Wednesday, Jan. 02, 2008

You say you want a resolution? I’ve got one for everybody

I STOPPED making New Year’s resolutions years ago. They were always either too vague to be worthwhile (I resolve to be nicer this year) or too specific to be achieved (I resolve not to say anything bad about anyone) or too achievable to be worthwhile (I resolve to get out of bed every morning). I don’t even make a resolution to lose weight (the nation’s No. 1 resolution made — and broken), because it’s something I’m always trying to do.

But I firmly believe that other people should make resolutions. I’m even willing to help out, by offering a few suggestions:

• I acknowledge that I was elected governor, which means my job is to govern, and I no longer have the luxury of being a congressional back-bencher who can simply fixate on maintaining my ideological purity. So I resolve to actually get some things done that will move our state forward, in education, in economic development, in public safety and public health — which means actively seeking out areas of agreement with the Legislature. — Gov. Mark Sanford

• We recognize that our state has wasted five years in often petty, almost always distracting and counterproductive internecine warfare with the executive branch, and that we cannot afford to similarly squander the next three years. We acknowledge that whether we like him or not, Mark Sanford is the only governor we have, and so we resolve to greet his proposals with open minds, rather than making such sport of torturing and then killing them just because he’s connected to them. — S.C. legislators

• We realize that the way we handled Bar-gate, coming on the heels of a nasty Supreme Court election and a couple of shows of bad judgment by our chief, has left us teetering on a public confidence crisis. We resolve to go out of our way to explain all of our administrative actions and to purge any hints of arrogance or questionable judgment from our official and unofficial actions. — S.C. Supreme Court justices

• We realize that we serve many of the same people, and even when we serve different people, all are ill-served by our constant bickering and one-upmanship. We resolve to work together in the best interest of all the city’s and county’s residents. — Columbia City and Richland County councils

• We know that the boundaries that separate us are manmade and have only as much significance as we choose to give them. We resolve to concentrate on the good of the Midlands, rather than fixating on a zero-sum game involving our individual jurisdictions. — All local elected officials, but particularly the Richland and Lexington county councils and the Columbia City Council

• We recognize that we are public servants and not leaders in a private club. We resolve to start explaining our actions to the public, particularly when we do such bizarre things as firing a superintendent we just hired and implying that the problems that he inherited are his fault. — Richland 1 School Board members

• We understand that the state’s open government laws spell out a minimum standard, that every action we take is made on behalf of (and paid for by) the citizens of South Carolina. So we resolve that before we meet in secret, or treat a document as exempt from disclosure requirements or even think about skirting our open government laws, we will consider how we would feel if we were voted out of office, or lost our jobs, and found our political foes making the decisions. And we resolve to then act the way we would want them to act. (Hmm, that wouldn’t be a bad rule of thumb for everything everybody does.) — Officials throughout government

• We resolve not to engage in the sort of dirty tricks that South Carolina became infamous for in the waning days of the 2000 Republican presidential primary. — Presidential candidates, and particularly their S.C. operatives

• We realize that we were taken in by a scurrilous and wholly unfounded rumor campaign in 2000, which hurt our country and our reputation as intelligent voters. We resolve not to be duped again, but to base our decisions about the next leader of the free world on verifiable — or at least believable — information. — S.C. voters

• We realize that South Carolinians are smart enough to decide for themselves what kind of government they want, and that they have a right to have it, rather than being drowned out by ideologues who want to use their state as a test case for their extremist, selfish ideas. So we resolve to fire our lobbyists, call off our campaign attack dogs and butt out of South Carolina. — Howard Rich, Grover Norquist and other out-of-state libertarians ... and any other out-of-state ideologues, from anywhere across the political spectrum, for that matter

• We recognize that the out-of-staters aren’t going to make that resolution, and so we must acknowledge that we often get the government we deserve. That while we sit around and stew, decisions get made based on the demands of a vocal minority, particularly a moneyed minority. So we resolve to not only expect more but demand more of our state and local governments — and do it in an appropriate way, by telling our elected representatives what we want from them. — S.C. voters

Wow. That was so much fun, I think I will make a resolution for myself:

I resolve to continue being an opinionated know-it-all.

And a thinner one.

Ms. Scoppe can be reached at cscoppe@thestate.com or at (803) 771-8571.

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