28 days ago, I had just wrapped up a trip to California mixed with business and pleasure.  For my entire adult life with my bride Suzy (almost 31 years of marriage after 4 years of dating), I long wanted to take her to visit my family in California and to show her where I lived as a little boy.  This particular trip, planned for two years, was a dream come true!

After she returned home to Edgefield County, I spent the second half of that trip preparing business plans, thinking about things I hope to execute in the next few years, and meeting with individuals who are passionate about things I am passionate about.

Our world has changed since I returned home to South Carolina, Monday March 2, 2020.

28 days ago, our economy was booming.  28 days ago, unemployment rates were at historic lows especially for the African American and Hispanic American communities.  Today, they are higher than we faced during the Great Depression, and our economy faces an unknown future as we fight an enemy we cannot see, the COVID-19 virus.  Last week, our Federal Government passed a stimulus bill that is the greatest single spending bill in the history of our republic.

The projected date for peak COVID-19 cases varies, depending on who you listen to. In a March 27 press conference with South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster and Senator Tim Scott, South Carolina’s Senior Senator Lindsey Graham stated,  “While it is expected the summer heat will help end the spread of virus, we could expect a rebound in the fall,” (paraphrased), an indication that we really don’t know the length or impact of this current crisis.

My thinking has been profoundly impacted by this pandemic, my participation in daily state-wide conference calls on handing this issue and speaking with Edgefield County constituents during the past two weeks.  I will share an important decision after discussing three key factors:

First, during my California trip, I wrote my article posted on March 16^th, (linked), mentioning the two non-routine items County Council has planned to execute this year: The Capital Project Sales Tax and the Land Management Ordnance Project. At the time I wrote that, I didn’t have any doubts these items could be completed in 2020.  Both projects have either their own commission or steering committee, which hold regular meetings, which should be open to the public.  Due to COVID-19, we made the decision to postpone both meetings last week, until next month.  Currently, it is unclear how long this trend will be required to continue.  For the future success of Edgefield County, I care deeply about seeing these projects executed during my tenure serving you on County Council.

Second, during the last two weeks, I have talked a lot with residents in the Sweetwater and Merriwether sections of the county.  Honestly, I sought to persuade many of them to run for the District 5 Council seat.  With the 2020 Census, the growth District 5 is facing, and also considering  how the 2030 census will impact future County Council Districts, I believe it is critically important we have representation from District 5 that has strong ties to the unfolding history of District 5.  The vast majority of those I spoke with encouraged me to serve one more term, since the timing wasn’t right for them to serve.

Third, I have talked with constituents inside the county but outside District 5, who told me they were appreciative of my time serving as Chairman of County Council, and they did not want me to leave that position for at least one more term.

Based on these three factors, I have decided to file and run for another term. For those registered to vote in District 5, I sincerely hope to have your support at the ballot box at the Primary on June 9^th.

This is week three in a three-week series on things I am thankful for.  The first two subjects were work and family.  Today’s subject is grace.  Three things definitely worthy of our thankfulness, three things we definitely need, and three things connected.

I often address the theme that most of life’s issues are non-respecter of person issues.  Meaning that regardless of one’s race, socio-economic status, faith, education level, nationality or geographic region, the issue being discussed affects all of us equally.  That is definitely true when it comes to the three things I have stated I am thankful for.  Regardless of our background, all of us need to work, we all need family, and we all need grace – and we should be grateful for these things!

I went to thesaurus.com to consider all the words related to grace. It’s amazing as you can see, http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/grace. It is interesting to look at the antonyms as well.

Ultimately, I was thinking about forgiveness.

This Thanksgiving season we are coming out of a Presidential election where the word vitriolic sounds like an understatement.  Following the election, the vitriol evidenced on the nightly news seems historically high.

I returned to thesaurus.com again to look up vitriol.  The words that came up are: nastiness, contempt, hostility, sarcasm, distain, hatefulness, maliciousness.  There are more – but that sums up what we have witnessed on the nightly news since we elected our next Commander in Chief, Donald Trump.

In multiple cities we have witnessed organized protests where citizens who, rather than getting permits and protesting peacefully which is their First Amendment right, have, among other things, inconvenienced their fellow citizens by shutting down traffic which defies the rule of law, meanwhile chanting “Not my President!”

So, I decided to do a little research on the closeness of Presidential elections.  The electoral college is an important part of our republic, but today I am specifically speaking about the popular vote.  Our electoral history has produced 45 Presidents as a result of 58 elections.  Out of 58 elections, 7 were decided with less than a 1 % margin in the popular vote, 11 with less than a 3 % margin and 17 with less than a 5 % margin.  Stated differently, almost a third of our national elections for Commander in Chief have been decided by a less than 5 % margin of the popular vote.

Division in our country is not new, but the lack of grace is, at least for most of us.

I don’t know about you, but I find this troubling.  Especially when I consider the gospel message from Mark 6:14 & 15 “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Just like my previous editorials of things I am thankful for, work and family, there is an indication that the things we are thankful for include responsibility.  We can be thankful for work, and are responsible to work.  We can be thankful for family, and we have a responsibility to family.  Finally, we can be thankful for grace, but in order to receive grace, we have a responsibility, indeed a moral obligation to provide it.

I wish you and your family a rewarding Thanksgiving week.  In our republic, we have much to be thankful for.  After we recover from overeating and excessive football this weekend, I hope each of us will think about how we can be more graceful as we go about the work of providing for our family, the lowest level of civil governance and the communities we choose to reside in.

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As a result of my four-week series on Fatherhood, I was interviewed by Bill Pickle, on American Patriot Radio.  I’d like to share that interview with you, which actually covered a wide range of issues in addition to fatherhood – to include my involvement with High Frontier, and securing our state and nation’s electric grid.

Bill is a fellow South Carolinian, who also served the state of South Carolina in Cleveland last month at the Republican National Convention.  I will be on his show again in the future, discussing other issues, to include our time together in Cleveland, the process involved in serving as a delegate, and how the Republican Party works.  There has been a resurgence of activity within the party – and 2017 is going to be an exciting time, as we think about Precinct Reorganization and supporting our Party Platform and Principles.

The articles on fatherhood, which precipitated the interview can be found by clicking on the links below:

Fatherhood Part One

Fatherhood Part Two

Fatherhood Part Three – Fatherlessness Creates Dependency

Fatherhood Part Four – Fatherhood and Independence

If you have comments about the editorials, please leave them at The Edgefield Advertiser website.  If you appreciate them, please share!

I hope you have a productive week!

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I have the privilege of sitting on a porch my great-grandfather sat on as our republic prepared for WWI. The same porch my grandfather sat on as he lived through the depression and our republic prepared for WWII.  The same porch my father sat on as he worked through the issues of the Cold War.

Today, I sit on that same porch as my generation, and the generation of my sons try to figure out a way to pay off the existing debt and unfunded liabilities our elected leaders have created for us since WWII.

With the crumbling infrastructure we face at the same time as the out of control and mis-prioritized spending – combined with the global insecurity we face, the road ahead can seem daunting.

I am, however encouraged. My son and his entrepreneurial spirit encourages me. His friends who are also entrepreneurs encourage me. His friends, and other young family members who are serving or have served in the armed services, in addition to the countless others who are serving in the armed services, also encourage me. Technology and the ability / opportunity to self-educate also encourages me. The young man I met this past Saturday in Columbia, SC who will be a junior in high school this year, who is organizing conservative groups in high schools all through-out our state encourages me.

I believe the next greatest generation is being assembled – and with the right mentorship from the middle-aged, of which I consider myself a part, and older generation, my father’s generation – I have great hope for our republic.

I also was with some folks this past weekend who were saying, “God is coming back soon,” almost as if we should take our hands off the steering wheel He charged us to steward. To those folks I say – “Let us live as if He is returning tomorrow, but work as if He isn’t returning for a thousand years!”

This is the first part of a four-part series surrounding the issue of fatherhood, which I believe is one of the most pressing issues of our day, and appropriate since this month we celebrate Fatherhood on June 19^th.

I do find it interesting I wrote this on Saturday night, the night before the terrorist attack in Orlando, Florida.  In this editorial, I referenced both my grandfather and my great-grandfather sitting on the porch thinking through the issues surrounding the World Wars they lived through.  There are some who believe World War III has already begun, we simply have not had our Pearl Harbor moment, yet.

I hope you have a blessed week.

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P.S.  As we reflect on this inter-generational baton race we are in, you may be interested in the article I wrote last week, as we remember the Allied invasion of Normandy.  Click Here to read that!  If you find it interesting, please leave a comment!

So many folks tell me their perception is my life is centered in politics. The reality is my heart is concerned with culture – and politics is simply downstream of where my heart is.

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The life of my family has gone through extreme transitions in the last three years.  I am not going to list them here – but suffice it to say that in 2012 we started a journey that was 180 degrees from the path we were on, and drastically different than anything we had planned on in the two decades leading up to our transition. As is the case with all of life, road blocks and speed bumps have been visited along the way. We are grateful for the hardships, challenges, opportunities and the triumphs!

One of the focuses I had when leading a civic organization in Fredericksburg, VA in 2011 and 2012, prior to moving to South Carolina, was to be strategic in that organizations communications.  It was critical to me that we stopped overwhelming our member’s e-mail boxes. So we diligently strived to have only one communication via e-mail per week.  We gave folks who found us via social media, or through the forwarding of e-mails an opportunity to subscribe to our communications.  More importantly – we gave people an opportunity to opt out, or stop receiving our communications without having to tell us.  What we found during that time period – is our overall readership drastically increased.  Our readership and influence increased when we began limiting our total communications.

I share those two things with you because since that time period, due to my life and professional experiences I have had the heart to write on a multitude of issues.  I believe the vast majority of these issues impact and interest you and your sphere of influence.  Honestly, the majority of the issues are about business, life and culture, not politics – but as I mentioned starting out – politics is downstream.  It isn’t downstream of only culture, but just everything in life.  Furthermore, due to our transition I have not been able to commit the time, or quite honestly with everything going on, have the discipline required to be consistent in writing.  Beginning June 1^st of 2015 I am now committing a portion of each week toward this effort.

I would like your permission to once a week share links to my writings and thoughts with you via e-mail – which will always link back to my personal website.  If you would like to receive this weekly summary – please sign up in the upper right hand corner of this page.

What will the topics cover, you may ask?

Through my career I have been engaged in the following industries: Travel, Big Box Retailing, Banking, Technology, Agriculture, Non-Profit Work and Political Campaigns.  My life experiences have taken me all around our great country, Europe, Israel and the former U.S.S.R.  I have lived in communities, and with housemates, which were extremely diverse and communities which were not. I have friends and mentors which are at very high levels of the worldly “success” spectrum as well as friends and mentors who are not, but although they don’t outwardly exude worldly “success,” they truly are the salt of the earth.

I mention all of that simply because most of the issues we face today are what I call “non-respecter of person” issues.  In other words, they impact everyone – and despite our leadership wanting to put us into boxes based on race, gender, socio-economic status, nationality or faith – we are all part of the same human race.

So, the topics will be varied and on things that impact us all.

I am going to close with something I shared on my Facebook Wall last night:

“I honestly think the years ahead of us are going to be the most challenging, but also the most exhilarating. God placed each of us here for this time, and this place.

Yes – there will be many of us who will see the proper course, who will come up severely lacking in will and resolve. But I believe there are vastly more individuals His Spirit is preparing in ways we cannot comprehend – and in the end, good will be achieved.

Lots of negative things being reported out there.  Chaos and negativity sells – for some reason.  But there are good things happening too.  Bridges being built – people seeking to understand vs. simply being understood – folks getting outside of their boxes and comfort zones – and legitimate love and charity taking place.”

I can’t wait for the future!

#BringItOn #LetsRoll

Again – if you would like to subscribe to my weekly summaries, please do so in the upper right hand corner of this page.

Blessings,

Scott Cooper

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