The Courage To Say No

I wrote here about South Dakota’s Governor Kristi Noem, who is approaching heroic status. She stood alone against the tide of governors issuing stay-home fiats amid the coronavirus panic, taking the principled position that Americans are free people, not subject to arbitrary orders from their governors. What a refreshing idea! She also said that South Dakotans are smart–smart enough to do a better job of looking after their own health than the government could ever do. Therefore, her administration compiled and published data and gave advice, but she steadfastly refused to order anyone to do anything.

For that, she withstood a torrent of abuse from the likes of the Washington Post, the Associated Press and her home state newspapers. (Even in South Dakota, reporters are Democrats.)

On Wednesday, July 8, at noon Central, Center of the American Experiment will sponsor a webinar featuring Governor Noem. She will talk about her approach to the COVID epidemic, and how it has worked so far. (Preview: South Dakota has the nation’s lowest unemployment rate and a COVID fatality rate that is a fraction of Minnesota’s and most other states’.) You can sign up here.

I will ask her about the politics of COVID shutdowns. It seemed obvious to me that most governors were keeping an eye on one another, moving more or less in concert, on the theory that if they all did more or less the same thing they couldn’t be criticized. Like members of a cartel, they were horrified when one member of the group–Governor Noem–declined to participate and went her own way. That allowed a comparison of results that liberal governors were desperate to avoid, which I think accounts for the viciousness of the attacks on Governor Noem.

I may ask her about her interest in being on the GOP’s national ticket in 2024–a great idea in my opinion–and I definitely will ask her about reports that leftists may attack Mount Rushmore.

It will be a fun and interesting conversation and, who knows, maybe an introduction to a woman who could play a major role on the national scene. Go here to register; needless to say, it’s free, and I highly encourage you to attend.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses