Were South Carolina Republican leaders not listening last November? Did they not get the message that the people of the Palmetto state are fed up with the direction in which Barack Obama and his socialist allies in Washington are taking our country?

Across our state and our country, conservatives and tea party members rallied against “Obamacare” last year – and the Republican Party seized upon our righteous indignation by promising to repeal the law and block its implementation at the state level. These promises were among the main reasons Republicans were swept into office at the state and national level. Why, then, are Palmetto “Republicans” now actively seeking to implement Obamacare here in South Carolina? Why is a bill “to provide for the establishment of the South Carolina Health Benefit Exchange pursuant to the federal health care act” receiving considerable Republican support in the S.C. House of Representatives?

In fact not only are efforts underway to move this bill through the “GOP-controlled” Ways and Means committee, but the legislation – which would set up a taxpayer-funded panel to implement the exchange in South Carolina – is being sponsored by numerous Republican lawmakers. Needless to say supporting the implementation of Obamacare is not the sort of leadership that tea party members are expecting from our leaders in Columbia. In fact this duplicity seems to be a repeat of the fight over Obama’s so-called “stimulus,” which saw many Republican leaders object to this bureaucratic bailout only to turn around and greedily lap up its federal largess.

A similar effort to slip Obamacare into state law in Georgia was recently exposed by tea party members, which resulted in a complete collapse of support for the legislation. Tea party efforts also led to Gov. Nathan Deal becoming the latest chief executive to go on the record stating his opposition to Obamacare’s implementation.
“The governor understands Georgians’ suspicions about any legislation associated with Obamacare,” Deal’s spokesman said. “He shares their opposition to the federal takeover of health care.”

Florida Gov. Rick Scott is also taking a principled stand against implementing the Obamacare exchanges in his state – instructing his insurance commissioner to return a $1 million federal grant requested by former Gov. Charlie Crist that would have provided a blueprint for setting up the exchange.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is also blocking efforts to implement a health care exchange in his state.

This is the kind of leadership we need to see in South Carolina. The establishment of Obamacare exchanges is the first step in the implementation of this radical socialized medicine scheme. Accordingly, the battle over these exchanges represents the front-line of the broader fight to repeal, defund and do away with this unconstitutional abomination. In that battle there is no middle ground – lawmakers are either working to implement the legislation or they are working to keep it from being implemented.

South Carolinians have made it perfectly clear on which side of the fence we expect our leaders to be – so why are so many “Republicans” on the wrong side of the fence? Tea party supporters will not stand idly by while this legislation is shoved down our throats. In fact they may aggressively campaign against any Republican who supports the implementation of the Obamacare exchanges. The Republican party scored huge victories in November promising to protect our liberties and our tax dollars from Obama’s socialist assaults.

It is now time for them to honor that commitment – or prepare to be replaced by lawmakers who will.

Cross post from Spartanburg Tea Party