South Carolina allowing ‘death by firing squad’ as death penalty option is appalling
Death by firing squad
I am appalled at the headline citing Gov. McMaster’s signing of the document authorizing death by a firing squad! What has humanity come to when the dark ages has resurfaced in South Carolina? Man’s inhumanity to man has shown its ugly face in the state in which I now reside. Undoubtedly, had I not found a humanitarian home in S.C., this decision would have propelled my move elsewhere!
Had the proponents of this bill not searched his/her own conscious before signing? Had this core of proponents not pondered the evilness of this decision? The death penalty over history has been fraught with errors wherein innocent people have died as a result of false accusations and, now, a firing squad! Who are we to judge the fate of our fellow human beings, and most especially when that decision results in death by a firing squad?
Today, after having read this pronouncement from our top official, I am ashamed to call South Carolina my home. In further contacts with friends and relatives from more “humanity-kind” states, I will lovingly refer to the Cypress as my home and geographically place it only in the South!
Elizabeth Rae, The Cypress Retirement Community
What ordinance?
I have now seen it all. I’m being told that I must pay $1500 a month to live next to a house with 5-foot high overgrown grass, probably infested with snakes, just 25 feet from my backdoor. Am I living in the Twilight Zone? No; I’m living in the Okatie Park subdivision in Jasper County.
The guy who moved in the house behind me a year ago — and brought a vicious dog with him — has made everyone’s life within ear shot nothing but pain and misery. Numerous neighbors are fed up with this guy and his dog and have put their houses up for sale and moved. How can one person be allowed to do this where I’m paying what consists of a $140 a month HOA fee?
There is a Jasper County Ordinance on the books but no one will enforce it. It’s Chapter 10, Sec. 10-22, “Unlawful property nuisance.” This ordinance seems as clear as the skin cancer on my forehead last year that I recovered from surgery as his dog barked for 7 straight hours, day after day, night after night. I called Jasper County Sheriff, it’s now been a year and nothing has changed.
Jerry Clark, Ridgeland
Life isn’t fair
A major flaw in our contemporary view of democracy is that life should be “fair” and the point of government is to create that state of “fairness.” Life isn’t fair! Especially when fairness has come to mean, “I’m automatically entitled to whatever anybody else has, or my equal rights must have been violated.”
Such subjectivity was never trusted by our founders. It was the self-evident flaws in that thinking, as exhibited by monarchies and dictatorships, that made “democracy” necessary. Our rights come not from people in charge, but from a constitutionally guided process that, for better or worse, formally declares the will of the majority, alone, matters. Whether it’s “fair” or not was never the point. The clear will of the people, however brilliant or misguided, is the only constitutional concern.
The common good should only be discerned by the independent processes laid out in the Constitution through formal law making. When administrative agencies like the CDC impose pronouncements to control my personal life and decisions — where I can eat, sit, or what I must wear in public — the democratic process has been subverted, no matter how “fair” it seems.
David Rockwell, Beaufort
Medicare Advantage
Over the past few years, my health insurance costs have actually gone down—because I switched to Medicare Advantage. As a senior who relies on prescription drugs and is on a fixed income, affordable prescription drug access is important to me..
Even though the past year has been challenging for South Carolina seniors, the Medicare Advantage program adapted to the challenges and worked hard to address them. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicare Advantage went above and beyond to support me and thousands of other beneficiaries. This program continues to improve, adjusting to my changing needs.
Many seniors in South Carolina rely on this important health care option. As the economy recovers from the COVID-19 crisis, seniors living on a fixed income desperately need to access affordable healthcare. South Carolina’s delegation in Washington must do what’s right for their constituents to protect and strengthen Medicare Advantage.
Sherri Zedd, Sun City