South Dakota Legislative Leaders Try To Sneak Around The State’s Constitution
I saw a story on KELO last night that truly concerns me. Before I talk about it, I want to remind my friends (and less than friends) that we live in the lowest tax and one of the freest states in the Union. There is a reason for that. It is called limited government.
Now, there are some in Pierre who think limited government is just too, well… limiting. They want a year round legislature. You know, like California, New York and New Jersey (we can all see how good they’re doing).
Certain legislators are trying to circumvent the South Dakota Constitution and establish a year round legislative body. It can’t be called a legislature, of course, so they want to call it a “Committee”. Lets have no doubt here, this “Committee” would become a fulltime legislative body with all the fraud, corruption and perks that go with it.
What we have in this state and what has worked very well for over one hundred years is a part time legislature with citizen representatives who sit in Pierre for 35 or 40 days making decisions then going home and having to justify those decisions for the other 340 or 335. This is good. They watch what they do because, in the back of their minds they know they might get stopped in the grocery store by a concerned citizen asking, “What the hell were you thinking?” It keeps our representatives (spelled representatives) honest for the most part.
I see nothing but danger here with this “committee’ concept. This is nothing more than a power grab. It establishes an “ad hoc” legislature to rule for 340 days. It will write the bills, it will tell the real legislature how to vote when the real session commences. It also lets out legislators off the hook. “Look, that’s what the Committee said to do… I had no choice.”
Here’s another question: Just who is this “Committee” accountable to? Are they appointed? By whom? Can they be fired or recalled? By whom? Since they are not elected, the people will have no standing with them. The people will have no say in what this “Committee” does.
To see that the Democrats like this does not surprise me but to see that our Republican leadership is behind it is greatly alarming and appalling to me.
The scary part? There is bipartisan support for this usurpation of the very Constitution these people have sworn to uphold and defend.
I urge you to contact your representaves and tell them you will not tolerate this. If they want a full time legislature let them put the change on the ballot and modify the Constitution.
No sneaky end arounds here. Not while we can vote.
Here’s the link to the original story:
It’s over…. Go home.
Ok… So the (liberal) news media is all excited about Romney winning New Hampshire. It’s over everyone else go home. The liberals know their man can beat liberal light, just like he did in 2008.
That’s why they want this RINO from the second most liberal state in the union to be “our” choice..
To hear them – it’s over. Every other candidate should just pack up their signs and go home.
…
Here’s what they don’t tell you.
1. Romney was governor right next door and New Hampshire has a symbiotic (almost incestial) relationship with Massachusetts.
2. Romney owns property in New Hampshire and is a de-facto resident.
3. The primary voting block in New Hampshire (and South Carolina) is center left – not center right. Why? They are “open” primaries. In other words anybody can vote on the Republican ballot. Even Democrats (and Democrats do – to skew our nomination process).
4. New Hampshire only sends 12 delegates to the National Convention.
Now you’ve see the floor on convention night. Think you could pick out the 12 from New Hampshire?
So, when the newsies tell you it’s over. Pay no attention. Let’s push hard to nominate a REAL Republican this time. Someone who represents Republican values of small government and limited spending. Not Democrat Lite.
New York Post… Look to your own house before throwing stones at us.
Concerning the NY post article:
The Great Wide Open – How rural America has become a vanishing way of life.
Read it here: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/great_wide_open_WqL54fjvoNYjfFI74GlmmL?fb_ref=m_site&fb_source=home_oneline
Hey New York, clean up your own cesspool before you look at our Prairie! Last time I looked you have more murders in a week than we do out here in year, and out here carrying a gun is legal.
As to the population loss, I truly believe you have seen the last of it in Rural America. The 2010 census shows the change in population over ten years. In 2000 we didn’t have high speed internet, a cell phone in every pocket and I-pads.
The census looks at a population shift but not the dynamic. The true paradigm shift has been outbound from the troubled, crime ridden, overtaxed and under serviced cities to smaller cities like Sioux Falls, Fargo or Cedar Rapids. Now the shift is happening again. From those towns to even smaller towns.
People not from here are starting to find out that they can send their kids to public school with class sizes of about twelve. They are finding out, through the new media, that South Dakota has no income tax. In fact, per capita, the taxes here in South Dakota are lower than any other state in the nation.
Businesses owners in tune with the information age find that they can conduct business in this state which encourages entrepreneurship rather than the one they are in which is trying to tax and regulate them into oblivion.
The next census will tell a different tale. It will be a tale of two cities (or rather one city crumbling under the weight of it’s own bureaucracy and a small town with few government constraints). Those cities could be New York, Chicago, Baltimore, Huston or even Los Angeles. The other Doland, Eureka, Harried, in South Dakota or perhaps Brandon, Iowa or Bloomfield Nebraska. One shrinking and one growing.
People who work from home are starting to realize that “home” can be anywhere. They are choosing to leave the high cost and congested areas and moving where the kids can go out and play without the fear of being molested.
Watch the 2020 census…. South Dakota may just have TWO Congressmen.
By the way New York, just how many congressional seats did you loose this year?
Oh…. and one more thing….. It’s pronounced “Harry-id”, not “Harried”.
Rick Skorupski
A proud transplant in South Dakota.
So… You want to live in South Dakota?
What I want to share are some photos and a story.
Here are three pictures taken yesterday afternoon. For those of you who do not know, we live in a rural part of South Dakota. Sometimes the winters can be a challenge, sometimes a blessing.
Our house is about 3/4 miles from our mailbox. The road to the mail box is completely clear which is great. We can get to the mailbox. Too bad our mailman can’t.
The first is from the corner where our mailbox is looking west toward the main highway.
The second is the same spot looking east toward our nearest neighbor.
The third is me standing on a wind packed snow drift that is less than 24 hours old. I am pointing DOWN to our mailbox.
Now the story. No way in or out to the north. The road to the south had a 4′ high X 300′ drift across it about half a mile to the south of our house so no way out that way either. We were completely snowbound.
Last night around 7 we get a knock on the door. It was our neighbor to the south, Waldo! He had been out since 3 clearing snow. He asked the man who rents the working part of his farm to take his tractor mounted snow blower and cut a path through the long drift between us. Now we can get out to the south. Why did he do that? So we could get in and cut firewood from his shelter belt. The one he had just spent three hours clearing.
The rest of the story? Waldo is 86 years old.
I want to live in South Dakota?
You bet!
Just a thought on Christmas Day.
You know there are times of the year for different things. For me Christmas is a time to set some time to remember the “reason for the season”. Now, I now this is the wrong time if year, I am fully aware that the child of the most high God was born in the fall. I also know the date was shifted to bring it in harmony with the winter solstice and the non Christian rituals that were celebrated this time of year. I know too that there was no snow around the manger and also that the “manger” was not some outdoor shed. None the less it is the time of year we celebrate the birth of the savior. We take a bit of time to remember, to be kind to a stranger, to put a buck or two in a red bucket and to perhaps perform a rendom act of kindness. To be thankful for the One who came to save us from our own self destruction. I am glad that (contrary to what our current President says) I live in a Christian nation. I am thankful this year (as in years past) that we can openly celebrate the birth of the Son of God. I am grateful to that God that He has allowed me to live in the greatest nation on the face of the Earth.
Merry Christmas
Out of Power they will get louder. And more obnoxious.
OK the liberals are mad and doing what they do best. Whining, crying and out shouting everyone in the room. They will talk over anyone trying to explain a conservative idea. Why? They don’t want conservative ideas explained. When we do - they loose.
Here’s the latest rant. The dems in control of Congress right now are going to set it up so the new congress will have to vote to raise the debt ceiling in order to keep the government from default. When that happens they will be like a young child taunting through a fence saying things like, “SEE!!!! I thought your were conservative!! You are spending more money – you have added to the debt!!!”
Let’s put this in terms that even the left can understand.
Here’s the scenario…
You allow your son (call him Barry) to play with his friends (Harry and Nancy) in the back yard. You see them going out the door with a ball and bat. You tell him not to play ball in the back yard. You explain to them there is not enough room in the yard for that. They ignore you. As you expect, Barry hits the ball over the fence and breaks the neighbor’s window. You punish Barry by taking away his ball and bat. You tell his friends Harry and Nancy they can no longer play ball where they can cause damage. You gain control of the back yard and stop further destruction.
But the neighbor still has to be paid for the broken window.
On unemployment and the economy.
I was asked what I would do to reduce the unemployment rate in the country. Before I answer that I would like to mention that the worst unemployment is in states that have been in control of the Democrats for a very long time. The vast majority of states that have Republican governors AND Republican controlled Legislatures seem to be in much batter shape. – just an observation.
Now – on to my answer on reducing the unemployment rate.
It seems to me that 90% of the time the solution to a problem starts with, “Get the government out of the way and…”
In this particular case we need to do certain things to restore our economy. First, we need to stop the uncertainty in the financial and business arenas. Things like a 1000 plus page health care bill and an 1800 page omnibus budget bill do not give confidence to people who are thinking about investing capital into a business. I have an opportunity right now to start a business. It would bring more tourism into the area and fill a demand that already exists. Nothing big, maybe 3 jobs. It will also require me risking capital and taking on some loans. Personally, I will not stick my neck out, not with the current anti-business climate in Washington causing an unstable economy. I can surely understand why no one else will either. Most business are trying to survive the downturn and have little confidence that they will not get slammed again.
What do we need to get the economy moving? Get the government out of the way and:
Eliminate 90% of the silly regulations that stifle business. Did you know the paper containing regulations on raising and selling cabbage weighs over eight pounds? Get the government out of banking and let the bankers (the people who know how to make money grow) do their job. Repeal the Heath care bill and while your at it, get the government out of medicine. Get the government out of the housing market, let it stabilize at the actual cash value level. Then it can start to grow. Defund Fanny and Freddy. Sell the assets to private business. Eliminate the EPA’s ability to regulate Co2 (while we are at it eliminate the EPA’s ability to regulate – period).
Another big slice of the solution? Eliminate the confiscatory personal, business and corporate income tax and replace the whole thing with the Fair Tax. When businesses don’t have to spend gazillions on accountants and tax lawyers to maintain their records, they will have more money to invest. Business that went off shore to get a better tax break will come back. Business from other countries will come here simply because the cost of doing business will be lower. Now, this may cause some unemployment in Washington DC, particularly on K street where all the lobbyists are working to get the tax code rewritten in favor of their clients. Frankly, I don’t see a down side there.
Finally once you get the government out of the way you re-energize the free enterprise system that allowed this tiny 13 state piss pot mini nation to become the most powerful economic engine in history. We did it without the EPA, the DOE, the FDA, ATF, FTC, HHS or even the USDA. We can do it again if we just “Get the government out of the way and…”
On education
I sent a note to a friend of mine this morning concerning the failure of our public education system. He lives in Arizona and is not convinced that the private sector can do a better job educating our kids than the government. After I read it I thought it might make a good post:
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South Dakota, like Arizona is constitutionally bound to provide an education. I don’t have a problem with that. What I have a problem with is the institution created by government to perform this function. It has failed and, in many places, failed miserably.
I propose taking the money from the Department of Education (or Arizona equivalent), local school taxes and all other education funding and divide it by the number of school age students in your state (or mine) and send each parent or guardian a voucher for that divided amount (less 2% for administering the program). This would force education into the private sector and still meet the obligation of the state. With all education in the private hands, the power to choose (spelled liberty) would fall on those most concerned with their child’s welfare. Good schools would flourish and bad schools would go out of business.
“What about the inner city schools?”, you ask. “There is a possibility that crack moms will sell the voucher to a disreputable “school” and the child will get no education?” Good question, I’ll answer it with a question, What are they getting now? Chicago has a 50% percent drop out rate, Baltimore is worse. Washington DC (which has the highest cost per child/year) is worse still. What is Phoenix? Six percent of the graduates of the Philadelphia school system (which is less than half of those who initially enrolled) can read at grade level. What is the rate in Nogales?
No, Jon, government schools have done no favors for these kids, and that includes our current under thirty generation. We need to disestablish the education system with all the administrators and lobbies that go with it.
Get back to the roots of local control – the parents. The inner city kids stand a much better chance of being in jail than graduating high school with the system in place today. Perhaps, just perhaps, with a 100% voucher system, some of the kids might actually get an education and get off the welfare / drugs treadmill.
Other than the above, I have no strong opinion on the subject.
Delaware republican leaders bent on failure?
What is happening in Delaware is is one major factor in my decision to leave New Jersey and move out here to God’s country. Here is a part of the blog I wrote on why I left New Jersey.
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Many people have asked me why I moved from New Jersey to South Dakota, Two reasons – money and politics. When New Jersey had the fiasco with Brett Schundler and Jim McGreavy I knew it was time to get out. For those who don‘t know, Brett Schundler won the primary against the Republican “machine” candidate. Brett was an “outsider” and a conservative who believed in smaller government and fiscal responsibility. Because of that the NJ state Republican party went limp. They did not endorse, support or help finance Brett’s campaign. In fact the senate majority leader (the senior man in the Republican party in NJ) would not even endorse him. That’s when I knew I had had enough. I tell people that is was not the Democrats that drove me from New Jersey, it was the Republicans.
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The rest is not important for this note.
The Republican party leaders in Delaware are derelict in their duty to support the candidate their Republican party has chosen. If Christine looses this race it will not be because of a stellar campaign by the Democrat machine. It will be the fault of the republican machine failing to support their duly elected candidate. The Republican people of Delaware need to get together now and fire their party leadership. If that does not happen, there’s plenty of room for good conservatives out here in South Dakota… and it’s good livin’ too.
