Politics! Most of you know that I ran for political office for the first time ever in 2022. I, like many of you, just grew weary of the fact that men and women campaign to change the status quo, but “We the People” never see it change.

Somehow, once they get elected, they completely change their tune and become just another member of the “Uniparty,” which seeks constantly to expand government, increase taxes and view their constituents as mere serfs who need to be controlled and protected.

Recently, I received a direct mail piece that many of you also received. That piece went to selected voters in seventeen statehouse districts. It painted each of those seventeen representatives as bad humans. Most of you know that I am not the Devil, but the direct mail piece, paid for by a “dark money” group, (Palmetto Truth Project}, a group that hides behind a “registered agent” named Alexander C. Craven, has as its target, the South Carolina Freedom Caucus.

The South Carolina Freedom Caucus is a group of Statehouse Representatives who believe that each branch of government has the responsibility for extremely limited control of free people. We believe that the state government is responsible for ensuring our public safety through law enforcement and an independent and fair judicial system, for building and maintaining infrastructure such as roads, for offering publicly funded education to all citizens and for ensuring that the federal government does not encroach on our state rights.

Ever since sixteen of the Freedom Caucus members refused to sign a “loyalty oath” that would have stripped us of our First Amendment right to free speech, we have been attacked. We have no reason to believe these attacks are coming from the Democrat Party, but because of the veil of secrecy afforded dark money groups like the “Palmetto Truth Project,” we cannot prove where the money for the attacks is coming from.

It is true that eleven of us voted against the $40.2 Billion budget that 113 representatives voted for. Each of us had reasons not to rubber stamp the 13.7% increase in spending over last year. I chose to vote against it because I saw over two billion dollars of wasted taxpayer money in it—things like BMX races, wine festivals, and vaguely worded municipal projects. Two billion dollars could resurface over 4,000 miles of two-lane asphalt roads. It could have given every South Carolina family of four a $1,600 tax refund. But your entrenched leadership chose to spend your money on their pet projects instead of your own needs.

I actually voted for the House version of the budget that included the teacher pay raise, the money for increasing broadband access, the pay increases for law enforcement, more money for road and bridge maintenance, more money for water and sewer infrastructure and a, smaller than I wanted, cut in the state income tax for working men and women.

One of the most powerful legislators at the Statehouse recently told a private group of lawyers and judges that the Freedom Caucus increased their numbers significantly in the 2022 election and that if they continue to do that, they will have the power to change Statehouse leadership. Help me make his worry become a reality.

I appreciate your encouragement and support.