South Dakota State Politics: The Top 12 Issues, Part I Primary considerations for all candidates

South Dakota’s 101st session of its state legislature recently completed work and adjourned last month, with a number of unresolved matters carrying forward for further work and deliberation.

The top 12 issues that continue to be debated are discussed below, with the ranking order determined by estimated public interest and salience. Each of the issues presented concludes with a positional statement on the issue from a traditionalist constitutional and fiscal conservative standpoint.

Why Gas Prices Are Finally Dropping: The Real Factors Behind the Relief at the Pump

Lately, something unexpected has happened: gas prices have fallen sharply, reaching some of the lowest levels since 2021. And while politicians will happily claim credit for it, the truth has nothing to do with speeches, slogans, or campaign ads. What’s happening is straightforward: the world is drowning in oil.

Changing the Environment by Attacking the Insurance Industry

Governments trying to find ways to regulate parts of the economy that they don’t like isn’t anything new. Or more common is to find ways to introduce policies they know that aren’t going to be popular in a way most people won’t notice. Regulating by stealth has become something of an artform for many who draft legislation.

Tilting At Windmills, Part 1

Tilting At Windmills The Wind blows freely, Blowing across the earthscape. But what if it stops? When I first saw the windmills I was doing a military base closure project in California in 1992. As I had to fly into San Francisco, I would drive over the hills to the Central Valley town of Merced. …

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Drilling 101, by Citizen Writer: Greg Beck

President Biden and his team have acknowledged in recent weeks that there is not much he can do to address soaring gas prices and inflation, and the actions he has taken so far, such as a record-breaking release of oil from the country’s strategic reserves, have not worked. This past Tuesday he continued his denigration …

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