Progressives and establishment Republicans look out!

1. On Syria: "The world is literally about to blow up and our president did not really paint a fair picture of the threats we face." Source: Huffington Post.

“It’s the law of the land.” This has been the repeated refrain from defenders of ObamaCare against any effort to repeal, replace, or reform the disastrous policy that is causing millions of Americans to lose their existing health insurance and experience drastic, unexpected premium hikes.

 This week, the GOP Executive Committee in South Carolina unanimously voted to reject Common Core standards. The resolution, which can be viewed here, is a huge step forward in the fight against Common Core. 

What is going on with Republican (?) Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina? He’s never been the most conservative of conservatives but, this week, he’s managed to tell us just how unimportant he finds the Constitution not once, but twice. Apparently, in Lindsey Graham’s world, the First and Fourth amendments are disposable. 

Democracy and Power 110: Majority Leader of the Senate and the Speaker of the HouseIn order to get power and retain it, it is necessary to love power; but love of power is not connected with goodness but with qualities that are the opposite of goodness, such as pride, cunning, and cruelty. —Leo Tolstoy

Interesting news out of South Carolina this morning. Bruce Carroll, an openly gay Republican and board member at GOProud, has resigned his position on that organization’s board of directors. He is seriously contemplating making a run for Senate and challenging Lindsey Graham in the primary. If successful, Carroll would be South Carolina’s first openly gay Senator.

FreedomWorks teamed with South Carolina’s grassroots activists to host a two-hour candidate forum in the state’s 1st Congressional District. On Saturday, February 16th, 16 candidates vying to fill the seat formerly held by Senator Tim Scott met at the Embassy Suites Hotel in North Charleston for a substantive policy discussion. A range of individuals—state-level politicians, small business owners, local activists and a former governor—fielded questions on pressing political and legislative matters.

Last week, I covered the first portion of my interview with South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.  In the next part of our discussion, Governor Haley relayed the efforts by South Carolina to improve health care in the state.

Now that Barack Obama has been sworn in for a second term, the focus will again turn to Obamacare and health care exchanges. A key component of Obamacare, health care exchanges are to be set up by the states giving consumers a limited amount of options to purchase health care in their state. Those that traditionally cannot afford to purchase health care will be given tax credits. Additionally, the federal government will also help cover co-pays and deductibles that aren’t covered by insurance.