On the eve of the Midterm Elections Monday evening, in the tutoring center I help manage at the college where I am employed, I declared my candidacy for Governor of South Carolina. It was really a spur of the moment decision. Thinking of the choices I would make in one of the most important elections held in my adult lifetime, I decided I am just as deserving of the post as the two main front-runners for various reasons: one, a politician who comes from a long line of politicians and the other a person whose questionable ethics and tax-paying abilities made holding the top spot in our state government a suspect choice.
I have never held elective office; I can't even get elected to one of the offices in my bowling league. And I have ALWAYS filed my taxes on time. It was time for little Stevie to break out.
So, at the voting booth early Tuesday morning, I did something I have never done before: used the write-in option and typed STEPHEN A. BURRUS as my choice for governor. Driving to work yesterday morning, a little cartoon image played out in my mind: what if noone else in the state voted and I rose to the top of the leaderboard in the governor's race? Immediately upon arriving to work, I told people what I had done and urged them to write my name in. A few said they would; whether they actually did or not, I'll never know because thousands of voters chose either Nicki Haley or Vincent Sheheen. But I am almost fairly certain that I finished in the top 10 in the Standing Springs district. And it is thrilling to think about!
Not having campaigned and with no name recognition outside Greenville County, the Midlands and Coastal plain vote no doubt hurt my candidacy. In my 10-second concession speech at Golden Lanes in Simpsonville Tuesday evening, I thanked all who supported my campaign and vowed to make a stronger run in 2014.
My brief 24-hour gubernatorial campaign did get me seriously thinking about entering the political arena. There's just something about an election that is exciting. This year was extra-exhilerating and there was a lot more at stake; the electorate is frustrated, angry, frightened, scared. Too many career politicians were doing whatever they could to protect themselves...and thumbing their nose at the constituency that put them there.
I really do believe that if our Founding Fathers came back from the dead to see what has happened to America since they breathed their last, they would not be happy. Congressional jobs were NEVER meant to be a life-long career. The idea was to represent the people...with a modest stipend...then return to their districts after the work was done. Second homes, mansions and extended stays at the Watergate or the Waldorf Astoria were never, ever imagined. Neither were six digit salaries and arrogant representatives who voted themselves pay raises while their constituents suffered with high unemployment
I planned to run on a platform of much smaller government...across the board pay cuts for all government workers...and more emphasis on education. Too bad, the people never got my message but that was my fault for waiting too late to declare my candidacy. We need a candidate who is willing to make hard, unpopular choices to do what is best for the state, and the nation...and that person needs to be someone unafraid of losing re-election. I would be willing to be that lamb to the slaughter because we HAVE to have some people like that to get our nation heeled and turned around.
So watch out in 2014, South Carolina. I'm bubbling with energy and exhileration after my brief sojourn into the politcal fray this week...and with a little more focus, I could be coming to a ballot box near you.
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