Bob Bestler | One-party tilt in S.C. inspires extremes

On vacation last week in Hilton Head Island, I played golf at the Old South course with a retired bank executive from Illinois.

He was a strange one, indeed, because he was a Democrat. Trust me. That is still a rare sighting around a golf course, where my Obama bumper sticker is a mighty lonely thing.

Not surprisingly, I suppose, he knew a lot more about S.C. politics than I knew about Illinois politics. We have, after all, become famous.

He knew about Alvin Greene and, like most of us, could barely hold his contempt for Greene and the Democrats who foolishly nominated him to run for the U.S. Senate.

He also knew about Mark Sanford's Appalachian trip, Jim DeMint's right-wing fervor and Joe Wilson's State of the Union outburst. He knew a little bit about the Nikki Haley-Sarah Palin connection.

What he didn't know is that there is no end in sight to the Republican hold on South Carolina. If there were any doubt as to whether this had become a virtual one-party state, it should have been dispelled Nov. 2.

Republicans won every statewide race and five of six congressional seats. They also increased their already commanding numbers in the General Assembly.

Republicans rule Greenville-Spartanburg, Columbia-Lexington and all the coastal counties, including Horry. Only in Georgetown County is there any sort of Democratic presence, though it wasn't strong enough this year to save Vida Miller's seat. (She lost to a 22-year-old who just happened to have an "R'' after his name.)

Since 1987, Republicans have held the governorship for all but four years - and those when Democrat Jim Hodges promised an S.C. lottery that would help fund education. Once the lottery was in place, Hodges was history.

Republicans may be rejoicing, but a one-party state does no one any good.

Experts would argue that without a strong opposition party, there is less public dialogue about solving our problems; greater opportunity for corruption; growing cynicism among voters; and increasingly extreme candidates.

Don't believe me on that last part? Remember that Lindsey Graham, a conservative who can work with both sides of the Senate aisle, is considered a traitor by many S.C. Republicans. His crime? Well, he had the audacity to vote for two highly qualified Supreme Court candidates who had been nominated, gracious sakes, by a Democrat.

God help us.