THE PARTY’S OVER!
Happy New Year!
Welcome to 2026, and with the turning of the calendar, party season is behind us! From the York County United Gala in November and throughout December, culminating in the NYE celebration, for many of us it has been one party after another. (I’m exhausted!)
But all of this party business has put me in mind of our ‘2-party system’ of politics. And then I read this piece written recently by 1st Judicial Circuit Solicitor and candidate for Attorney General David Pascoe. Key point: “Conservatives are not really in charge of South Carolina – the lawyer-legislator uniparty is.” (As the saying goes, read the whole thing.)
This article illustrates a truism in politics. Yes, there are 2 parties. And, yes, there are differences between them. But much as there are differences between the Harlem Globetrotters and the Washington Generals, the whole point of those differences is ‘the show.’
The reality is that there are moneyed interests that, for the most part, do not change. Politicians come and go, but the moneyed interests remain. And those interests are happy to ‘invest’ in either party so long as they get their agenda enacted.
It has ever been thus. On occasion, however, a politician will come along who bucks the moneyed interests – Abraham Lincoln, JFK, Ronald Reagan, Donald John Trump come to mind. And what do these disrupters get for their trouble? Well, they get shot. The moneyed interests REALLY don’t like having their influence disrupted.
Despite the above, we in the GOP are often told that we MUST support the GOP no matter what. Democrats are told the same (vote blue, no matter who they say). And yet, we clearly see in our own state that the GOP leadership in the house has taken extraordinary steps to defeat Freedom Caucus candidates (i.e., genuinely conservative Republicans) and make common cause with Democrats. Similarly, the SCGOP has been at war with the county GOP organizations that have, since the stolen 2020 election, been taken over by the grassroots.
The REAL split in politics, it turns out, is between those of us in the grassroots that want LESS government, LESS corruption (hello Minnesota?) and, by extension, MORE freedom and those OF BOTH PARTIES who want the opposite.
So, as we look forward to 2026 and the coming political cycle, discernment will be critical. We in the GOP expect a, uh, lively primary season. So, mark your calendars, folks, for June 9th. If you want the grassroots to prevail, it’ll need to be with enough true grassroots support to overcome the inevitable Democrat presence voting for the most liberal Republican (i.e., Democrat in disguise) in every race.
Scott Anderson
YCGOP Chairman