Bauer’s awkward remarks should not silence discussion about the culture of failure.

Lt. Governor Andre Bauer is a risk taker. VUI admires that about him. Bauer is known for speeding and airplanes, but he is also known for running for offices that people told him he was too young for and for taking on initiatives, such as taking the Office of Aging on as a Lt. Governor’s duty, that people said were beyond him. Along the way, Bauer has defeated seasoned political veterans and political heirs at the polls and survived.

So, it was no surprise that Lt. Governor Bauer took on entitlements recently. Bauer is the little guy who goes and picks a fight with the biggest guy in the room. What was a surprise was how Bauer flubbed it up. Bauer’s poor choice of analogy and his mentioning of the school lunch program were damaging to his chances to be elected Governor, even with Republicans. It also let the bigger debate about entitlements slip away.

To be frank, there is a culture of failure in South Carolina. It drags school performance and the state’s economy down. There are pockets of that culture of failure in which success is ridiculed and stupidity and laziness are championed. No amount of money and no government program, however cleverly designed, will work if people are proud to fail.

Any candidate of either party aspiring to be Governor of South Carolina should address that culture of failure. Bauer was right to address it, but so wrong in how he did it.

Bauer lost the high ground when he stated that his grandmother, who he claimed was not very educated, for whatever reason, told him to “quit feeding stray animals because they breed,” as a analogy in his remarks about people receiving public assistance. The vast majority of South Carolinians are not comfortable with comparing the family down the street on welfare with the neighborhood stray cat. It was a politically dumb analogy to offer.

Also, Bauer’s suggestion that parents be required to attend PTA or parent teacher conferences if their children receive free or reduced lunch was politically tone deaf. Fair or not, Bauer’s suggestion made him seem callous to kids who cannot control their parents behavior and ignorant of the fact that a good many parents work nights when such meetings happen. Think about it. If a single mom is struggling to make ends meet, should we make her take a night off work, and lose her pay for the night, to go to a PTA meeting so her kid can get a free or reduced lunch?

There is another way to look at such. Suppose a child rides the bus to and from school. From seven in the morning to four in the afternoon, the state has “custody” of that child. Should the state deny that student something to eat during the day because that student’s parent’s boss would not let them off to attend a PTA meeting?

Lt. Governor Bauer’s idea about making people who accept public assistance take drug tests makes sense. The taxpayers have no business funding someone’s drug habit. However, VUI would take additional steps. All government officials and contractors should be required to have random drug tests as well. If we are not going to pay for some welfare mom to get pot, we do not need to pay some public official to do similar drugs. (Exceptions would have to be made for public officials in regards to alcohol and certain BBQ sauce ingredients, in order to make sure that we actually have enough people to serve.)

Lt. Governor Bauer’s remarks were disappointing. They did not reflect his years of service and they probably hurt his candidacy more than helped it. More importantly, his awkward remarks likely took discussion of the culture of failure in this state off the political table. That is unfortunate. South Carolina needs to discuss the culture of failure in a rational and respectful manner. Far too many of our people are lost to it for it to be ignored again this election cycle. We should worry about that culture of failure because those trapped in it are not stray animals, but they are our fellow human beings.