best & Worst guide (download here) – is H.3059. This refreshingly…

FIRST, THEY’D SCRATCH THEIR HEADS AND ASK WHY IT WAS NECESSARY In this year’s Best & Worst of the General Assembly (and here’s a polite reminder that you can download…

OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE SUGGESTS POINTLESSNESS OF MORE GUN LAWS South Carolina, as we contended in an August commentary, doesn’t deserve its fiercely pro-gun reputation – at least, not if the criterion…

  A LOCAL GOVERNMENT PLAN TO DEFINE THE HOMELESS AS CRIMINALS PRESENTS ITS OWN SET OF PROBLEMS You don’t have to go to the shelter, but you can’t stay here.…

WONDER WHAT YOUR LAWMAKERS WERE UP TO IN 2013? IT’S ALL HERE. Our annual guide to the year’s legislative session, The Best & Worst of the General Assembly, has been…

  POLICE OR SOLDIERS? Since the expansion of the drug war in the 1980s – and especially since the attacks of September 11th, 2001 – local police forces have been…

TO PROTECT, TO COLLECT, AND TO SERVE You know the feeling – the feeling you get when you return to your parked car and see the dreaded neon-colored slip of…