As the nation struggles with its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, some in Washington, D.C., fought a rear-guard action to block President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan.

And among them, U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, jockeyed to become leader of the heel-dragging pack.

DeMint, a professional ad man, has become a stock fixture on the national media circuit. If you need someone to defend the failed economic policies of former president George Bush, schedule DeMint for your show.

DeMint’s ideas sound good to those who think tax cuts can solve any problem and that magical forces will repair an economy in disarray without intervention.

DeMint is not only out of step with Democrats and moderate Republicans, but that he is also out of touch with the real world — the one where South Carolinians live.

DeMint on Tuesday voted against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which fortunately passed the Senate with a 61-37 vote. The stimulus package is designed to get money into the economy quickly through spending projects to save or create 3 million U.S. jobs over the next four years. The version passed by the House Jan. 28 included $3.2 billion for South Carolina’s needs from road repairs to college tuitions.

On ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” Feb. 1, DeMint joined a conversation that also included U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and two chief executives — FedEx’s Fred Smith and Google’s Eric Schmidt.

Google has particular interest for South Carolinians. The company recently opened a computer data center in Berkeley County, and has bought land in Richland County, where it might open another.

But DeMint thought he should lecture the chief executive of one of the most successful American companies about economics, trotting out studies from the conservative Heritage Foundation that favors tax cuts over direct public spending.

“I’m worried that tax cuts alone … won’t be sufficient because people are not paying any taxes because they’re not making any money,” Schmidt said.

“There are plenty of cases where directed spending does help things to happen more quickly,” Schmidt said. “Most of the (stimulus package) money actually goes to reasonably short-term things in education, state relief, various other things that help people in the very short term. Some combination of all that money has got to get out now to get people going again.”

Schmidt and Smith, the FedEx chief executive, shared one message: Congress needs to act quickly to get the economy moving

“I’m sure this stuff is going to get fixed by you guys, because you’re working very hard on it,” Schmidt said. “I wouldn’t count on it,” DeMint replied. This is not the first time DeMint has made such comments.

In a column that ran Jan. 22 in The State newspaper, he warned Republicans against helping President Obama pass a meaningful stimulus plan. “Should the bill fail to revive the economy, its bipartisan character would inoculate the new president from sole responsibility for what Republicans could otherwise brand “The Obama Recession.”

DeMint is using one of South Carolina’s seats in the U.S. Senate to act like a hedge fund manager, trying to lure citizens and donors to bet that the economic failure his party created will worsen.

South Carolinians can’t afford to be so cynical.

This week in the Senate hosted by President Pro Tempore, Glenn McConnell (R-Charleston) was on S. 12, the Tax Realignment Commission. Yours truly and Sen. Nikki Setzler (D-Lexington) were the guests.

I had the video imbedded here, but the video started automatically, making it kind of annoying. So if you want to watch it, please click here. The video I’m referring to is February 26, 2009.

“Trust, but verify” , taken from a Russian proverb, was often said by President Ronald Reagan especially during negations with the Soviet Union. While signing the INF (intermediate-range nuclear forces) treaty in 1987, Soviet Mikhail Gorbachev said to Reagan, “You repeat this phrase every time we meet,” to which Reagan answered “I like it.”
                                
On Wednesday, S. 12 commonly known as the trac bill (tax realignment commission) received 2nd ready. This legislation sets up a commission of unelected “experts” to examine our tax structure in South Carolina. I’ve talked about this bill a few times hereand here. I have some reservations about this bill, yet we were able to make several repairs on the bill. Here are a few questions that came to my mind:

Is trac a backdoor tax increase? This is where I “trust but verify”. We’re told it is not a tax increase, and we’re told there’s no hidden agenda to raise taxes with trac, yet I introduced an amendment that requires the commission’s report to be either tax revenue neutral or revenue negative. When South Carolina’s economy is in the toilet, a tax increase will flush it down to the sewer. Will trac put food sales tax back on the backs of the poor? It better not! Unfortunately, my amendment failed by 1 vote.
             
Does trac jeopardize property tax relief of 200g? An amendment was offered by Sen. Nikki Setlzer (D-Lexington) to force the commission to stay away from anything that would add property taxes on your home. This was another win for us.
                          
Is trac constitutional? The original language in the bill states that the legislature may only approve or disapprove the commission’s report. Amending the report would take a 60% vote.  There was an amendment to change this stipulation to a hard 24 votes instead of the normal “present and voting”.  Sen. Phil Shooman (R-Greenville) offered an additional amendment to change this to a simple majority. That was a great victory on his part. This change soothes some of the heartburn over the revenue neutrality issue.

                   
Must the report filed as a bill? We amended trac to delete the mandatory filing, and leave it to the option of the members of the legislature to file trac’s report.
                     
I’m in support of examining the tax structure to see if we could gain more fairness in theory, but you know the devil’s in the details, trac got my vote on 2nd reading, but after much conseration, I voted against trac on the final vote because we did not prevent the commission from recomending a tax increase. Trac passed on Thursday. Our conservative friend in the House are committed to making trac a revenue neutral commission. Let’s hope so.

“The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt.  People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”  –  Cicero – 55 BC