I still do not understand how the GOP is in bed with Christian Evangelicals. There seems to be not one commandment Trump and his fellow GOPers have not broken. They are narcissists and love the feeling of power over others. Is there one policy that has been put forth to enhance our lives? To protect our earth?
25
“Some core, fundamental beliefs,” he said, “I can’t get away from.”
It is not all that difficult to understand Mr. Tafta's position. If he was brought up in a religious household, attended church regularly, believed everything he was taught without question and now has to confront those beliefs with the reality of Trump and the GOP, the guilt from deserting those beliefs must be devastating.
12
Y'all seem confused by what core fundamental Christian beliefs are. As long as your ordained political party habitually defends the core position that a woman has no right to choose abortion nothing else said, performed, or enacted by said ordained political party and personalities within said political party can be incorrect. Smote me for my over simplification.
14
The hysteria spreading through both the Republican and Democratic Parties concerning Senator Sanders socialistic ideology is just that, hysteria. Senator Sanders "socialistic" intentions are largely confined to health care, as in the vast majority of other developed nations in the free world with market based economies. The Democratic Party is the democratic party, it is diverse and all segments of the Party need to have a seat at the table when its nominee and platform are finalized.
3
Commenters can't understand why Mr. Tafta says Trump agrees with his "core Christian beliefs". I will translate for you. For "core Christian beliefs" substitute "stance on abortion". Single-issue voters elected Trump.
15
Christian values! Christianity has been re-interpreted many times. It experienced a rebirth between 1960 and 1980 because astute religious leaders realized that women's liberation threatened the status of men! Christian values now stand for "keep women in their place."
The other thread of Christian values is the idea that God will bless the faithful here on earth: he will provide health, prosperity, and power. It isn't mostly Jesus that is invoke, It's the "All-powerful God."
5
As an American/Canadian I have personally experienced both countries Health Care Systems, and would definitely support Bernie Sanders Medicare for All. Having worked on the Obama Campaigns and the 2016 Sanders Campaign I am tired of hearing about the misinformation about Medicare for All, will impose on my Fellow Americans. I did compare the two systems, OHIP (Ontario) spends about 30 of General Taxation revenues to fund a system with Private Doctors, Private Clinics, Private Hospitals, no Pre existing Conditions, No Limits on Doctor visits, No copayments ( generally), Controlled Drug Costs, so you can visit the Doctor of your choice, get 2nd and 3rd opinions, if you like, and not go bankrupt getting open heart surgery. Simply put, for all the Republicans and some Democrats , who have an innate fear of Medicare for all, is this not what you profess Bernie will take away. Obama and the weak kneed Democrats were afraid to institute a Single Payer System, and essentially their Failures created "Trumpism". Everybody needs Healthcare ,Republicans,Democrats, even White Supremacists. Republicans took control denigrating Obamacare, and Democrats took back the House in 2018, because Republicans failed to deliver on Healthcare. Why is hard for my fellow Americans to understand that is better to walk around with a Health Card that gives you access to any hospital, or doctors office, with out copayments, etc.? Yes, no Canadians are dying on the streets without Heath Care, or Access.
5
Great example of the fundamental problems America has. I've got mine, you get your own!
Lack of empathy for our fellow human beings denies the values our country was founded upon; we are all equal we all have the same rights, government is there tp protect everyone's rights and be accountable to the governed.
South Carolinians must elect representatives who look out for the well-being of all citizens. The inequality shouts for action.
4
I have been a resident of Upstate SC for the past 30 years. The article captures the area's success in transitioning from a center for textile manufacturing to a more diversified collection of foreign owned manufacturers. However, the economic development impacts of this transition are not as impressive as implied by the article. Per capita personal income in the US increased by 102% (1988-2018) while increasing only 86% in the SC Upstate for the same period. In addition, per capita personal income in Greenville County (the Upstate's highest income county) was only 88% of the US average in 2018. Thus there is progress in the SC Upstate, but a continued focus on recruiting manufacturing activity (foreign and domestic) is not likely the solution to closing the national-regional income gap. Current efforts to improve labor force quality and encourage entrepreneurs are promising approaches for future development, but these programs would benefit from additional support.
4
It's a nice snapshot look at Greenville. The article is an accurate representation, but the link to an appeal for Sanders is not unique to Greenville. As a long-time Greenville resident, I have a network of Democratic friends, and what I've seen is that millennials favor Sanders and the rest of us want someone else: Buttigieg, Warren, Steyer, Klobuchar. But, in the past week, everyone I've talked to believes they have to give up on their favorite candidate and vote for Biden to slow Sanders' momentum. This would explain the way Biden's support is surging in the polls and the other non-Sanders candidates have lost steam here.
9
The Upstate is a good model for successful marketplace adaptation. There was a large workforce of non-union, former textile industry employees who were familiar with working in manufacturing - very attractive to global companies, who were happy to re-train for their needs. Former governor Carroll Campbell led efforts to bring overseas businesses to the Upstate. Meanwhile, Greenville's civic community recognized that polarization undermined quality of life. Unfortunately, the rest of the state continues to lag in education, employment and social services, dragged down by fundamental religious beliefs and racism. Old times there are definitely not forgotten.
7
Trump is certainly aligned with the core values of white conservative evangelicalism.
The question that needs to be raised so urgently is whether the values, and indeed doctrine, of white conservative evangelicalism cohere with the gospel as taught in Scripture and embraced by the universal Christian church.
I am convinced that they do not.
31
@Paul C. McGlasson I'm confused: How can you say that a man who's had three wives and admittedly cheated on at least one of them, who's bought a portrait of himself with funds from his own charitable foundation, and who has spoken with the truth of the moment is aligned with Christian values?
4
@Paul C. McGlasson: Yes, I wonder if Mr. Tafta's core fundamental beliefs include adherence to Matthew 25:40-- And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
I understand some fundamental sects try to say this only applies to Jesus's buddies the disciples. I doubt he meant it that way
2
An area with its less than diverse people, rooted traditions and ways, is challenged by events and forces it can not control. It nearly "dies" in ways that environments can and do. Some people organize. In a timely way. To make a difference which can make a needed difference. And they succeed. As many do. And so many others don't. In a dynamic reality whose interacting dimensions of uncertainties, unpredictabilities, randomness, impermanences, outliers and lack of total control, not withstanding one's efforts, timely or not, are ever-present.
An easy descriptive read. Semantically inspiring, even with "spots" of those being left behind. A hopeful description for which helpful explanations could be included in a follow-up article. Who and what created the first steps? What enabled the " recovery" to continue? Who were the individual and systemic stakeholders? As enablers? As barriers? What types of failures occurred? In what ways, actually, daily, as well as metaphorically is "Fail better" part of the Upstate lifestyle now? If it is? What role has, does, personal accountability play in daily life, at different levels, as numbers of new comers, and more rooted folk, vote for a person whose norms, values and ethics desecrate personal accountability? The law. Facts. Truth. Mutual trust. Respect. Civility. Compassion. Fundamentals of menschlichkeit.
“Some core, fundamental beliefs,” he said, “I can’t get away from.”
And yet so many people can. And do. Even in Upstate.
8
Sanders is not a critic of globalization, as this article states. He supports what's called fair trade, where workers in other countries receive the same pay, health benefits, and worker protections that Americans do.
It's a way of leveling the playing field so Americans don't have to compete with low-wage foreign workers. It could induce some firms not to outsource, and otherwise treat foreign workers better.
He would like all green energy and product firms to be built in the U.S.
That "upstate" brought jobs and higher salaries to Americans in North Carolina is a good thing and something Sanders supports.
But the gentrification, kicking people of color out if their homes, and their lack of equal opportunity in education and accessibility to jobs he would not support.
The attitude of Evangelical Christians and their alliance with the Republican Party is strange, because elected Republicans' actions are very far from the precepts of Christianity.
Democrats, on the other hand, won't use fake Christianity to win votes. Dems do not care what religion you are, as long as you follow the law.
It seems like the economically depressed N.C. needs Sanders, to lift tariffs, introduce fairplay into development, education and jobs, and provide healthcare for all -- and upstate's golden goose will do just fine.
11
@Lilou
I have never once heard Sanders say he was against globalization! Where did that come from???
He is against the inequities that have resulted from companies basing on strategies on earning more money for the corporation but not sharing the benefits with workers. Over time, globalization has become synonymous with outsourcing, causing people to lose jobs to cheaper labor found in other places, other countries.
What clouds the picture is the loss of familiar sources of identity, that is, one's home and comfortable community no longer look and feel the same. The conclusion is that globalization has stolen one's sense of belonging.
The oversimplified, misinterpreted notions of "globalization is bad" that has ensued from this twisted logic neglects to recognize the massive benefits that increased global connections have brought.
Sander's message invokes the balancing of benefits of globalization by ensuring all have access to the those elements that make us feel like we belong to the progress - not only watch the rich thus powerful enjoy the fruits of works' labor.
1
@Lilou This article is about South Carolina, not North Carolina.
3
@Lilou the article is about Greenville, South Carolina, not North Carolina. Two very different cities
3
Sanders is not a critic of globalization, as this article states. He supports what's called fair trade, where workers in other countries receive the same pay, health benefits, and worker protections that Americans do.
It's a way of leveling the playing field so Americans don't have to compete with low-wage foreign workers. It could induce some firms not to outsource, and otherwise treat foreign workers better.
He would like all green energy and product firms to be built in the U.S.
That "upstate" brought jobs and higher salaries to Americans in North Carolina is a good thing and something Sanders supports.
But the gentrification, kicking people of color out if their homes, and their lack of equal opportunity in education and accessibility to jobs he would not support.
The attitude of Evangelical Christians and their alliance with the Republican Party is strange, because elected Republicans' actions are very far from the precepts of Christianity.
Democrats, on the other hand, won't use fake Christianity to win votes. Dems do not care what religion you are, as long as you follow the law.
It seems like the economically depressed N.C. needs Sanders, to lift tariffs, introduce fairplay into development, education and jobs, and provide healthcare for all -- and upstate's golden goose will do just fine.
2
Sanders is not a critic of globalization, as this article states. He supports what's called fair trade, where workers in other countries receive the same pay, health benefits, and worker protections that Americans do.
It's a way of leveling the playing field so Americans don't have to compete with low-wage foreign workers. It could induce some firms not to outsource, and otherwise treat foreign workers better.
He would like all green energy and product firms to be built in the U.S.
That "upstate" brought jobs and higher salaries to Americans in South Carolina is a good thing and something Sanders supports.
But the gentrification, kicking people of color out if their homes, and their lack of equal opportunity in education and accessibility to jobs he would not support.
The attitude of Evangelical Christians and their alliance with the Republican Party is strange, because elected Republicans' actions are very far from the precepts of Christianity.
Democrats, on the other hand, won't use fake Christianity to win votes. Dems do not care what religion you are, as long as you follow the law.
It seems like the economically depressed S.C. needs Sanders, to lift tariffs, introduce fairplay into development, education and jobs, and provide healthcare for all -- and upstate's golden goose will do just fine.
@Lilou agree. How that young man can say Trump lives up with his Christian values is beyond me. Does he realize his family will most likely lose their Medicaid under Trump.
3
Seems the entire state is ready for an investment-sponsored migration of young progressives from the overpriced, overcrowded Bay Area in California, among other places. Will Upstate officials offer tech billionaires the same tax breaks the Germans got? I see fertile ground for a mass migration of highly-educated, highly-motivated, highly-skilled, civically-influential Modern Pilgrims (MPs) from the West. Target the most conservative areas with heavy investment, but leave enough for places kind Greenville to benefit and turn blue. Flip the state away from cognitive dissonance, neofascism and self-immolating Trumpist demagogy.
A message to The Silicon Six: Take back America!
3
Honestly, without any sarcasm, I'd like to find out from Mr Tafta what kind of genuine Christian faith he and the Republicans in common. Perhaps he is a real Christian but I have not seen any genuine Christian kindness and compassion in the Republicans. Forget about Trump, how about Pence and the SC Republican elders, whose dirty politics antics are rather famous
24
Everyone should have the jitters with such an erratic leader.
2
I can't think of a more regressive state than South Carolina. It's been messing up this country since the 1790s.
3
Small point of correction: adidas didn’t follow BMW to the Upstate. They’ve been here since 1988; BMW arrived several years later
4
Republicans being more aligned with one man's Christian faith? Does that include hypocrisy, greed, lies, adultery, hatred? Because that is what the GOP is delivering today.
22
The Confederate States of America are alive and ... let’s just say haven’t changed much. From a slave economy to a class based economy. The hypocrisy and ignorance is breath taking. “To understand America you must first understand the Civil War” Professor Foote said many years ago and still holds true today. The mistrust even hatred of their own government still runs deep even to the point of excepting the economic slavery they are in today. Why has it taken so long for them to realize it’s not 1860 anymore. Vote Blue!
8
Your reference to Shelby Foote is well taken but it would be a mistake to assume that the civil war Mr. Foote references is confined to the 1861-1865 period. I would respectfully suggest reading Colin Woodard's 2011 book American Nations to get a full picture of how divided the republic has been from its colonial period to the present.
1
South Carolina: fretting over socialism between it's gigantic mouthfuls at the federal trough.
Hilarious.
19
I find the cognitive dissonance of south carolina residents interesting. As the article notes, the success of the region did not suddenly boom 3 years ago and has been building much longer but you wouldn't know it talking to a trump supporter. Further, it is globalisation that is making it possible, not isolation. Lastly, the data shows the rising tide is not lifting all boats in the state particularly those who have lived there most of their lives.
10
SC needed to train their long time residents there with new skill sets. I suspect their old skills were not transferable. That’s just not here in SC but everywhere.
3
Globalisation also brought a near total shutdown of the textile mills and garment manufactureres that were the economic lifeblood of this part of the South for nearly 200 years.
It's swings and roundabouts. Great for rich Yankees and management class, not so good for the workers.
2
@Mollykins Yes, but without globalisation, the upstate would die due to the unavailability of the slaves that was driving this textile trade for much of those 200 years!
8
@Mollykins
Globalization has not shut down anything. It's the companies who sought cheaper labor in order to increase their profits that provoked shutdowns. Another example of the false logic of anything trickling down, whether taxes or profits.
Globalization by definition means broadening scope, seeing the whole globe as resources, markets, and interconnected everything. The counter to isolation.
The negative perception is because of corporations' selfish misuse of the infinite resources the globe offers.
While those corporations increased shareholder returns, few complained. When cheaper goods, which result from cheaper labor to produce the goods, are sold in our stores, few complained.
We need to be more specific about globalization and insist on fair access to the benefits and enforce corporations' inclusion of employees in their gains.
Of course, with the present administration who myopically can only use one metric for success, ie, stock market (which automatically excludes over 1/2 the US population)...good luck with enforcing anything on corporations!
Sounds like a perfect area of South Carolina to drive around on my next vacation.
8
Just a little story-
About 10 years ago my mother (white) ran out of gas on the Interstate in Columbia, SC. She was alone and didn’t have a phone. So she was standing there on the shoulder. A car pulls over. Inside are several African Americans-one child, the others women. My Mom gets in the car and they drove her to a gas station. She expressed her gratitude, and a little bit of surprise that they stopped for her. They said ‘We’re Jehovah’s Witnesses’.
16
@Outofbox Dock
I seriously doubt that only blacks that are Jehovah's Witnesses would be the only ones to help any more than any whites that are only christians would help. In fact, studies show just the opposite.
1
Drive an hour in any direction from this “new south” city propped up by tax credits for undeserving companies who really don’t need the breaks like BMW, and you will see the real “new south”. Expensive healthcare, hard working people who live pay check to pay check, widening gap between the rich and poor. The list goes on. Where is the real economic gain from Trump’s make America great again vision of rural America? It doesn’t exist. Rural South Carolina residents surely are not the beneficiaries of investment windfalls from the “fabulous” stock market that Trump claims is on fire, so when will these people wake up and smell the coffee? (or dare I say smell the Gardenias?) that they have been taken for a ride by the Republicans.
57
It is utterly baffling how Mr. Tafta’s “ core, fundamentalist” evangelical Christian beliefs can accommodate a lying, cheating philanderer like Trump. It is only explicable as a failure of intellect, which Mr. Tafta shares with most Republicans.
68
“Bearded, tattooed and decked out in a flannel shirt and red-orange vest, Mr. Tafta, 31, would have fit in at any newfangled food hall in any large American city.” Does this journalist really believe that one can assume another’s values by how people are dressed, wears their hair, if they have tattoos? How should I judge Mr Fausset by his use of the word “newfangled?” Is he being corny or snarky?
Mr Tafta, a Trump supporter, and his family need health care. Go figure! They are now on Medicaid—a government entitlement program that’s supported by taxes. Whoops—doesn’t he know that Trump would like to eliminate such programs? As for Christian values, Trump displays none. He throws out the stranger, separates babies from their mothers, preys on the weak, enriches the wealthy, degrades women, —oh wait—I forgot about his compassion—he forgives some white collar criminals.
110
Re: Mr. Tafta--a bunch of commenters are scoffing because on the one hand "his family recently went on Medicaid because his wife is expecting a child next month" and on the other hand "he also talked about his recently rekindled Christian faith, and how the Republicans, in general, seemed more closely aligned with that faith."
I get why they are upset. The democrats in many ways come closer to living out the practices and values laid out by Jesus in the sermon on the mount.
But how many can say the name "Jesus" without snickering?
How many comments below will deride not just unthinkingly republican Christians but Christians and Christianity generally?
I understand that many democrats are atheists who simply *do* find religious belief ridiculous, and that they can hardly be expected to pretend to think otherwise. (Though they might stop to ask themselves if there are any *charitable* interpretations of religious belief, or non-ridiculous interpretations of Christian texts or doctrinal statements.) But you can hardly blame Christians for feeling radically alienated from such people. And it's just a fact that there are many more of them in the democratic party.
3
@bess The issue is that Tafta is happy to accept the Medicaid, but doesn't understand that the GOP is working to abolish that program because their loudly proclaimed Christianity doesn't include genuine charity.
80
@bess How ridiculous it is to say that Democrats do not believe in God and are not religious! This is so stupid. The Democrats try to practice what Jesus tells us in the Bible.....it is our duty to take care of the poor, take care of the women and children, to do violence to no person, and that being rich is a sin, as is adultery. You people are just being lied to and fooled by Trump, Republicans and FOX News. Wake up and grow up. The Democrats want to take care of us, not the Republicans......they just want rich folks to get richer.
4
FYI: South Carolina will not vote for a Democratic nominee. And to say this small corner of SC is doing well, is silly, because the majority of the Red state lives in poverty or from paycheck-to-paycheck. There’s too much ignorance and not enough South Carolinians willing to vote for THEIR best interests! Pathetic.
46
I know my perspective lacks credibility in a literal sense, but isn’t it pathetic to render someone else pathetic? Human nature has a wide range of characteristics.
1
@Mari
Your location (Left Coast) says it all. You have to understand the Southern way life, uh, mantra if you will.
Guns and Jesus. Period.
2
So. Mr Tafta finds Republicans more in keeping with his "Christian" beliefs? Gets his wife pregnant and goes on that socialist program called Medicaid? You know the one that that radical leftist President Obama sought to expand to help the unentitled.
89
@dearworld2
Accurate description of the paradox in beliefs that I simply cannot comprehend, nor figure out how I could get this clear point across to one such as Mr. Tafta!
5
does it matter? Would the state go blue? fat chance!
6
It seems a bit disingenuous to complain about being in between a rock and hard place when you elected that rock.
51
I think my favorite statement was the man who “recently rekindled his Christian faith” that thinks trump and the Republican Party more closely align w/that. Apparently the thrice married, adulterous President fits the bill for that “Christian” alignment.
Wonder if he’s aware that the Medicaid that will deliver his baby is one of the most hated programs for the Republican Party??🤔
Additionally, I can’t help but wonder how many federal dollars are going to Bob Jones “university” that teaches creationism?? With Betsy at the helm of the dept. of Ed., I imagine millions.
93
While Greenville has done much to improve it’s economics over the years, the school system remains part of the backwards and bureaucratic statewide system. Schools rank very low compared to the rest of the country. Teachers’ salaries are abysmal. Greenville may put up a pretty front, but they haven’t done anything to make any concrete improvements in the schools.
30
Actually, Greenville’s schools are part of the Greenville County School District, not a “statewide system.” I have a master’s degree and moved here from elsewhere, and we have been very happy with the education our children are receiving in Greenville.
6
This is true in the most part for Greenville. But my son is a teacher in the district too, in a less affluent area of the county. Many of his
students are bused from more rural parts of the county and are having a difficult time because of poverty. They do not do as well coming to school hungry and tired and lacking the background and culture which would help them wish to achieve in a learning environment.
5
@H,
The Greeville County Schools ARE a part of the SC state system under the SC Board of Education. Per pupil funding for SC schools is low and student performance ranks very low in the US - those are the facts. Everyone likes the schools their kids go to, but overall DSC needs to step up their support of schools and teachers!
2
I am glad for the economic progress in this part of North Carolina.
It means that they can be self-sustaining and not dependent on federal welfare funds from blue states when these United States are rightly and finally dis-united as they should have been in 1865 into workable, regional alliances where states like NY, California, Massachusetts and Connecticut will be unshackled at last from a South that continues to confirm over and over in law, attitude, and custom that they want no part of the America that cherishes liberty and justice for ALL.
26
@Dan Fannon What law, attitude, and custom does the south follow they indicates it wants no part of the America that cherishes liberty and justice for all?
1
@Dan Fannon Geenville is in northwestern SOUTH Carolina.
11
@Dan Fannon
Dude, pay attention. The article is about South Carolina.
Is it that Northerners think all Carolinas look alike and can't tell the them apart? I have friends and relatives who swear there's at least a dime's with of difference between the two.
But when the Partition that you speak of comes, South Carolina probably will be in the New Confederate States of America along with its neighbor to the north, North Carolina. But Dan, you and I will be throwing in with the scaled-down United States of America.
6
So South Carolina now has middle class urban social liberals: those who believe Gays should have marriage unions but not labor unions. They're harmless.
7
@Thomas B right to work laws are a favorite of the gop
1
Republicans do not care about the Christian faith (whatever that might be); they care about votes and that only for power. Period.
42
with all of that you are still the 20th poorest region in the country. And yet you want to continue the policies that keep you there. You know doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. The Republicans love you.
71
This article is an interesting window on a part of America that clearly demonstrates how creeping cosmopolitanism and Trumpian post-democratic neofascism can comfortably coexist. With attitudes like those of Mr. Britt, who says they’ll all be “dead” if Bernie Sanders gets elected, and Mr. Tafta, who likes both Medicaid and a pathological liar who he thinks supports his Christian values, it’s easy to see this as a stable long-term outcome. The human capital is definitely ready to deploy.
Unlike the case of Volkswagen in Tennessee, BMW appears not to be concerned about the “Nikki Haley’s high heels” and rampant hostility toward trade unions, which are one of the only means of spreading more equally the benefits of foreign investment and incorporating a wide range of groups into the regional development process.
With enough “unconcerned” foreign direct investment, successful voter suppression, and the promise of gerrymandering as a tool to use when needed, Upstate SC could be held up as a model for how to institutionalize white supremacy and minoritarian democracy for the foreseeable future.
Red America and its devoted defenders will be certain to take note and “learn” from this “successful” case study...
34
I have no patience for this anymore:
"...his recent layoff" and "...family recently went on Medicaid because his wife is expecting a child next month"
"....how the Republicans, in general, seemed more closely aligned with that faith"
"...core, fundamental beliefs"
93
Agreed. How exactly do his core values align with those of trump and the Republicans? As far as I can tell, trump and his ilk demonstrate traits—lying, greed, corruption, hatred for one’s fellow human—that are as far as one could be from the core values of Christ!
43
I lived in Asheville, NC, from 2009-14, and the media market is made up of Asheville and Greenville/Spartanburg. We occasionally went to Greenville to shop and sometimes for cheaper flights. BMW and Michelin received significant economic concessions to open plants in Greenville/Spartanburg. But it is still is "south wacky-cacky." The worker at these plants are probably as adverse to unionization as the VW workers in Tennessee. They are easily respond to misdirection and will vote against their own self interest. AS Bob Dylan wrote in "Only A Pawn in Their Game":
And the poor white remains
On the caboose of the train
But it ain’t him to blame
He’s only a pawn in their game
66
Religion teaches people to blindly "believe" and not think, paving the way for Trump supporter's lack of logic.
50
I don’t agree. My brothers and sisters were raised in a religious household and all six of us have university degrees and out of the six there are three masters and a JD. We can believe in God, attend church and still think for ourselves. Your comment seems to paint with a very broad brush. But, then again, I’m reminded to judge not....
8
@dbezerkeley
May I correct you that CHRISTIAN "religion teaches people to blindly "believe". I cannot speak for Islam, but Judaism is based on Law, and the Law Giver. not on "belief".
3
Actually Christians use the 10 Commandments. The Law Giver gave them to Moses.
Sometimes they use The Golden Rule. That was derived from something Jesus said. It’s more vague than the Commandments though.
1
White Christian culture is tainted by anti-Semitism and racism. We'd all be better off without it. As far as business goes in S.Carolina and elsewhere, they'd be better off if they supported single-payer health care. Employers spend an immense amount of time and money administering their insurance plans. Each year prices increase while benefits decrease.
If businesses supported higher taxation, the government could afford health care, could subsidize child care and could provide pre-K through college graduation. The government could afford to double-track the education system to provide for people who will not attend college, but who need technical skills for the new economy.
The way we do business by stiffing our worker bees is unconscionable. We'd all prosper more and have much less stress if we paid higher taxes in order to get more social insurance.
The Trump party has unpopular policies and they are eroding social safety nets, in spite of the fact that a quarter of us fall below the poverty level at least once in our lives. In order to distract people away from what they are really doing, they launched a disinformation campaign that maligns and denigrates all ideas that come from Democrats.
52
I grew up in upstate South Carolina. Unfortunately, South Carolina's economy, like all of the U.S.'s, but especially here, was, and is, based on the exploitation of labor. What this article does not mention is the labor strikes, and subsequent massacres of laborers, that occurred in the area in the early 20th century at those same cotton mills that would later be exported with globalism. Worker suppression, with all its stresses, breeds ills like poverty, addiction, racism, homophobia, misogyny, xenophobia, poor education, bad health. The cycle is vicious and endless. The history of the labor struggle in this part of the country is little known and has been suppressed with the help and blessing of the evangelical church. Most of these folk are red-baited into fear of anything that can be called "socialism." What they, what need, need more than anything is the knowledge that they, that we, can own our own labor. The upstate needs a boom in worker collectives, businesses owned by the workers themselves. Self-ownership and self-governance: two gifts this long oppressed people have never known, which would transform their lives radically.
51
@Drew Actually, many of the products produced in upstate South Carolina as elsewhere on the globe, lend themselves to AI, robotics, and automation where human labor is becoming less and less of a factor. That is particularly true of tire production. We as a society are woefully unprepared for the consequences of that, and we are not preparing people to adapt to it.
2
My sister-in-law from SC is collecting social security and on medicare and posts rants against socialism on Facebook.
i guess she only dislikes socialism when it doesn't benefit her.
168
@frank A few years back, some guy at a political rally of some sort brandished asign that said "Keep the government out of my Medicare!"... It doesn't get more ignorant than that!
56
South Carolina, like the rest of the nation, is a net loser to free trade. More jobs have been lost to free trade than gained. Moreover, the jobs lost paid better than the jobs gained.
22
From the unemployed Mr. Taft.
"“Some core, fundamental beliefs,” he said, “I can’t get away from.”", as to why he would vote for DT. I am confused by this. His religion claims to be strongly against, lying, adultery, cruelty and a plethora of sins that Donald Trump regularly and openly commits. Does he not see the hypocrisy in that stance? I guess it is acceptable as long as DT is willing to pretend to agree with your values and do things in a transnational manner that force others to live by your values, as leverage to get your vote, instead of living those same values. Hasn't his kind ever thought about the fact that they have gotten in bed with the Devil? Jesus would be proud.
53
I live here in this Lindsey Graham-type area and I don't like him or Republican politics although both were once more tolerable because they used to be somewhat objective and considerate and fair minded. Graham has essentially become an acolyte of Trumps, that wonderful person whom the Russians like so much. Graham was quoted in a local newspaper as essentially saying that if you give him the money, he will listen. This state has not expanded Medicaid despite being one of the poorest in our nation. This state is dominated by white Republicans. This state had a governor in Nikki Haley who presided over theft of 4.5 million Dept. of Revenue tax identity records. This state had poor oversight of a multi billion dollar nuclear power station failure called Santee. This state is persistently at the bottom of things it should be good about like domestic violence and education and at the top of violent shooting crimes and prison violence. So what could this red state possibly be doing right? You got me.
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Mr Tafta explains he went on Medicaid because he's unemployed and his wife is expecting a baby next month, and yet he hasn't ruled out voting for Trump again because he believes that he and Trump share "some core fundamental beliefs". Someone should explain to Mr Tafta that Trump's most fundamental belief is that people like him are irrelevant, and everything Trump does and says goes to show it. Still it goes to show the old saying is true, if brains were dynamite some people wouldn't have enough to blow their noses.
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@Leigh
If the Tafta’s get Medicaid, it’s probably because of the Affordable Care Act, the program Trump stomps on at least once a day. So yeah, Mr. Tafta, it’s an ObamaCare baby. Now go ahead and thank God for coverage. Can’t wait to hear how he responds.
63
Perhaps Mr. Tafta is not aware that Trump, McConnell and the other Republicans attempted to slash and burn Medicaid along with the ACA, so that the Medicaid that he and his wife are now receiving is because every single Democrat and a very few Republicans stepped in to stop the destruction of the Medicaid program.
I am always flabbergasted by people who are surviving on programs that are being protected almost exclusively by Democrats somehow cannot trust Democrats to vote for them...wow.
225
Core fundamental beliefs? Who are these people? How the Republican party remotely represents anything close to Jesus’ call to take care of the least of these is beyond me. I grew up in the South. I know how rigid the mindset of the white Christian culture is. But having Christian friends that are Republicans does not correlate with a Christian ethic. Many people seem unable to think critically about the greed and evils perpetuated by the GOP.
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I haven't the slightest idea WHAT to say to Mr. Tafta. I might ask HOW does rape and racist hate fit into his "Christian' faith? How about throwing brown children in cages after ripping them from their mother's arms? How does THAT fit in with his "fundamental beliefs." Or cheating on your wife numerous times with porn stars or lying with every other word?
What "faith' preaches that these things are Christian? It's totally impossible to fathom. How did this Country become so full of people with beliefs that defy all reason?
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@Steve Dumford
The definition of a belief IS defying reason. That’s how.
15
@Steve Dumford On the cable TV “news” channel they watch, these things haven’t happened.
6
Mr. Tafta's rekindled Christian faith and his vote for Donald Trump is something that I simply cannot wrap my head around. I was raised as a Christian but in my early adulthood realized that I didn't have to believe in any of that stuff in order to be a good person. However, from those teachings I do know what Christianity stands for, and it is emphatically not Donald Trump's values. It seems there's a false Christianity at work here, one of convenience or something more nefarious, rather than of adherence to traditional Christian values. We've had fake news, now we have fake Christians. If there is a god, may it save us from them.
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There is nothing more jarring than watching an unemployed man on MEDICAID discuss how he will probably vote for a man who would bar him, his wife, and his child from receiving it.
He doesn't realize that "core, fundamental beliefs" will not pay his bills.
Some things just do not make sense.
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Mr Tafta may have core fundamental beliefs, but I can assure you Donald Trump has none.
47
South Carolina is filled with the best and worst of America. There will be people that will go to their grave supporting a tyrant and dictator such as Donald Trump regardless of how reprehensible or odious his behavior and policies may be.
There are also extraordinary people in South Carolina who have retained a sense of conscience and the social awareness that comes with it. Let’s see who prevails…
27
"Mr. Sanders “takes the ax to the head of the golden goose and cuts it off,” said David Britt, a Spartanburg County commissioner and vice president and general manager of Tindall Corporation, a locally based maker of precast construction components. And Mr. Britt can support that position with what, Sean Hannity talking points or a Rush Limbaugh rant.
I lived in upstate South Carolina for awhile back some 20 plus years ago. Some things never change like the lack of critical thinking, racism and "some core, fundamental beliefs" and voting for an amoral trump.
I am glad that I am in the other side of the country, the one trump ignores.
48
I don't know how many times people have to say it. Sanders is not a Democratic Socialist.
He is a Social Democrat. SDs believe in democracy and and a capitalist economy, in partnership (Denmark, Sweden). It is not communist, not anticapitalist. There is a huge difference.
49
I know that’s true, but he and his supporters are currently doing an awful job of communicating that. If we want to win in November and he’s the nominee, they must get a whole lot better at the messaging.
44
Nothing sells the idea that Sanders isn't a demagogue better than hordes of botlike commenters extolling his perfection. He never said anything wrong, he finds communism romantic but not practical, and and every policy is well planned and works flawlessly in Europe. That cover it?
4
@Bubo Could you tell Bernie? Because he's been attaching the word "socialism" to his ideology for decades, and now the GOP and his own supporters are going to gut him with it. Lazy political messaging and the promise of $60T in tax increases is going to cost two more seats on the SCOTUS and what's left of the rule of law in this country.
9
Trump is not a practicing Christian, and never has been. Moreover, he flies in the face of everything Jesus taught - love, justice, compassion, forgiveness, humility, charity, self-sacrifice. It is impossible to imagine Christ approving of the man or his policies. I don't understand Mr. Tafta's embrace of Trump on Christian grounds. It makes no sense.
64
Thanks for the coverage! Greenville has been run for globalization for many a year and I'm one of numerous beneficiaries (I can afford a Times subscription!). Within the city limits Hillary was a few votes ahead of Trump in 2016 but, wow!, as soon as the boundary was crossed, the Greenville County Trump vote deluge washed that away. However, let Trump really crash the global luxury car market and, while conservatism will likely reign still, he will be toast locally.
The business leadership of the area has succeeded wildly with their strategy that started with German and Swiss textile suppliers back in the day, followed by a major Michelin investment in the 70s, and then the capstone, BMW.
The rising tide has lifted a lot, but far from all, boats. And it's cost a lot in tax giveaways.
Even Bob Jones U has mellowed just a bit there are no more Old Testament curses being hurled from the previously hereditary president's office.
13
The Upstate is home to me. I was born there, grew up there, went to college there and even worked there within a block of the falls in Downtown Greenville. It was glorious, and I got the heck out as fast as I could. The people there and all over South Carolina deserve better than what they usually get from the politicians who count on their reliable, conservative, party line votes. If it isn't Sanders, it'll be someone else eventually who drags the Palmetto State into the future. Thank goodness!
28
South Carolina I wouldn't worry about Sanders. You will still have the Supreme Court and not enough Democrats will support all of his schemes. You might even get a Medicare option will be the best he can do.
But Trump was always a gamble just like the stock market and after watching Trump build huge deficits, cater to the rich and now see the effects of slashing the CDC do you really want to take another gamble on a man who could not control his own bankruptcies much less the affairs of our country?
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"South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum." James L Petrigu, 1860
Greenville is a weird place. The region was devastated by free trade which send all the mills to Asia; now they are singing another tune at the expense of workers' rights.
However, despite Greenville's asymmetrical affluence, the real story is the state's abysmal ratings in wealth, income, health, and education statistics.
History shows us that South Carolinians will inevitably vote against their own self-interest at the expense of the working class; usually this is draped in the flag of faith.
Sanders or Warren have the opportunity to create a powerful coalition in this unique melting pot. They could potentially fuse the well-educated gentrifiers and those they are displacing; both are fed up in their own ways.
For me the question isn't if this will happen, it's when. And will it be too late?
104
I went to college at Furman University, as well known in most circles as Bob Jones - and in serious academic circles, far better known. Greenville was just beginning its renaissance at the time: the new Hyatt was the first big change. This article oversimplifies almost all of the Upstate's history over the past 30-40 years. For example: one of the reasons Greenville became such a "foodie" town is that the executives coming from Germany and France to help build BMW's and Michelin's USA headquarters and factories demanded a higher quality of restaurant than any SC city - except perhaps Charleston, and even Charleston was not the city of "Husk" then - could boast of.
However, what really disturbs me about this article is not it's lack of breadth, but the young man profiled near the end. I can't help wondering: What "core, fundamental beliefs" of his align more closely with Republicanism? No health care for the poor? Tax breaks for the wealthy? Keeping child care available only to the rich? Interesting that he identifies as a Republican but doesn't mind accepting government "entitlements" (as the Republicans call them) to cover his medical expenses while unemployed.
278
I will tell what his core Republican beliefs are because even though I am Independent likely to vote for the Democratic nominee, I share them.
Hard work; not taking handouts from the federal government in the form of food stamps and welfare or public housing; safe streets; support for the police; and pride in the American flag.
Those are Republican ideals.
3
@Guy William Molnar Another Furman grad here, but still in the Upstate - yeah, this article simplifies a lot - but it's hard to cover 40+ years of nuances in a short newspaper article.
I, personally, would credit the start of the revival of Downtown Greenville to Max Heller, who was mayor back in the 70s. He was homesick for the vibrant street culture of the Vienna of his youth, and he set the ball rolling.
12
@Mark What about the 12 billion Trump handed out to farmers last year? As a Democrat I was all for it; those people needed relief from Republican policies. Lots of people in this country can use help. Maybe one day you will be among them.
29
South Carolina sold its soul to the corporate devils and hurt everyone in the process. Quite literally--just take a look at Boeing's issues with the MAX (among other airplanes) since moving into South Carolina to avoid unions, taxes and regulation.
There's a better way, one where everyone can benefit. A rising tide lifts all boats. We can turn the tide on this race to the bottom but we have to be in it together.
52
@Tim The 737 MAX is not built in South Carolina, a state that has benefited tremendously from its embrace of global trade.
3
@Tim Former President of Furman University, David Shi, in his book, "The Simple Life" stated as one of his main themes is U.S. Christianity sold its soul to the greed of capitalism. I've read it, believe it and read for yourself.
11
Humans and jobs are commodities in the global marketplace. What happened to all those textile and furniture factories from years ago? These young people ignore the history of a prior generation nor do they grasp root causes. After decades of workers gravitating to waitress, retail, there is an upscale, yuppy scale of novo Christian capitalism--oh so fashionable and cool. In the future, we'll have to see how many BMW's we buy and if Upstate S.C. can fend off the temptation to move labor to Mexico, China, etc. at a fraction of the labor cost. But as the Bible states, the "poor will remain poor" and ignorant as is the culture of Republican in style conservative Christianity. Christianity seems to have a history of putting intellectuals and rational into exile.
26
1) trump is destroying the economy. No one trusts him as we are seeing this week. 2) sanders wants workers to get a fair shake - is that called socialism now? National healthcare is what every democratic Western European country has - it is good economics not to mention good for people. Taxing the rich fairly is just...fair.
136
You get what you deserve in the end and the Trump supporters richly deserve a great deal of what they're about to get. I have absolutely zero sympathy.
85
Fear, fear and more fear from Trump loyalists. What else is new?
38
South Carolina is as red as red can be at least the white part. It is everything that is wrong with a robust economy and applaud a perpetual claim to one of America's worst places to live.
http://worldpopulationreview.com/states/worst-states-to-live-in/
Always near the bottom in health and education and reliably red with an obviously reality challenged long term Senator South Carolina's older Democrats find comfort in its past and an old time religion that served as solace in time when they had no say in their welfare.
I can't help but think of Woodrow Wilson's Creel Committee.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-woodrow-wilsons-propaganda-machine-changed-american-journalism-180963082/
I am angry and I am tired, I have no desire to see conservatives continue to destroy a country that once promised the world's citizens a life of purpose and hope for a better future.
I can't think of a worse waste of time and energy than South Carolina's primary. I have spent time in South Carolina and the people are wonderful but I can't think of a worse waste of money than a democratic primary where education and healthcare are so sorely needed and where we are light years away from political sanity.
Lindsey Graham is South Carolina's past, present and future it is enough to don sack cloth and ashes and look for a dung heap on which to sit.
South Carolina needs science, history and philosophy not the politics of division.
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@Montreal Moe Amen!
Lindsey and the Lindsey lovers have got to go. But the supermarket tabloid mentality of the sheeple stand in the way of renewal and progress.
The poverty of Trump voters in my area astounds me. Folks living without roofs, running water, and basic law and order vote against their best interests to fit in at the gas station coffee clutch.
The lack of education, basic health care, child care, and living wages is so widespread. You cannot convince a person whose greatest aspiration is to have a truck tricked out with a coffee can muffler to disturb his neighbors that being a "fellow man" has value.
18
@townferret
I remember when we looked up to places like South Carolina. We made South Carolina look liberal but a chain smoking left of center journalist from the boonies spoke truth to power. He wiped the floor with William F Buckley on American television and he led a revolution here in Quebec.
When your gaslighted from the moment your born you believe the strangest things.
South Carolinians are as bright as anyone else. Our kids know the world is 4.5 billion years old. Our kids know evolution is fundamental to all science and even small miracles require lots and lots of time. Our kids know climate change is REAL.
The only thing we can't teach our kids is what is going on one country down because we really don't understand.
4
People who are Republicans but not racists cannot look at Trump and say, "Now I'm a Democrat and Democrats must beg for my vote." The Democrats' "electability" argument (especially against Sanders) is the perfect example of Democrats-as-professional-losers. They let Republicans tell them how to vote. The NYT and WaPo opinion pages are full of never-Trump Republicans ceaselessly telling the Democratic party what it must do to win their vote (i.e. become the Republican party of 20 years ago). Progressive voices are rarely found and are the constant target of mainstream pundits.
The Democrats are going along with it, deciding they'd rather be a center-right party than a progressive party just so they'll win, despite zero evidence this has ever worked for them in the past.
Democrats are totally intellectually bankrupt. We have a GOP who moves farther right to win and a DNC that also thinks it needs to move right to win. How can the Democrats for one second believe they're doing the right thing?
Even if a centrist Democrat wins, it means we've lost to the Republicans by letting them control the DNC. Obama tried to placate Republicans and they stole a Supreme Court justice from him.
The way to fight your enemy is not to simply become your enemy. The Democrats have the worst case of Stockholm Syndrome I have ever seen.
58
@Rage Haver
BOTH Clintons did nothing but move the right over the course of their political careers. Republican congressman bitterly complained during Bill's presidential years that Bill had co-opted the republican issues by simply caving to them or marketing them as his own.
And Hillary - Ms. "finger in the wind" voted for the Iraq invasion, a clearly short term political decision.
Both Clintons were for their own political aspirations first, and reality and their country second.
9
Greenville does a pretty good job of appearing to move forward, but their backward approach seems the usual toxic brew of racism, selling their labor very cheap (yes, a la China), low taxes, and old time Bible-thumping Christianity.
30
@Pottree Greenville, like almost every U.S. town and city, have appealing spot locales as window dressing to disguise rampant poverty slum life in its very core as in "look at me, I'm so cool".
7
@tennvol30736 I lived in Chattanooga for a while. Your comment describes Chattanooga even better than it does Greenville.
3
Core beliefs, like cheating on your wives? How did Trump ever get associated with Christian values? He's the complete antithesis of anything a Christian would believe. I find it baffling.
245
@George Campbell Church schools, generous sectarian tuition allowances by the State to support the churches fewer people attend. Bob Jones U., a large employer, like Falwell U, et al, would not exist. When something is baffling, follow the money.
22
Core fundamental beliefs like lying, cheating and bragging about sexual assault?
197
It's still the South kinda... and it's gotta be the whitest place I've ever lived and the locals in the country are basically mountain people. It's Appalachia and as previously reported, the politics follow the norm for Appalachia nationwide. Of course they love Trump, and it's got nothing to do with economics. Sure they think paying ANY taxes is criminal, but they're mostly scared of black and brown people and white people that don't go to church. That being said my finances and career have done well here, and the city is trying to become Asheville's older brother that went to Business School and got married. People should come visit, just don't move...to many yankees here already.
20
I'm always amazed by these reports from the NYT. It seems that in the desire to seem apolitical, the reports try to raise Democratic hopes in these Evangelical counties. DJT's lies amplified by Russian trolls and sycophantic local republicans will always win out. These voters will squueze their noses and vote for Trump. Democrats should carefully analyze the congressional districts and focus accordingly to hold all Democrat wins and win a few more. Don't waste money on the Presidential race.
10
With median household income one of the nation’s 10 poorest, and a local university teaching creationism, this place sounds ...deplorable.
97
@Rod Greenville is a great town. SC has its issues, just like Australia (assuming you are from that Melbourne and not Melbourne, FLA - then we can have a different conversation;-), but the Upstate area is SC's best hope. Charleston is nice as well, definitely more conservative like the state. You guys have many great ideas and practices, but also have an entrenched reliance on fossil fuel extraction and some gun toting too. Let's not jump to conclusions based on two metrics.
6
@Rod
Not helpful. Really. Despite this article's rosy picture of Greenville, most of the Palmetto state (outside of Charleston) is rural, low income and lacks opportunity.
Please don't kick them when they're down.
5
The only Democratic candidate who has a snowball's chance of defeating Trump is Bloomberg.
And I'm a conservative Texas Republican voter.
Bloom has the credentials, the experience, and the wherewithal to stand up to DJT who is a junkyard dog in the debates.
The others would get eaten alive by Trump who will use their bones as a toothpick.
10
@JSS Maybe the Dems shouldn't be taking advice from a "conservative Texas Republican." If that's not a sure recipe for losing I don't know what is...
11
@JSS with due respect I can care less what a republican ,the probably voted for trump , would vote for
10
@JSS
What else do you know?
Senator Warren would slap silly your President. He opens his loud mouth and what comes out are stupidities and you voted for him. She would shut him up and show the world how ignorant he is. We saw him in the debate with Clinton and rest assured that he would be put in his place. He repeats the same things over and over.
9
Greenville is an island is in no way representative of South Carolina as a whole, or even its northwest corner. But even so, Trump's number will remain solid (unfortunately).
I have family in the county seat of Union, also in the northwest corner. One care hear the trains roar through, bringing parts to the BMW factory. Those jobs are too far away to matter to Union folks, who are dealing with decay and distress. Population is down 40% since the 1970's.
Trump carried Union 58% to Clinton's 40%. That's with a population that is 42% Black.
Greenville may be nervous, but that's just not going to matter to the South Carolina general election results.
22
@cousy no racism still carries the day in the south. Let’s face it, the black vote is repressed and many whites just have a knee jerk reaction to “others”
28