It ain’t broke and don’t need fixing — that was the gist of the Democratic rebuttal to Gov. Mark Sanford’s State of the State address.

The governor wants to make South Carolina more competitive in the global and domestic economies. He wants to:

• Lower our state income tax.

• Streamline state government.

• Put our financial house in order permanently.

• Give parents of public school children some choices.

When the governor finished his speech, ETV presented Sen. John Land of Clarendon County to deliver the Democrats’ official rebuttal. Sen. Land said he’d lived here all his life and loved this wonderful state with its “wonderful government and wonderful schools,” which are “grossly underfunded.” He chided the governor for talking about other countries and states and not mentioning our wonderfulness.

He’ll oppose income tax reduction, which would enrich the rich and further impoverish the poor. But he came out strongly for property tax cuts, which doesn’t make much sense because more than half that money goes to fund those “grossly” underfunded schools, and the state has absolutely nothing to do with property taxes. And oh, yes, he wants state government employees to be appreciated. He believes several agency heads should continue running for office and not be appointed by a governor.

When Gov. Carroll Campbell lowered taxes on long-term capital gains from 7 percent to 3.9 percent over rich-vs.-poor protestations from Democratic legislators, state revenues from that source went up from $30 million to $50 million (yes, I said up — you lower them and money pours in; the rich pay more, not less). They’re now $76 million.

There are three Southern states more successful than we with no — zero — state income taxes or capital gains taxes. Our state income taxes kick in at $2,460 in taxable income (talk about poor!) at 3.5 percent and gradually rise to 7 percent at $12,000. Those other states do much better than we do at attracting affluent retirees, black and white, and new high-tech, tax-aware industries.

Gov. Sanford’s budgets have increased public K-12 funds by $230 million, and his proposed budget adds another $134 million. But to use Sen. Land’s word, it’s “grossly” misallocated: Not enough hits the classroom. Our wonderful state is the 43rd poorest. We’re in 49th place in the percentage of young people who finish high school.

Our governmental structure was established by a constitution written in the late 19th century. During the ensuing period, we were a one-party state, Democratic, which made government simple and unresponsive. An example of simplicity would be the fact that a lieutenant governor would be, of course, a member of the governor’s party.

During much of that period, education carried a low priority. The black kids got the dribs and drabs, and a man like Coleman Blease, running successfully for governor in 1914 and later U.S. senator, mused aloud that too much education for the poor white kids might make for mischief within the family. We’re still playing catch-up.

South Carolina didn’t get any real educational accountability until a bill requiring it passed under David Beasley in 1998. And excellence, even now, can be in the eye of the beholder.

John Land and his party are standing athwart history and yelling “Stop!” As with the national Democratic Party, they’re bereft of ideas. We are in so many ways a “wonderful” state, but Democrats don’t seem to have a clue. Democratic candidates for president keep trying that old politics of envy bit, and Americans don’t buy it. The man driving by my house in a pickup with ladders hanging alongside may be a millionaire. In America, some rich people lose their money, and lots of poor people get rich.

If our South Carolina Democrats don’t wake up to the 21st century, they’ll be as irrelevant as the Republicans were in some of the 20th.

Mr. Cunningham lives in Orangeburg and has been president and CEO of five corporations.