Letters: McMaster could earn praise Haley never deserved

Gov. Nikki Haley was in the right place at the right time and took advantage of opportunities that fell into her lap, but she was not a highly effective governor. She failed to galvanize support and lead our legislators to enact policies important to our state.

It is my hope that our new governor will lead the way in fixing our crumbling roads, bringing equality and excellence to our public schools, expanding Medicaid to include the almost 200,000 eligible South Carolinians, expanding preschool education to all eligible children, funding higher education at an appropriate level, passing real ethics reform, revising our dysfunctional tax laws and rethinking our illegal drug and forfeiture laws, which have resulted in the pointless incarceration of tens of thousands of our citizens.

It would be even more impressive if he could foster clean-energy incentives, make the first two years of college tuition-free, increase the minimum wage, decriminalize marijuana, provide access to affordable health insurance to all and ensure all businesses recruited to our state are environmentally friendly.

If our new governor can accomplish just a few of these priorities, he will deserve the praise that our previous governor received but did not earn.