SC has so much road litter because we have so many ignorant folks who don’t care

On the lottery

If we’re going to call the South Carolina Lottery the “Education Lottery,” doesn’t it make sense to have at least 50% of the lottery proceeds going to education?

I’m sure that the lottery could survive while spending less money spent on advertising, salaries and payouts. And if it couldn’t survive on less money, maybe we don’t need the lottery after all.

David Lee, Columbia

On the Democrats

A segment of the Democratic Party has been talking about having a revolution, but the fact is that no Democratic agenda will exist if the Democrats don’t regain the U.S. Senate. The nonpartisan Cook Report projects that the Democrats could realistically win five or six seats in November; to regain the Senate, they only need to take three seats away from the Republicans

Yes, there are elements of the progressive agenda that warrant close consideration. But given the current political disconnect, only a moderate Democrat can defeat President Donald Trump while also offering coattails to Democratic Senate candidates.

Do we really want to endure eight months of listening to Trump’s venomous rantings on the evils of socialism as the gateway drug to communism? And even if a socialist Democrat could conceivably win the presidency, the Democrats would likely fail to retake the Senate — and also lose any opportunity to pursue an progressive agenda.

Former Vice President Joe Biden is the moderate with the tenacity, fight, temperament and the experience to defeat Trump and win back the Senate — and I and other members of the Hollings family enthusiastically endorse his candidacy.

At a time like this it’s worth remember something that my father, Fritz Hollings — who served our state in the U.S. Senate for nearly 40 years — would often say: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!”

Michael Hollings, Columbia

On candidates, age

I think that Pete Buttigieg is the best candidate among the Democrats: he is smart (a Rhodes Scholar) and young (38). It doesn’t say in the Constitution that the president must be over 70, but that’s how it seems to have turned out. I’m 76 and I have trouble remembering the year of my youngest child’s birthday.

Please don’t vote for a candidate who is too old.

Ann Dreher, Columbia

On roadside litter

The amount of roadside litter on Interstate 26 between Chapin and Irmo is disgusting and depressing: there are auto body parts, construction materials, drink containers, various forms of household garbage and everything else in between. It is an ongoing eyesore all along this 10-mile stretch, but what’s even more troubling is that this isn’t the exception on our state’s highways — it is the norm.

It’s obvious that litter is on the rise across our beautiful state of South Carolina, and the culprits are people who either have an “I don’t care” attitude or are just plain stupid and uneducated.

It’s time for the Legislature, Gov. Henry McMaster and the state’s Department of Transportation to address this growing problem with a greater sense of urgency.

Walter Hall, Chapin

On Trump

I was born in Hemingway and grew up in Georgetown, so even though I now live in Georgia I still consider South Carolina my home. So it’s in that spirit that I would like to offer some advice to my fellow South Carolinians when it comes to the upcoming election.

South Carolinians, Joe Biden isn’t the answer for the Democrats as a presidential candidate. In fact, there is not a single person in the socialist Democratic Party field who is capable of beating President Donald Trump — and here’s the question I would ask: Why would you even want to vote Trump out of office? It makes no sense.

President Trump has kept the campaign promises he made when he won the presidency in 2016; that’s the exact opposite of what the Democrats always do, which is to promise the world without ever delivering on the promises.

Before they vote in November, voters should review President Trump’s record: it is a record of promises made, promises kept.

Alan Cribb, Tucker, Ga.

This story was originally published February 19, 2020 at 4:53 PM.