Mid-Term Election 2006

Wow, did Tuesday night surprise anyone else besides me? Yeah, I know everyone loves to talk about what they knew before election night after it is all over with but I think most Republicans in SC and across the country got a few surprises. I think the biggest surprise here in SC was the fact that Karen Floyd lost. I think most of us thought that race was in the bag for the most part. Just goes to show you that you always have to fight like you are losing until the moment you win. Nationally I thought we would lose some ground in the House and the Senate but I thought it would be a lot less than what it was.
Less us not focus too much on the negative because the night did offer up some positives for SC. We kept an awesome and conservative governor in office and we still have a champion Congressman in House district 3. We took the office of the Treasurer and we passed a stack of important Constitutional amendments to include the marriage amendment. I think now is the time for us to look forward and refocus our energy on the next two years. Nationally we have to win back the voting public’s confidence and get back to traditional conservative values. Across the state I feel like we need to tap into true fiscal conservatism while focusing on bringing in more jobs and bringing up education.
In Anderson County we had both positives and negatives depending on who you are. However, we do have some new fresh faces and hopefully some new ideas coming onto the scene shortly. I hope that everyone will go into this new year with optimism and an open mind with a hopeful heart that positive changes are forthcoming. I congratulate all the candidates that were willing to put their hat in the ring whether they won are lost. I know from personal experience that even if you lose, you still come out of it with a healthy helping of positives and a closer connection with the community. I wish all of us the best for the future! Thank you.

Matthew T. Hilley

An appropriate and awesome quote by President Theodore Roosevelt:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”