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With exquisite timing this column praised Rep. Ralph Norman (R., S.C.) less than two weeks before his U.S. Senate primary defeat. Mr. Norman certainly deserved kudos for opposing corporate welfare in the solar power industry. But perhaps fans of small government shouldn’t shed any tears, because recent events have given some cause for optimism about Mr. Norman’s victorious primary opponent. Sen. Darline Graham, who is finishing the term of her late brother, Lindsey, and now seeking re-election, talked in last week’s
debate with Rep. Norman about her efforts in state government to eliminate duplicative services. She also noted her work on a training program for people with vision impairments and reported rising employment among the trainees and less reliance on government assistance. This last part may seem like an obvious goal of such a program. Unfortunately many modern politicians, from Barack Obama to Bernie Sanders, now measure success—especially in healthcare—by the number of people enrolled in government plans, not the quality of their outcomes. It’s nice to see that Sen. Graham understands that results matter. In her recent debate with Rep. Norman, both candidates left a lot to be desired when answering questions on artificial intelligence. They seemed to be competing to see who could offer the more fearful embrace of
regulation—as if bureaucrats would wisely and skillfully guide the development of this technology. Neither candidate hit it out of the park on a related question about building data centers, but to her credit Sen. Graham had the better message, correctly pointing out that AI is not a competition that America can afford to lose to China. In her Tuesday victory speech, Sen. Graham also made it clear that she understands that it takes liberty to make the Palmetto State economy go. “People are moving to South Carolina in droves to get away from the blue-state policies of the democratic socialists,” she said. When an audience member responded enthusiastically, Sen. Graham smiled and acknowledged the eager voter and said “Yeah, yeah, I remember you—Massachusetts, right?” *** In Other News
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