(November 13) Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) almost always elevated both the tone and the substance of the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. He left the campaign in an equally classy, and timely, manner.
Thematically, Scott deserves both praise and thanks for so assiduously reminding his audiences that the United States is not just powerful but also fundamentally good. He also correctly identified some of the key things that make it good: freedom, personal responsibility, and an openness to the workings of faith in the public square. Scott is habitually and sincerely aspirational and optimistic , and he is both humble enough and wise enough to express gratitude for blessings both personal and societal.
More than any other public figure today, perhaps more than any other since Ronald Reagan, Scott gives testimony to American virtue against all today’s institutions and activists who insist the United States is a moral blight on the universe. Scott is right to do so, and we can hope he can find a wider audience among younger people who seem oblivious to our blessings .
Scott also offered a good record on taxes, on banking , and on conservative solutions for poverty. And he offered plenty of solid substance on the campaign trail, including mostly superb recent speeches on race and on defense and foreign policy. And he was quick to inject real substance, on the rare occasions when the format allowed, into the three presidential debates. He was particularly effective in rebuking NBC’s Lester Holt’s lack of understanding of economics by explaining that prices, especially for relatively price-volatile commodities such as gasoline, can fluctuate fairly rapidly on expectations of changes in policies or market conditions rather than waiting for those policies or conditions actually to be effectuated…. [To read the rest of this column, please follow this link.]
