Our South Carolina ship of state is adrift. Progress desperately needs to be made on economic development, public education, government accountability, budgetary reform, health-care affordability and a myriad of other issues. But instead of forging ahead with a common vision, our governor and legislative leaders have spent this year in what seem to be never-ending squabbles. Almost the entire legislative year was wasted arguing about whether to accept funds from the federal recovery stimulus package that we will pay for regardless, in order to keep teachers employed — an argument that all other 49 states wasted little time engaged in and that has now embroiled our state in litigation.