an editorial by G. Moritz
I don’t share my opinions on political matters much, but with the number of ballot measures out there this year and how they affect the daily lives of South Dakotans I figured I’d make a few comments. You can take my advice or leave it, because so far, this is still a free country.
Let’s go down the list, shall we.
Amendment E: Changing the gender-based language in the state constitution all referring to the governor as a he. Well, it hasn’t stopped our first female governor from holding the office. Nobody has made an issue of the language. Should we change it, maybe. Do we need to, maybe not? This one I don’t have any strong opinions on.
Amendment F: You want honesty, here it is. This amendment is hot garbage. The voters have overwhelmingly passed expansion of Medicaid in South Dakota. This is just another attempt by the powers that be to make it harder for the poorest and most disenfranchised citizens of South Dakota to get benefits that will make their lives better. They’ve tried it before, but South Dakotans know better. Vote no on this.
Amendment G: I refer you all to the comedy routines of the late George Carlin for my views on this issue. The horror stories I have heard in SD, of happily married women unable to get the healthcare they need because of SD’s blanket abortion ban is horrifying.
You can have whatever religious beliefs you want, but forcing others to live by your beliefs is the definition of theocratical tyranny and in my opinion an act of evil.
I find the “No on G, It’s Too Extreme” ad campaign extremely disingenuous. What’s extreme about it, is that it will establish the old Roe V. Wade protections in the SD Constitution, and that’s too extreme for some people.
I don’t see any legislation that regulates a man’s body in any way. Are women citizens with full rights under the law, or aren’t they? And no exception in the case of rape or incest! It’s absolutely vile.
Even with modern medicine, any woman who gets pregnant has the potential to die carrying or giving birth to that child. So, with that risk already on the line, our laws as they stand have made things worse. Worse for people who don’t want to be pregnant, and worse for people who are trying to get pregnant but who are unfortunate enough to have a miscarriage. The law, as it is, has quite literally made things worse for everyone.
These decisions must be left between a woman, her family and her doctor, not by police, judges, lawyers and most especially not our state legislature.
Amendment H: Open primaries! I’ve had a lot of great conversations about this measure, from proponents and opponents alike. In an ideal world, I would be all for this. It has a fairness and an egalitarian spirit to it. But in practice, I’m not convinced it will actually work, so I will not be supporting it.
IM 28: So here we have the direct result of broken promises to the people of SD. They said they wanted to repeal taxes on groceries. “They” being our Governor and/or various legislators, and whoever else, but they actually didn’t do it. People are mad about that and rightly so. But the language of this bill really doesn’t fit our legal structure, and could result in all sorts of problems and unintended consequences. Sure, I’d vote for this, but then I’d have to trust the legislature to actually fix it post-election and I don’t, so I won’t.
IM 29: Well the voters passed recreational Mary Jane, then the supreme court threw it out. I’m just glad medical MJ is legal, because there are a number of people in SD, a lot of them our veterans and senior citizens living better now that get a medicine that actually helps them and is legal. Don’t much care otherwise.
Referred Law 21: Yeah vote no on this! If you support SD farmers, landowners and their rights, vote no on this. Also, if you don’t want your friends and neighbors to potentially die from an inevitable carbon dioxide pipeline leak, vote no on this. If you support land conservation, and keeping SD air, water and soil as unpolluted as possible, vote no on this.
With as many stories as we’ve run about this issue, you should pretty much know where I stand on this, and that’s with the people who are my friends, neighbors and subscribers. I try to stay as objective as I can on every issue, but you gotta call a spade a spade. The people who oppose these pipelines have facts on their side. The carbon pipeline folks have a lot of cash and have pulled out dirty trick after dirty trick to ram this through. For me, as a South Dakotan, that means it’s my job to do everything I can to stop them.
In conclusion: As a journalist and a small-town newspaper owner, and the son, grandson and double great grandson of same, I’m extremely cynical about politics in general. Whenever any political person says he or she has a plan for you, I’m always skeptical and always ask, ‘What are you getting out of it?’
That should be the first thing you ask. In most cases, they don’t care about you, your family or your well-being. They just want your vote and do precious little to actually earn it. So, if they didn’t earn your vote, don’t give it to them. If you can’t bring yourself to vote for someone, then… don’t! Better to leave it blank or refrain from voting for the wrong person or idea than to vote badly just because a pundit or clever ad told you so. Think for yourself, and don’t let anyone tell you that they have the solution, because usually, they don’t. But that’s just my hot take, which you are free to ignore.
What makes me happy, for better or worse, it’ll all be over next week, at least for a while. I can say something that we all agree on, I’m tired of all this pollical poppycock being spewed at me on my phone, my email and my feeds.
If I were to venture an opinion, the election reform we need is the kind that limits campaigns in the amount of time and money they’re allowed to use. But heaven forbid we not allow megacorporations, billionaires and special interest groups to have pride of place at our tables of discourse. Then it wouldn’t be the best democracy money could buy.
