I just spent the past few days touring South Carolina .  On the first night I was there I met Lt. Governor André Bauer before he presided over Governor Mark Sanford’s final State of The State address.  I am very proud to have his support of our movement and to support his campaign for Governor of The Palmetto State.

André Bauer has now come under fire by his political enemies for a recent statement he made. However has touched upon an inconvenient truth.  There exists a vicious cycle of public dependency in this country.  Instead of giving the poor and disabled a hand up so they can become contributing members of society with the ability to climb the ladder  like everyone else, the Government is in the business of giving handouts that tie people down to the Government ball-and chain.

While I don’t live in South Carolina, the story is the same in my home state of Georgia as it is also around the country.  I know this all too well because I have experienced it as a disabled citizen. I wanted to be a radio broadcaster and study it in college.   The state Department of Rehab Services cited the fact that the chances of a blind person succeeding in broadcasting is low and refused to pay for training. Instead they pushed me down a path which lowered my self-esteem, lowered my standards, and lowered my desire to achieve. The result left me with a Associates Degree in General studies, on SSI Disability after I graduated, and locked down to the Government ball-and-chain because instead of giving me an incentive for bettering my situation, there is only reward for staying put where I am. I’m sick and tired of this and our organization is now striving to reverse this vicious cycle. André has hit the target. We must reverse the cycle for citizens now and generations to come. We deserve better!

We applaud Lt. Governor André Bauer for his leadership and willingness to stick his head out to bring light to the current situation and desire to change the way things are in this situation.