Tea & Pickles Served In Amazonia, SC

Some weeks ago, the SC House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted (R’s and D’s) to unravel our deal with the Internet sales powerhouse, Amazon.com. The morning after the vote, folks inside the (I-77) loop were buzzing, Facebooking, and Tweeting all about it. Everyone I ran into wanted to talk about the Amazon thing, and I was no different.

I may or may not know what I’m typing about, but here’s my voice of reason as of 12:29 tonight. Opportunity is a curious thing. Even though most definitions of the term contain the word “favorable”, “opportunities” can be uncomfy. “Uncomfy” notwithstanding, our group at the state house needs to know a good thing when they see it.

If you know a little bit about what’s going on, you know many House Republicans
are in a political pickle. They’re wrestling with whether to vote for the Sanford/Amazon agreement, or stick to the Tea Party mantra of, “less gov’t involvement.” Remember, the Tea Party is what got many of them elected, and to many, that’s all that matters.

Enter Governor Haley… or not. House Republicans seem to be desperately looking for a blessing. Before the first vote, she split the fence pretty well. After the vote, she hopped on the outcome with positive and pretty declarative statements. Fast forward a few weeks, and she can’t shove the toothpaste back in the tube, no matter how badly Tea Party Republicans want her to try.

This reminds me of when Republicans thought it was a good idea to sign the “No New Taxes” pledge. Well, signers of this “pledge” couldn’t vote for the inevitable cigarette tax, no matter how popular. They were in a trap (pickle), as we all watched tens of millions of dollars pass by, along with 3 to 1 (YES, 3 to 1! = hundreds of millions) matching funds from the U.S. government. Some of me wanted to take a “Common Sense Pledge” to the statehouse that would’ve read, “This Pledge trumps all…” You get the idea.

Two quick, but blatant thoughts:

1. We made a deal. That’s that.
2. Amazon.com is an INTERNET company. We’re going to buy shirts and kick balls
   from them, no matter where they’re domiciled. Does that make any sense? We don’t know where the books or whatever are coming from. We have no idea. We simply click, “Buy Now” or “Add To Cart.” So… why can’t South Carolinians pack the goods, when the goods are going to be bought and shipped anyway?

Further, does anyone care that the public was hoodwrankled into thinking that “Main St.” was behind the public relations effort, when it was big boxers like Wal-Mart and Target lobbying at the State House all along? Further still, does anyone else not think it’s odd that a few days after the Amazon.com vote, Wal-Mart announced thousands of new jobs were on the way? Sure, we celebrated for a few hours. That is until we learned these new jobs were retail, which means South Carolina will be dotted with many more Wal-Mart stores. Hmmm… any idea who the real threat to Main St./small business is? Does anyone see the poopie circle?

I’m anxious to see how this turns out. It’ll be interesting to see if Governor Haley will take the lead either way, or if the House of Representatives can or will get this done without her blessing. It’s almost like they want her to take the political ax for them. Who knows, but after all is said and done, all we may be left with is a nice shiny lawsuit from a global giant that has already started building. Ugh.

Paraphrasing someone, “Not to worry. If you miss an opportunity, it is not lost. Someone else will find it.”

This shoe fits, whether a South Carolinian packs it… or a Tennesseean does.