A South Dakota ex-pat friend cheers the Minnesota House's vote for marriage equality and says he's glad to call Minnesota home. I suggest that perhaps my ex-pat friend and Governor Dennis Daugaard's other targets should bring their respectful debate and celebration to the Governor's publicity stunt at the Mall of America on Monday, May 13, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., to ask him not only what jobs and paychecks are available in South Dakota but whether the Governor and the State of South Dakota will welcome same-sex couples and honor their love and commitment.
I consider expanding that exhortation to professional women in the Twin Cities who might want to ask the Governor whether South Dakota's commitment to minimal regulations extends to their uteri... or maybe just set up their own picket line next to Hot Topic to remind the women Governor Daugaard talks to that South Dakota doesn't think their brains work on weekends.
But then I remember there's a good reason the Governor takes his show to the Mall of America: you have to pay to speak there. The Mall of America, like private corporate property everywhere, is a no-First-Amendment zone. If anyone attempts to present a counter-message to Governor Daugaard's taxpayer-funded marketing pitch Monday, Mall of America security can hustle them out of microphone range and probably all the way to Eagan.
So we'll just have to trust Minnesotans to look past Governor Daugaard's cowboy-booted propaganda to the broader economic and political landscape—and the blogosphere!—and decide what's best for them and their families.
Please note that Cory was a Presidential Scholar in 1989.
Give a man a job, he'll feed his family. Give a man a microphone, he'll feed his ego.
Some in South Dakota are just jealous of the things Minnesota has that South Dakota lacks.