Welcome, Dems, to an uneasy state

e-mail this story discuss this issue in our forums Paul Hyde • Welcome, Dems, to an uneasy state (01/28/04) • 'Cold Mountain' adds to South's long debate (01/14/04) • Education is not the priority for delegation (10/22/03) • Lawmakers must listen to victims of violence (09/18/03) • Sanford should act against violence (07/31/03) More details Write to Paul Hyde, editorial page associate editor, at phyde@greenvillenews.com.

But that doesn't mean South Carolinians will turn a deaf ear to the Democratic candidates debating tonight at Greenville's Peace Center.

Quite the contrary. The Democrats likely will find a highly receptive audience throughout the state.

The reason: We've got a lot of problems here. We're interested in solutions and leadership.

Not that we'll buy everything we hear, but we'll certainly listen.

Fact is, South Carolinians are very worried. Last year we were battered by the biggest job losses in the nation. Add to that concern: rising health-care costs, skyrocketing college tuition, thousands of teacher layoffs and big property tax increases.

No wonder we're worried.

In addition, of course, we share the broad concerns of all Americans about the menace of international terrorism and the troubling conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Welcome, Democrats, to South Carolina, the State of Unease.

But the most urgent concern here? Jobs. South Carolina seems to specialize in losing them.

Last year, we shed 41,000 jobs. In percentage terms, South Carolina is No. 1 in the nation in job loss — a distinction we could do without.

South Carolina jettisoned jobs for three years in a row — the first time that has happened since the Great Depression, according to The (Columbia) State.

Almost half of the South Carolina jobs lost last year were in manufacturing. Particularly hard hit was the textile industry, which dropped almost 10 percent of its jobs — in one year.

Those still employed in textiles can be forgiven for worrying about whether they'll have a job tomorrow.

This is something a lot of Washington folks — and radio talk show yakmeisters — don't seem to get: The stock market is soaring and the overall economy is rebounding, creating a lot of wealth for the already wealthy, but that doesn't mean much to thousands of South Carolina textile workers in the unemployment lines. Unemployment is relatively high here, and a recent study found that the few jobs being created in the state pay a great deal less than the jobs that were lost.

No wonder we're worried.

That's why South Carolina, a strongly Republican state, may respond to the populist themes being emphasized by the Democratic presidential contenders. Populism — the people against the powerful — has been the guiding tenet of the Democratic presidential candidates this year.

Democrats are posing the right questions. Is unfettered "free trade" sacrificing American jobs? Have the Bush tax cuts, skewed toward the wealthy, gone too far? Should the tax cuts be repealed and the money used to boost K-12 spending, expand access to higher education and provide health coverage for millions of uninsured Americans?

Sen. John Edwards, South Carolina native and son of textile-working parents, argues that the Bush tax cuts reward "wealth, not work." He speaks often of the nation's obligation to "35 million Americans living in poverty."

Sen. John Kerry, the front-runner, rails against corporate crime and "Benedict Arnold" corporations that send jobs overseas. Like the other candidates, Kerry vows to fight the special interests to which he says the Bush administration is beholden — "big oil, polluters, HMOs and pharmaceutical companies."

The Democrats also blast Bush's record budget deficit (almost $500 billion), criticize the overreaching Patriot Act and many of them question whether the Iraq war was worth the number of American lives lost.

On these issues and others — such as how the nation will avoid the looming Social Security train wreck — Bush and the Democrats offer starkly divergent positions. Whoever wins the Democratic nomination, the nation is guaranteed a robust and healthy debate about today's vital public issues. South Carolina, with its first-in-the-South primary, is playing a crucial role in that process.