Dear Friends,

I wanted to share with you a letter we sent to Education Secretary Arne Duncan earlier today after the state Supreme Court ruled that our administration must apply for stimulus dollars no matter the consequences. You can read it online here.

While the stimulus battle may by and large be over, I believe these disastrous consequences – caused by using debt to solve problems created by too much debt – will soon come to bear in ways that affect each one of us today, and our children and grandchildren in the future. Still, there very much remains an opportunity to make your voice heard on this larger notion of fiscal responsibility and not spending money we don’t have as a state, or for that matter as a nation.

It’s vital we continue to speak up because the direction I believe Washington D.C. is now taking us is decidedly less toward freedom and prosperity, and more toward dependence upon a smothering, invasive government. This trend away from liberty grates against the tried and true principles of our Founders, and indeed it calls those of us committed to common sense conservative ideas to work that much harder in defending them. Thomas Paine’s words ring true today: ‘those who expect to reap the benefits of freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it.’

Thank you again for your efforts in this larger struggle over the last few months, and your continued dedication to things I believe worth fighting for. Take care.

Sincerely,

Mark Sanford