Charleston, SC- On Saturday, I delivered briefing books on transit related issues to all three campaigns our special election for US Congress, making the journey by bus. I took the 40 and 211 DASH to Sanford’s office where they took my book and gave me coffee. The 30 Savannah Highway and a long, wet walk brought me to the Bostic Headquarters. On the way, Katherine, owner of a framing shop, transformed a large plastic bag into a poncho. I arrived looking like an overweight, middle aged lawyer dressed in an oversized prophylactic. A young man at the Bostic office asked what we wanted. I mentioned better transit funding and completion of the intermodal passenger transportation center before I headed back out into the rain, wearing my bag. The Democratic meeting at West Ashley High School was reached using the 32 St. Andrews Bus.
Democratic Nominee Elizabeth Colbert Busch riding the 41 Coleman Blvd. Bus on March 14 before winning her primary with 96% of the vote over perennial candidate and 2010 Nominee Ben Frasier
Cold, rainy weekends are a good time to think and a bad time to travel by CARTA bus. The young man at the Bostic office deserved a better answer than the one given. I believe I have that answer now.
Our Shared Journey
This morning at about 5 am, the first of over 100 aging diesel engines roared to life at CARTA’s operations facility. Men and women walked across a soggy parking area to start a fleet of vehicles with an average age of over a decade. Many of their buses have already traveled a million miles. By six am, riders were on their way to work. Within that hour, breakfasts were being cooked for visitors, long night shifts at our hospitals were relieved, and Boeing’s production line was autoclaving resin and graphite into airplanes. Members of our State’s oldest transportation union, the world’s largest transit operating company, and dedicated public servants are moving our community. For 18 hours those engines will run until they are silent again.
We stand where the Best Friend of Charleston began the first passenger railroad trip in America. Rail reached the Pacific in two generations. Charleston harbor welcomed ships where passengers shared the ride to the Lowcountry in dugout canoe, European ships, slave traders and immigrant steamers. From our Navy yard came warships which carried units of our fighting men and women to the beaches of a Europe shackled by fascism. Down the coast, three Americans, seated side by side, blasted into space and radioed back, “the Eagle has landed.”
The American journey is now confused. We can’t agree on a shared destination. We start our cars and drive away in conflict. The roads are congested, drivers angry. Freedom ends in a car wreck. Our democracy struggles. Our planet is troubled. Congress holds the respect of less than 12% of the people represented.
This journey with our congressional candidates began in February after Republican Teddy Turner asked a Democrat to ride the bus ride with him. On that ride, another Republican, Jonathan Hoffman couldn’t connect with the soaked service workers headed home on the CARTA 40. We encouraged Jonathan. He needed the votes. The country needed the effort. Finally Jonathan sat down surrounded by people who probably all voted for President Obama and asked those cold, wet citizens, “What pisses you off?” After a pause, it turned out that was a lot of things. A conversation started which concluded with handshakes at the Mary Street Transit center, where we are now.
We imagine Americans as rugged individualists in a wilderness, but we’ve taken our important journeys together. The journey to America in ships, wagons inland, canal boats on the Santee, trains, planes and finally rockets brought us together. Together, we built the vehicles, laid the track, opened the way and planted the flag on the moon in space. Until recently, we’ve led the world.
Candidates for Congress should join their fellow citizens on the bus because we can’t reach our destination alone. We must keep company on the trip, learn from each other’s days and accept the compromises which come with sharing space and time. Our candidates for Congress, and all our public officials and community leaders, need to spend some time in this common space because the only Lowcountry strong enough to meet the future now includes us all.
Let us advance America’s shared journey. Candidates, our schedule is set. Will you board now?
William Hamilton, Hungryneck Straphangers (www.busec.org) or (843) 870-5299,
© 2013