We Don't Need a Carolina Fauci!

The Uniparty Solution to Big Government Problems… Bigger Government!

You’ve probably heard by now about the big debate last week over the creation of a “Health Czar” for South Carolina. The SC Freedom Caucus took a strong stand against this bill. We support greater accountability in state government. But this was the wrong approach for a number of reasons.

In the wake of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, the various federal intelligence services were highly criticized for not talking to one another. So in response to that criticism, Congress created the Department of Homeland Security (a bigger government agency) to oversee the various intel agencies. Well, it turns out that the results haven’t been great. Since the creation of DHS, we’ve seen unconstitutional spying on American citizens, the classification of concerned parents as “domestic terrorists”, and a proliferation of threats waltzing across both our southern and northern borders. In short, a bigger government agency didn’t make the Federal government more effective in keeping us safe.

Rather than learn a lesson from this mistake, the Uniparty™ has decided the best way to fix their perception of slow and ineffective health services and regulations isn’t to eliminate unnecessary government agencies and programs, but to create a larger, over-arching Office of Health and Policy to oversee the various state agencies that touch on healthcare.

In the tumultuous wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, where the heavy hand of government intervention cast shadows upon our freedoms, we find ourselves at a critical juncture. House Bill 4297 hangs ominously over our beloved state, a specter of government overreach threatening to create a Dr. Fauci for South Carolina. Rather than standing up to the WHO, banning vaccine mandates, or ensuring that the legislature will have a voice to stop lockdowns and runaway “health emergencies,” the General Assembly is focused on passing legislation recommended by the Boston Consulting Group, a partner of the World Economic Forum.

This bill would concentrate the powers the DHEC held, which are already egregious, into one person. That person, a Secretary of Health and Policy, would answer solely to the Governor and no one else - no checks and balances and no qualification requirements. The Secretary would set the official standard of care for diseases in the state. This person would also have the sole power to enforce indefinite quarantines on individuals without clear legal recourse, and virtually no accountability. Maybe the most foreboding would be the Secretary would be handed the power to order duly elected Sheriffs and law enforcement to obey and carry out his edicts.

Consider the cautionary tale of the federal government's creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Ostensibly formed to enhance coordination among intelligence agencies and bolster national security in the wake of 9/11, DHS instead became synonymous with bureaucratic bloat, growing the government without making us safer, and even illegally spying on American citizens here at home. Do we really trust our state government to lead us down the same road?

And now we confront H4297—a bill that claims to provide accountability by consolidating Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services (DAODAS), Department of Disabilities and Special Needs (DDSN), Department of Public Health, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Department of Mental Health (DMH), and Department on Aging. Yet, it risks replicating the same mistakes of DHS, centralizing power while jeopardizing the very services it purports to enhance.

Not only that, but when asked how many state employee positions would be eliminated by the purported consolidation, the committee chairman answered: NONE. Zero. This was reiterated during questioning by SC Freedom Caucus members during the House debate this past Wednesday. And the icing on the cake was that we confirmed the fiscal impact statement for H4297 left the cost to taxpayers as “undetermined.” Watch the sponsor of the bill, Bill Herbkersman, take questions from SCFC Member, Josiah Magnuson, about the potential fiscal impact on the state here.

So this bill won’t actually shrink the size of government, and we have no idea how much it will cost. What it will do is grow a new bureaucracy without checks and balances to oversee the preexisting agencies - with the power to commandeer Sheriffs who are our last line of defense for freedom.

That’s how leftists govern, not conservatives. This was an opportunity to cut down the scope of overreaching government powers we learned about during COVID, not keep those powers intact or grow them further. The SC Freedom Caucus attempted to introduce amendments on the floor to turn the bill in the right direction. Sadly, we fell short as the ruling coalition of moderate Republicans and liberal Democrats again voted as a bloc to reject our common-sense conservative amendments.

Now is the time to demand real accountability, transparency, and the preservation of our cherished liberties. Now is the time to reject the false promises of centralization and embrace the principles of decentralization (more power at lower levels, less power at higher levels) as a bulwark against tyranny. The General Assembly has to get serious to oppose government bloat, and instead should be using this opportunity to restrain government overreach in “health emergencies” before the inevitable next crisis arrives.

The House bill debated on Wednesday is now in the Senate. Please call your State Senator and respectfully urge them to amend this bill to include checks and balances on the Secretary of Health and Policy and strip the power to commander our sheriffs and law enforcement - or vote no on the final bill!

For Liberty,

The South Carolina Freedom Caucus