Sponsors of South Dakota’s proposed initiated constitutional amendments have two weeks and two days to collect their 33,921 petition signatures and submit their completed petitions to the Secretary of State. To that end, Dakotans for Health is hosting a “Democracy Rally” this Sunday afternoon, October 24, from 2 to 4 at its Democracy Center at 1911 South Minnesota Avenue in Sioux Falls.
The rally will feature music from the Hegg Brothers and remarks from the sponsors of the two best constitutional amendment petitions on the street right now: Rick Weiland of Dakotans for Health speaking for the amendment to finally expand Medicaid, and Amy Scott-Stoltz of Drawn Together SD speaking for the amendment to put the Legislature out of its gerrymandering misery and assign redistricting duties to an independent commission.
Of course, recognizing that “Expand Medicaid!” and “End Gerrymandering!” aren’t the catchiest or most easily iconographized slogans, the Democracy Center advertises Sunday’s rally as a pro-pot gathering:
Also speaking at the Democracy Rally is Flandreau Santee Sioux President Tony Reider, who is representing South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws and its petition to put marijuana legalization before the voters again in 2022. SDBML’s proposal is an initiated law, not an initiated amendment, so it requires only half as many signatures as the Medicaid and redistricting petitions, 16,961. Thanks to a federal court ruling in August, SDBML has until May 3, 2022, to collect those signatures. However, with the state appealing that ruling and trying to set that deadline back to November 8, SDBML is smartly synergizing with the big amendment petition drives during their busy final push. And it will take a lot of smart synergizing to collect at least 16,961 signatures (plus at least a 20% safety margin) in just four weeks.
If you can’t make the rally, the Democracy Center will be open before and after the show for its regular hours 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., offering coffee and rolls and the chance to do democracy. They’ll also have notaries public on hand to seal any petition circulators’ petitions and volunteer packets for any South Dakota resident who’d like to join the causes and collect petition signatures during these last two fun-filled weeks before the November 8 submission deadline.
If they didn’t mix the devil’s lettuce issues in there they might be able to get some swell fellows like Governor Daugaard to come and talk about expanding Medicaid.
“If you look at how modern democracies fade, they fade at the ballot box and in the court room.” — LP Sr. Advisor @StuartPStevens
to @ChrisCuomo
“I’ll never question how 1930s Germany happened again.”
https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1451915114412748806?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Vote. Petition. Challenge the justices here, and especially on the Robert’s Supreme Court – which is bending over backwards to undue the rule of law and settled law.
South Dakota resembles an abusing husband who, when presented with a restraining order, takes the coil wire off his wife’s old car just to slow down her efforts to meet up with her new friend.
Dusty, go-along-to-get-along Johnson voted against democracy and for alleged fraudster Bannon.
https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2021329
Vote. Petition. Rally for democracy or self-serving middlemen/women like Johnson will deny you democracy.
Just now read John Tsitrian’s “South Dakota Standard” reporting on how the premier GQP Republican Party’s influence has carryed-over into its youth supporters (or ‘water-carriers) harassments of the Democratic party booth at the s D state Fair!
Republicans in this state should be so PROUD of their party’s influence on its youth. with future leaders such as these, one can say democracy in this country is definitely a past experience.
https://www.sdstandardnow.com/home/trump-supporters-repeatedly-harassed-south-dakota-democrats-at-state-fair-and-nothing-was-done-about-it
Well…the music is going to be worth the trip with the Hegg Brothers..very tasty and by far the premier fusion band in the area…much better than anything the Republicans could get on stage…hope this fires up the Party and we start recruiting candidates.
Pat Powers’ daughter Sydney is head of the South Dakota Young Republicans.
The young, “Loser Trump” supporters exhibited many of the juvenile proclivities that PP embodies, or so it sounds.
On Medicaid expansion, I have a question that would influence my SD vote on this. If you are a homeowner or land owner (like a farmer or rancher), what is the real benefit of Medicaid if a lien is put on your property for medical services that is collected by the state when you die?
Mr. Sol, as I understand it, Medicaid is a program designed to help people in need and that to qualify an applicant needs to have limited income and under $2,000 in assets. Generally the value of land is likely to be over the assets limit, hence most land owners probably would not be eligible for Medicaid, and not be subject to a lien. On the other hand, homeownership is not counted as asset if certain conditions are met, and a homeowner with less than $2000 in countable assets could receive medicaid benefits and would then be subject to the medicaid lien.
https://www.medicaidplanningassistance.org/medicaid-eligibility-south-dakota/
Medicaid does financially assist everyone in the State, including ineligible farmers, ranchers and homeowners, however, by adding federal dollars to the local economy, which in turn are either saved or spent. The medicaid recipient doesn’t get any money directly, and therefore can save no part of the value of the medicaid. Instead, all of this value is collected by the various medical providers, such as a doctor or hospital. The doctor will then spend or save all or part of the portion of the medicaid money he or she is paid. If the doctor buys groceries with his or her share of the medicaid payment, then the store owner will recieve those medicvaid funds and either save or spend those funds on payments to employees, purchase of goods to sell, rent, property taxes, etc. Each recipient of the money spent by the grocer then either spends of saves her or her share of the medicaid proceeds and this goes on and on.
The macro-economic term for this is the “multiplier effect.” As you can see, the only person that is subject to a lien is the patient with limited income and resources. Once the patient qualifies, all payments are then passed on over and over again to providers and on down the line, all with no income or asset test and no lien. Since most homeowners or land owners would fall in this path of medicaid money spent over and over again, they would financially benefit from these funds without a lien.
Ok, Bearcreekbat, thanks. Not too knowledgeable on this either. When it came to Medicaid expansion, I thought there was no asset test. But again I may be wrong and again thanks for your response.
So who exactly do the Republicans represent? Why do initiatives that they hate pass? Two simple questions.
Mr. Sol selfishly asks why he should support MEDICAID, when he doesn’t qualify.
Remember when SD people were known for how they treated others?
Republicans represent the wealthy and super wealthy.
Not being of the deepest intellect, they’ve been told and fully believe that helping the rich will “trickle down” and benefit them.
Initiatives, such as marijuana and ethics pass because Republicans smoke just as much weed and know crooks when they see them.
So what is to be done with young renegade Republican :wanna-be” toughguys who rip a
3/4″ 4ft x 8ft Bideb/Harris sign off a garage in the State Fair Democrat booth and stand there and urinate on it then post it on social media to brag about it?
There own Party offcials don’t own up to it, the law seems complicit and the state fair board says “oh, just free speech”! ?????
Jake…probably a huge push by the public similar to the vehicular manslaughter the attorney general got off on. But don’t expect equal justice to prevail on these bad actors wwuth any grit. Continuous exploitation of these wrongs and the way officials govern throughout this state eventually gets to them when their poster politicians they support at the polls lose!
Grudz, no mainstream South Dakota Republican will appear at a public event to promote a ballot measure that would enact good policy and lend credence to the initiative and referendum process.
Cory, you are so RIGHT ON! WHEN has the SD GOP pushed hard for something that is ‘good’ for the MOST people in their state? Gambling-machines in the state owned by a handful of people but casinos almost as common as gas station; alcohol under distributive control of a small handful of statewide distributors, and now, currently, because ‘the people’ have forced them to, the legislature and smaller governmental agency’s are formulating plans for marijuanna being distribubuted to people interested in using it for medical or recreational purposes.
The SD GOP is becoming sodden, like a drunk on alcohol, and engrossed in itself-to its own detriment.
Mr. Sol, as another South Dakotan who has had experience with a loved one using Medicaid, a decision has to be made if you want your loved one or yourself to go through a rough period of life with medical care. If you don’t want Medicaid to be there for you or your loved ones, the option is to just die or survive a period of time in pain.
If you have been lucky enough to amass a positive net worth in your life, it is your savings account to be drawn off to survive during a rough patch. If you are smart enough or rich enough, or just don’t care about your neighbor, you will have found a Pandora method to preserve the assets for the also likely ungrateful heirs you raised. There is no requirement you pass through inheritance to your kids, a fortune or a dime, especially after the rest of us has supported you during your time of need.
The question becomes, how selfish is a person who is more worried about the inheritance than the life of the person Medicaid is meant to help? BTW, how many South Dakotan require a home worth more than $600,000 to survive in.
Well Porter, maybe that’s why the Russia girls trickle down tape resounds.
However, I’ve always known that Libertarians are Republicans that smoke dope. It fits.
You know that Republicans never do anything to support their “new” poorer base. Rubio actually wondered out loud that maybe they need to. If their base had any brains they would realize that Democrats have always tried to help them economically and Republicans oppose that and just give voice to their anger. Apparently anger wins for now.