More or less, what was expected to happen in the Republican primary runoffs for South Carolina’s Congressional seats did happen. Rep. Tim Scott is all but assured of being the next congressman from the First District with his thorough dispatching of Paul Thurmond, Rep. Jeff Duncan won a relatively close race against Richard Cash in the Third District, Solicitor Trey Gowdy took out U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis in the Fourth and Jim Pratt probably won the right to get waxed by U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn in the Sixth.

Everybody’s in a lather about Scott being only a few months away from being the only black Republican in Congress, and while that is noteworthy, there’s not much there beyond pointing out the obvious. The story that is rattling around for us is what happened in the Fourth District. Inglis spent three terms in the House in the ’90s, and another three after U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint decided to run for Fritz Hollings‘ open seat. What happened?

For one thing, Gowdy laid down a whuppin’, 71-29. That’s not just a big win, it’s a joke. A laugher. How did Inglis so completely alienate the people who sent him to Washington six times? When he left his seat to run against Hollings in 1998, Inglis was every bit the rock-ribbed, hard-right conservative. He was going around saying things like “only Christians should marry Christians.” Even in South Carolina, we’re pretty sure religion isn’t a relationship dealbreaker for most, but it’s the Upstate — you go where the voters are.

In the past few years, though, he’s turned into a different character. Inglis developed some relatively moderate positions. And that straight killed him. Inglis said that he was trying to represent all of the people. While laudable, you have to get elected, first, before you can represent anyone. And everybody isn’t voting in the Republican primary in the Fourth District, much less the runoff. Just like that, it was all over.

One of the things that Fritz Hollings will have to answer for in the afterlife is putting the Confederate naval jack on top of the State House. The flag was an issue throughout the ’90s, and former Gov. David Beasley can consider part of the reason he lost his reelection effort was because of white men who wanted to punish him for trying to get the flag off the dome.

With the flag moved down behind the Confederate soldier memorial and squared off into the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, it was hoped that controversies would slip off into the background. As it turns out, not so much.

As is well-known now, the Atlantic Coast Conference pulled its conference baseball tournament from Myrtle Beach because of that piece of fabric and stitching. Just recently, the Palmetto State lost another convention (this one a religious organization) because of the flag.

While we know quite well of our ancestors’ honorable service in the Confederate cavalry (specifically the Seventh South Carolina Cavalry, Co. B, under Gen. Wade Hampton III), we’ve had enough. Something we wrote several years ago seems to fit.

My friends have told me to just ignore these people and that they would just go away. Well, we’ve been ignoring them for some time, and they’re still here. They need to be brought out into the light and exposed for what they are. If these people have to keep denying that they’re racists and doing bad things, then maybe they are, and they need to check their actions. Don’t say I don’t know, because I do. I’ve known their type all of my life. They use code phrases like “politically correct,” mention the handful of blacks over history that have supported their side and put themselves in total denial about the nature of the Confederacy and of the South from then until now. Then they say that the “War of Northern Aggression” wasn’t about slavery, but states’ rights. States’ rights is another code phrase, meaning the right of whites in power to do what they want – this was true in 1860, 1960 and is true today.

Eventually, though, the flag will be gone from the stadiums, from the state houses and from the courthouses, and be placed in a Plexiglas case in a museum where it belongs. Then, maybe, we can all move forward into the future under one flag, the American flag.

Hey, we have no problem with descendants of Confederate veterans celebrating their heritage. While our family did own slaves (not really proud of that), many Confederate soldiers did not and were simply defending their homes.

However, that damn flag has been costing our state more money than we can afford. Maybe it’s time to come up with a new compromise?