South Carolina’s States Rights Debate Stirs Up Old Bias in a Key Battle Ground State

“(Reuters) – The state that fired the first shot in the Civil War is once again battling the government in a racially charged conflict that is drawing heated rhetoric from Republican presidential candidates.

South Carolina is in a standoff with Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration over a new state law that would require residents to produce a photo ID before they could vote. Federal officials say it could disproportionately keep black voters away from the polls.

For South Carolina’s Republican leaders – and Republican presidential candidates seeking support in the state’s primary on January 21 – the Justice Department’s move is the latest in a series of intrusions into state business by Washington.

Republican candidates are waving the banner of states’ rights as they tout their small-government credentials.

“Each of our states are under assault right now by this administration,” Texas Governor Rick Perry said Saturday at a candidates’ forum in Charleston. “We may be under assault – South Carolina, they’re actually at war with you.”

Such declarations might make for smart politics in a state that has a suspicion of Washington woven into its DNA, but they risk stirring up the race-baiting that has been an ugly feature of South Carolina politics in the past….”

Full article