Here’s a ‘litmus test’ with which we could live

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At issue: Our South Dakota legislators have an important job to do and should not be wasting valuable time chasing “ghosts.”
We have never liked, “litmus” tests for public office. We would rather judge a candidate on a myriad of issues, rather than an opinion on only one. We should vote for the best candidate based on a whole set of issues.
Best example of a one-issue, “litmus” test voter is one who automatically votes for the candidate from his or her party without even considering the opponent. Often, the best candidate is a member of your party, but not always.
But our view on “litmus” tests to hold public office may slowly be changing, based on a current trend we neither like nor understand. It’s lawmakers who get elected and then put forth new laws to fix problems that don’t exist – ideologically pure measures that have nothing to do with Midwestern real life issues we South Dakotans and those living in the Upper Midwest have to deal with in everyday life.
These “feel good, but do nothing” bills – laws if enacted – are a waste of time. They violate the principals of what our Legislature was created to do: solve (real) problems and at the same time, keep government intrusion in our lives to a bare minimum.
The Republican Party has that belief as its foundation, yet it’s often from that party’s ranks where most of these laws are created.
Think back to when you were a child and you may have been afraid of a dark room or closet or a particular neighborhood or house overrun by shrubs and trees. It was the fear of the unknown that drove your behavior. A fear of ghosts.

That is what these supposed do-gooders are doing – creating ghosts, and based on those ghosts, pushing for  new laws to add to the thousands already on the books.
An example is the state of North Carolina, which has been in the news a lot lately. The city of Charlotte started this problem by passing a measure securing rights for LBGT citizens to use restroom facilities. Interesting to note, there are no known cases or problems where that group had been denied access, yet the city council  proceeded anyway. So, in response the state legislature passed a bill denying those rights and essentially undoing the city council’s action.
The net result is something that corrects a problem that does not exist. North Carolina could lose an estimated $3.76 billion in business as companies stop doing business in that state. And just last week, North Carolina’s governor signed off on a compromise with the legislature that rolled back some of the measures. What a waste of time.
We have the same issue percolating in our South Dakota Legislature, and now possibly as a ballot measure in the 2018 election. Ask any school administrator in South Dakota and they will tell you there are no examples, no cases of any problems with LBGT students and use of restroom or locker room facilities in our state. Yet many of our elected representatives and senators, fearing ghosts, are quick and ready to pass a bill, to solve a problem that does not exist?
Another, example closer to home, our Legislature spent countless hours working on a measure to allow guns in the State Capitol. It passed both houses, but the governor vetoed it, and that veto was upheld.
Why did we need this measure in the first place? The answer: ghosts. Some legislators feared the state’s law enforcement groups – highly trained professionals – would not be able to protect them and others in the Capitol, so they figured, they should be armed and ready, “just in case.”
Like in our youth, those behind this measure are afraid of ghosts.
Some days it’s like we are living in Oz and the wizard, behind the curtain, controls all!
Another way to look at this example of allowing guns in the Capitol, we borrow a line from newsman Ted Koppel on a recent “60 Minutes” show: (the majority of S.D. legislators) “determined that ideology is more important than facts.” The fact is there are no cases of any safety or security problems in our state capitol, but we wasted time chasing the ghosts, made-up stuff, just so we could say we did something. And boy, do we feel good about it.
True conservatives are laughing in their graves right now; legislation and laws based on ghosts?
Citing examples we don’t see in our state is not a good enough reason to add to the thousands of laws on the books. We would much rather see our legislators spend time dealing with the real problems people face every day in our state. Like the incredible problems caused by meth. And the related cost of local incarceration and building new jails that we can’t afford.
Or how about solving the meandering waters problem in Northeast South Dakota’s Glacial Lakes region? That’s an issue the legislature has been AWOL on for more than a decade. There are no ghosts here, just real problems and real people being affected. The list of real issues in need of solutions is long, and that’s where our legislators should be spending their time.
So maybe we should ask candidates in future elections this important “litmus test” question: Are you going to propose and/or support new laws that chase ghosts, or are you going to deal with real issues that our city and state need to get solved?Here’s a ‘litmus test’ we could live with