Show us the money!

Earlier today, I attended a rally at the edge of the Charleston Harbor to urge Gov. Mark Sanford to accept $700 million in federal stimulus money. Gov. Sanford has until Friday to make up his mind (which he claims is already made up); with the legislature's role (if any) in the acceptance process in doubt and tied up in legal wrangling, our state's budget is looking pretty thin. Unless our governor changes his mind or a way is found for the legislature to override his wishes, precisely the kinds of services needed during a recession will be cut drastically. Some of the worst cuts will affect education.

I went to the rally because I'm concerned that while Gov. Sanford stands on his principles of small government, low taxes, and limited spending, many South Carolinians will fall through the cracks. Our most vulnerable citizens - those who have lost jobs; the elderly and disabled forced to rely on government services; families caring for children with special needs; the working poor overwhelmed by the rising cost of groceries and other goods; and disadvantaged children attending failing public schools - can't afford to wait until the economy starts looking up again. Paying off the state's debt (what Sanford wants to do with the money, although the federal government has by now made it clear that's not an option) may put South Carolina on a surer financial footing for the future, but at what cost? How many people will lose homes and jobs, suffer needlessly, and miss out on all opportunities for learning and advancement?

I was disappointed, then, that for the most part, today's rally wasn't about the neediest and most vulnerable among us. It was about "us." The "emcee" was a woman whose children attend public middle and high schools. She warned that summer school could be canceled if the non-stimulus budget is passed, then hastened to assure us that it's not just under-achieving students who go to summer school, but really good, smart, hard-working students who want to go the extra mile to get into a better college. Another mother and public school volunteer complained that Spanish teachers were being cut to half-time and that not learning a foreign language would adversely affect students' chances of getting into good colleges. (There was no mention of the fact that knowing Spanish is a very practical life skill these days, as South Carolina's Hispanic population grows.) Charleston schools superintendent Nancy McGinley spoke well, asking whether we want to go back to a time when only people with "personal resources" could send their children to school. But as she ran down the list of possible casualties (teacher pay and positions, equipment, summer school, fine arts programs, athletics), she betrayed no willingness to compromise, to talk about some programs that might be expendable. After all, stimulus or not, we're in a recession, and even with the federal money, there still will be painful budget cuts.

The rhetoric engaged in by most of the speakers was all about "our money," "what we deserve," and so on. We were asked to get out our cell phones and call Gov. Sanford; when one man got through, he put his phone on speaker, and the crowd chanted, "Show us the money! Show us the money!" Toya Hampton-Green, chairwoman of the Charleston County School Board, was the one bright spot, bringing a more thoughtful message. She showed that she understood where the governor is coming from, but that she also understands the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable of South Carolinians.

I do think we need to take political action to try to convince Gov. Sanford to change his mind; if I didn't think so, I wouldn't have been there. But we also need to be aware of the larger context of this battle - that even $700 million is a drop in the bucket compared to all the needs our state has, and that we need to be both creative and generous if we're going to avert disaster. It isn't "our" money, and "we" don't deserve it. Rather, we have a responsibility to be good stewards of our own personal resources as well as the state's money and anything we get from Washington. That's going to mean sacrificial giving and service to "the least of these." I'm afraid political action on this scale isn't going to stir up much support or change many minds as long as we look like another selfish interest group, clamoring for our piece of the pie, rather than a compassionate multitude, ready to confront these hard times and challenging our state government to stand with us.

- KPE