Exclusive — Conservative South Carolina State Senator Previews Plans To Battle Establishment Push To Rip Down Flag

Nine dollars per minute. Fifty-three thousand American dollars per day. 

This is what it will take to defeat “that damn Confederate flag.” Is that worth it to the taxpayers of South Carolina? 

Senator Tom Davis, of Beaufort, says that “debate on the Confederate Battle Flag in the Senate it would likely take a minimum of two weeks, and perhaps longer,” and, considering Davis’ last cause (defeating a gas-tax increase), may actually take longer given the State Senate’s desire to give every member his or her own say.  “This isn’t an issue where the State Senate will cut off debate in any sort of expedited manner,” says Davis. “There will be every effort made to ensure that senators will have every opportunity to say everything they want to say.”

I’ve talked to many a legislator regarding “the flag,” and they are saying 99% of the emails, snail mail, or phone calls they are getting, come from people who are not South Carolinians. They do not have a say in this matter. Much like what actually spurred on the Civil War, these people are coming in from a national level and telling South Carolina how to run its government—and, as it did then, it’s working.

As Governor Nikki Haley is known to do, she is predictably kowtowing to national pressure. For instance, as Haley said in her ’04 House election, “It was settled and it has been put away. And I don’t have any intentions of bringing it back up or making it an issue.” (Emphasis mine.) In addition to her damning quote, her spokesman Rob Godfrey said, “if the people aren’t focused on the flag, it’s hard to see why the governor and General Assembly should be.”

Nikki Haley says, to those of you accusing her of bowing to threatened boycotts of South Carolina: “I’m the perfect person to deal with the boycott. Because, as a minority female, I’m going to go and talk to them and I’m going to go and let them know that every state has their traditions. … But we need to talk about business. And we need to talk about having (businesses) come into our state …“

Now, our governor is willing to retract every single reference she has ever made towards that flag, because of self-interest, and to further her national political ambitions. She is willing to backtrack on everything she has stood for in order to pander to the MSM types in major metropolitan areas, which will launch her into a national conversation. 

Yes, our supposedly “red” governor is willing to bow to “blue” sentiments” from states and cities that aren’t even her own constituents! I’ve been told that only about 1% of the messages to the legislators are from actual South Carolinians, as seen here, here, and HERE. Unfortunately, Governor Haley isn’t willing to make any changes or any compromises unless she sees it as beneficial to herself.

Maybe they should trust President George W. Bush, who, when battling with the now disgraced Brian Williams in a 2000 GOP presidential primary debate, said of the issue: “As an American citizen, I trust the people of South Carolina to make the decision for South Carolina.”

Taylor Brown is a local conservative columnist for the massively influential South Carolina news website FITSNews.com. She provided this column exclusively to Breitbart News.