Directors Report...Jim Hanks, Jr.

Attendance at meetings falls off dramatically in the summer months. At least that’s what usually happens, but this summer our Lexington monthly meeting hasn’t diminished, and our Kershaw monthly meeting has more than doubled. This bodes well for the future.

The health of our organisation is well-attended meetings. It is there that we share ideas, gain confidence and become friends. Telephone calls and email can’t replace what we gain from meeting together.

On the active front we flexed our muscle in June by placing 2500 signs out all over South Carolina for Henry Jordan. In only ten days we covered the entire state with campaign signs. The South Carolina League of the South did a remarkable job for Dr. Jordan who showed his gratitude in a tangible way. Although Dr. Jordan did not win the Lieutenant Governor’s race, he received ten times more votes per dollar spent than his rivals.

On Thursday afternoon, 29 June, our Red Shirts rode once again. This time it was to protest against carpetbagger John McCain and scalawag Lindsey Graham. This event rates as one of our more successful rides. The Associated Press reported that, “nearly 50 people joined the South Carolina chapter of the League of the South in picketing McCain's stop at the Lace House on the grounds of the Governor's Mansion complex..."

Now we are supporting League member, Dr. John Cobin, (www.cobinforcongress.com) who is running on the Libertarian Party ticket against Republican, Bob Inglis, in South Carolina’s 4th district. Bob Inglis’ voting record is more liberal than socialist Bernie Sanders’ of Vermont and even more liberal than South Carolina Democrat Senator John Clyburn’s.

Dr. Cobin insists that, as the Constitution demands, only Congress can declare war. He does not support aggressive wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, or North Korea and favours a pullout of all troops now deployed in combat.

This is a revolutionary theory, as the modern United States government is truly a warfare state. For over a hundred years, beginning in 1898 with a contrived war against Spain, Americans and Southerners have been fighting and dieing in overseas adventures.

Sovereign governments in Hawaii, Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Vietnam, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama, Chile, Iran, Grenada, Serbia, Afghanistan, and now, Iraq, have fallen by Washington’s decree. Bloody “regime changes” are simply business as usual for the United States of America.

Nine/eleven didn’t precipitate the war in Iraq. It was already on the books. And don’t expect a pullout; there won’t be one - not as long as there is oil in the ground. The philosophy of the United States is that the U S Empire is in charge of the world – by military force. “Democracy” and “freedom” and U S security are the rhetorical justification, but in reality U S aggression is all about power, control and money.

The term for acts of violence against civilians is terrorism, wherever it occurs, whether against civilians in South Carolina in 1864 or against civilians in Iraq in 2006. South Carolina can bury its head and go along with the unholy behemoth, or it can join the truly peace-loving community in opposing the international aggressor.

Finally, the next season should see a reactivated meeting in Rock Hill. Kenny Simpson has found work back in his home town and we will be working with Kenny to get York County back on a schedule. Also we are adding a new reading group in Travelers Rest.

So much is happening and with it come so many challenges that there is hardly time to document it all. This is turning out to be a very full year for the South Carolina League of the South.