Democrats deserve blame for one-party rule

The South Dakota legislative session is about two weeks away and it should be an interesting one as it offers impressive dueling tax cut plans.

Gov. Kristi Noem wants to cut the state sales tax on food, while a group of Republican legislators have an idea for cutting property taxes. There is some concern about whether the state could afford either one of the plans, but the budget certainly isn’t big enough to absorb both tax cuts. There isn’t a crystal ball bright enough to tell us how that’s going to work out. 

But there are some aspects of the legislative session that are pleasantly predictable. Each afternoon, the session in the House starts with a prayer led by a local minister and then the Pledge of Allegiance led by a House page. Then, just as the pledge is finished, overcome by his love of baseball or his enthusiasm for doing the people’s work, some wag in the back of the room will call out, “Play ball!”

Just as predictable, but nowhere near as enthusiastic, is the comment from a Democratic legislator who has seen his latest piece of legislation crash and burn against the big red wall of the Republican majority. At some point, he will blame his bill’s failure on “one-party rule.”

This isn’t just sour grapes. The Legislature is governed by one-party rule. In this coming South Dakota legislative session, the 70-member House will have seven Democrats. The 35-member Senate will have four Democrats. It’s this kind of disparity in numbers that has political reporters all over the state wondering whether there’s a hyphen in the term “super majority.” 

The tone of Democratic legislators who have just seen their bill fail in a Republican dominated committee (because in South Dakota they are all dominated by Republicans) seems to place the blame for one-party rule at the feet of the dominant party. But it’s not Republicans that are to blame. All they did was show up to get a place on the election ballot. 

Just as blameless are voters. They can only vote for those candidates that appear on the ballot. Sadly, in too many cases Democrats were absent from the ballot. The fact that the South Dakota Legislature suffers from one-party rule is the fault of none other than the state’s Democratic Party. 

In the election held last November, Democrats failed to field 25 candidates for the 35 openings in the Senate. There were 70 seats open in House. In 32 cases, Democrats left a blank spot on the ballot where a candidate’s name should have been. 

To say that this was a lackluster showing by the state’s Democratic Party is an insult to all of those things that lack luster. 

I once heard Sen. George McGovern talk about the time he spent working for the state’s Democratic Party. He said he went to each legislative district, visiting with people in their stores and cafes. He asked them who were the best, most honest and respectable people in town. He would then seek out those people and talk to them about the possibility of serving in the Legislature. Once they were convinced, he asked them to consider running for the office as Democrats. 

Judging by the lack of Democratic candidates on the ballot, no one in the party is putting forth that kind of effort. It is the kind of effort that the state’s political parties owe to the taxpayers of South Dakota.

After all, taxpayers are the ones who foot the bill for their primary elections. They let those political parties use space in the Capitol for their secret party caucuses.

More than that, taxpayers in the state deserve a debate on the issues. Too often these days, the only debate on the issues is during the Republican Party primaries where voters are given a choice between a conservative Republican and an ultra conservative Republican. 

That lack of a two-party debate is disenchanting for those citizens who still believe that the Democratic Party has ideals and ideas to offer. 

There are two years until the next legislative election. What the Democratic Party in this state needs is a McGovern-like effort to find the best people in each legislative district, sell them on the idea of serving in the Legislature and then ask them to run as Democrats. Only then will South Dakotans get the debate on the issues that they deserve.