I believe in people. I know that all of us are capable of doing great things! I believe in the principle that no matter what anyone's current disadvantage might be, anyone is still capable of great things. I saw that economically, people were suffering while the legislators did nothing - or worse made conditions more impossible for the people they represented. I saw the Governor of this exceptional state trying to consolidate his power and privatize as many things as possible just as President Bush has been doing at the Federal level. I saw that more businesses were being outsourced to India and China - not because of technical expertise, but because it was cheaper - while our own people lost their jobs. The business model changed away from being people helpful to being people destructive. To this end, I saw myself at a crossroads. Do I keep complaining about the way things are or do I make things happen? I chose to make it happen.

Now, some people look for their politicians to be perfect people - perfect looks, perfect homes, perfect manners - and don't seem to mind that their perfect politicians are perfectly useless in truly representing the interests of the people who put them in office. Well, I'm not perfect (see picture), and while my manners are fine and I am diplomatic, I will stop being perfectly nice the moment I see any comfortably ensconced politician ride roughshod over the interests of their true constituents - you - to serve the interests of their good friends with big wallets and agendas that have nothing to do with honest, hard working South Carolinians. When I see that happen I won't be nice at all. Nice people can't get things done. They get run over by self-serving people all the time. As a South Carolina State House Representative, I will be just that - the Representative of the people of my District and of our state. I will make sure that conditions improve for all of us, and not just think about improving conditions for myself.