Minority Leaders Sutton and Hawley must feel like Dwarves watching the Goblins and Wargs marching their way, with no prospect of Great Eagles swooping in to save South Dakota for democracy.
Reid Wilson of the Washington Post reports that Republicans across the country plan to press their advantage in state legislatures this year:
The unprecedented breadth of the Republican majority — the party now controls 31 governorships and 68 of 98 partisan legislative chambers — all but guarantees a new tide of conservative laws. Republicans plan to launch a fresh assault on the Common Core education standards, press abortion regulations, cut personal and corporate income taxes and take up dozens of measures challenging the power of labor unions and the Environmental Protection Agency [Reid Wilson, "Republicans in State Governments Plan Juggernaut of Conservative Legislation," Washington Post, 2015.01.02].
Wilson doesn't get anyone from South Dakota on the record waving the culture-war colors. Instead of digging for Senator Phil Jensen to reveal his next move in fighting gay bullies or for Senator Dan Lederman to lay out this year's ALEC agenda, Wilson talks to boring (in this context, that's a compliment!) Senator Deb Peters:
“With the increasing costs of Medicaid and education, balancing the budget is going to be a challenge,” said South Dakota state Sen. Deb Peters (R), who chairs the Appropriations Committee [Wilson, 2015.01.02].
Never mind that we won't get around to balancing the budget until the end of the session. I'd say we have nine harrowing weeks during which our Republican legislators will do all they can to keep up with the conservative antics of their colleagues across the country. Forget quiet: with no great economic uptick to fire imaginations with mad money (like that billion-dollar surplus across the border in Communist Minnesota) and with the apparent resistance of the Republican leadership to wielding their resounding popular mandate for bold policy initiatives, the temptation will be there for aspiring legislators to make their mark with culture-war headlines.
And with so few voices of reason sitting to the Speaker's right, some of those crazy bills just might pass.
Senator Sutton, Rep. Hawley, stand and speak boldly against the conservative juggernaut.
We have been under conservative rule here for over 30 years, we are used to the crazy stuff they come up with. Some of those other places are in for a rude awakening when they see what price they are going to pay for not going to the polls last November.
And Pierre hires a bankrupt airline to shuttle lobbyists into town: priceless.
They call us Right because we are !
Rep. Verchio, please try to not do anything to stupid this session, remember you are not the only one that has to live here.
Just what you'd expect a SD GOP legislator to say.
Jensen probably has his anti-gay bill all made up and ready to go.
Right? Like when you voted to ask science teachers teach ASTROLOGY (!!) in the classroom in 2010 with HCR 1009, Rep Verchio? Right? You aren't even competent.
Cory, a call to Billie Sutton to stand is a bit of stretch, init?
Astrology? I thought you were kidding Bill. I am gonna be laughing even harder when the Pope owns these bozoheads when he goes to Paris to condemn Vericho and his cronies for being anti earth. Right indeed, to be a mouse in the corner when he goes for his confession to the priest and gets slapped upside this melon, priceless.
During this past campaign during one of President Obama's few campaign stops, his message was precisely about this blog subject. Of course it fell on the ears deaf Americans.
He acknowledged that the last two years of his presidency would be laden with culture war issues, but that was not his main concern. He rightfully suggested how time consuming and unproductive most of these issues take.
For instance, when we take up time rehashing abortion, we neglect bigger and more realistic problems that face all Americans.
If this new GOP congress behaves as badly as this past one, America is in trouble. Remember that record high of 11% approval rating this past congress had.
If Republicans do go bat sh*t crazy on the culture war stuff, it will bury them in 2016 when the young folks vote.
Scott Walker is trying to warn off the majority Republicans in Wisconsin from going too far out. They don't seem to be listening. I doubt he will have the guts to veto the crazy stuff our Legislature may pass.
Any Republican with hopes of running a competitive race for the Presidency in 2016 wants to downplay the crazies. But the crazies are likely to be in control, and I don't think they can control themselves.
People, people, people.. SD is NOT controlled by conservatives. Common Core is a perfect example. You have a lot of politicians thumping their chests and claiming to be conservatives but the majority of them in SD are moderate Republicans at best.
Crony-capitalism is not a conservative bent, that's your moderates like Daugaard, Rounds, etc. Common Core promoted crony-capitalism but is even opposed by the RNC yet Rounds enacted it, Daugaard defends it, and the moderates in the SD Legislature reaffirmed it.
Those on the right abuse the term liberal and those on the left abuse the term conservative.
It helps when you call a spade a spade.
Compared to wingnut's "liberal" tax give aways to the wealthy, real liberals are fiscally "conservative" and responsible adults.
According to DD's calculations,Vlad the Impaler was a choir boy.
Fun this morning and reading real bats#}t crazy. The world you live in- is it scary or bliss?
DD, the hard right fringe critique of the SDGOP rings hollow when we look at the practical results. I understand there is plenty of SDGOP hypocrisy with reliance on federal money and corporate welfare, and I'll run that critique where necessary. But political discourse and the agenda is Pierre is dominated by conservative rhetoric that drives voting patterns.
http://hillcityprevailernews.blogspot.com/2015/01/council-supports-house-bill-1198.html
"The grenade launchers are the most eye-catching items in the South Dakota portion of a recently compiled nationwide inventory of equipment distributed by the program. Before the U.S. Department of Defense's release of the 1033 data in November, the South Dakota Highway Patrol rejected a request for a full and unredacted South Dakota 1033 inventory."
http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/grenade-launchers-in-sd-s-military-surplus-shopping-bag/article_aea71f80-8e6f-5b7a-a8ab-d3a11dd765a2.html
That is why we like to read your little blasts Troy, it proves we are correct and you are in the belfry.
Larry the real reason we have grenade launchers can be put squarely on the back of the NRA. Through their insistence that everyone is armed to the teeth both concealed and not concealed, they have guaranteed a militarized police force. Who can blame the police when they are facing down nutcases with serious arsenals. This is also the logic of third world countries and our client states of the Mid-East to include Israel.
jerry, since the state has no jurisdiction in tribal nations those grenade launchers would likely be used on hardened compounds like the FLDS cult near Pringle or at Hutterite colonies.
Indeed Larry, all of those compounds you speak of, are republican base voters. The Hutterites are under the direction of that lawyer feller from Aberdeen but who do the Mormons take their republican marching orders from? Mitt? Does Mitt have an outreach office in Custer or the Black Hills?