Opinion

South Dakota has real cause for concern. On December 2, Governor Rhoden put forth his budget proposal for 2026. The news is bleak. Our state sales tax collections went backward for only the 3rd time in the last 30 years, and education, nursing homes, and state employees will see 0% increases. After years of growth and advancement, it seems that South Dakota is stuck in the mud.

The majority of folks living in South Dakota today do not remember when the Missouri River was a free-flowing river which flooded every spring. This flooding was usually caused by ice jams, which occurred when massive chunks of dislodged, free-flowing ice refroze or got caught further downstream. These ice jams could be started at bridge pilings, shallow areas, river bends, narrow areas, or a myriad of other naturally occurring obstacles such as rocks or tree trunks.

The South Dakota Freedom Caucus commends Governor Larry Rhoden for not recommending the usual, de facto increases in government salaries at a time when the taxpayers are struggling. However, parts of the Governor’s address the Caucus called “deeply misleading” and “fiscally irresponsible” in regard to its characterization of the state’s financial position.

Ultimately, education is about our future. We want our kids and our grandkids to have the very best opportunity to learn and grow so that they can become well-informed and productive members of our society and get into the career of their dreams.

The final step in harvesting the grain was threshing. This was the busiest time of the year on the farm. Someone in the neighb orhood who owned a threshing machine would hire a crew of men and go from farm to farm to thresh. Often the threshing crew was made up of family and neighbors. The crew might be made up of from 10 to 30 men. Each farm’s threshing usually took two to four days if the weather was good.

Dear editor, Who is wounded when the ACA subsidies are allowed to lapse? The ones who really make America great will be most wounded. In South Dakota, that’s farmers and ranchers, people who live in small towns, small business owners and their employees, caregivers, daycare providers.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of time with family and friends, great food, and gratitude for our abundance of blessings. As Thanksgiving turns to Christmas and gratitude turns to generosity, I’m preparing to present a balanced budget to the South Dakota Legislature.

Farm ers were required to cultivate part of the land they received under the Homestead Act. In order to do this, they first had to “break the sod.” Sod was grasscovered soil that was held together by matted roots.

My point today is that the economic plight of small livestock producers perfectly illustrates the danger of mixing religion and democratic politics. The voting compact made several decades ago between the religion-based Rightto- Life organization, of which substantial numbers of small livestock producers are supporters, and the Republican Party has negatively impacted American democracy in at least three ways.

Dear Editor and Readers, Can you believe it? Right-to-Life folks, which includes your scribe, are being blamed by certain liberals for government inaction against meat packers who are monopolizing American livestock markets and crowding out independent stockmen. This, because pro-life people tend to vote for pro-life politicians, usually Republicans, and, allegedly, Repubs won't go after the meat-packers. The remedy suggested is - vote for Democrats, not Republicans, at the state and national levels.