One would think that common sense would reign supreme in government, the reverse is often true. Recently, the City of Mitchell did what it should have done nearly a month ago and cleared the rest of the streets in Mitchell. “Better late than never” said Geoffrey Chaucer back in 1386 and it is as true today as it was eight centuries ago.

Common sense would suggest that the City’s recent action in actually plowing all of the city’s streets completely should be routine and automatic without the impetus of the angst and anger of irate and inconvenienced citizens. However, in government there are union agreements, regulations, overtime issues and concern over the use of tax dollars that often get in the way of what seems logical. I want to applaud the City for finally completing what should have been started a month ago. The City street crews and plow drivers did a superb job of cleaning up the City.

There are others who are exercising common sense in government. US Representative Dusty Johnson has introduced a bill called the “Mount Rushmore Protection Act”. The gist of the legislation is the memorial cannot be renamed, defaced, destroyed or otherwise altered. That may seem like unnecessary legislation, but Mount Rushmore faces threats and challenges from two different sides of the political coin. On the one hand, Native Americans hold the Black Hills sacred and view Mount Rushmore as a sacrilege, a defacing of a sacred place. They want the monument erased from the mountain. On the other hand, there are those who wish to add their favorite president to the memorial. Serious attempts have been made to add Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan at various times and some have recently suggested Donald Trump be included with the original four presidents. Representative Johnson wants to preserve the memorial as it is and for all time. I agree. Washington represents the founding of the country while Jefferson is indicative of our expansion as a nation into a continental power. Theodore Roosevelt signifies the United States’ rise to the status of a world power. Abraham Lincoln symbolizes the unity of the country and our attempt to live up to our creed that “all men are created equal…” as expressed in the Declaration of Independence. Once the discussion is enjoined about adding to Mount Rushmore the debate descends into woke representation – women, people of color, gays (James Buchanan the 15th president was most probably gay), as well as which additional president(s) should be added. Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln are enough for Mount Rushmore.

State Senator Lee Schoenbeck (R-Watertown) has some good common-sense legislation in the South Dakota State Legislature. Lee and I served in the State Senate back in the 1990’s. Lee left the Legislature to go back to his law practice and then returned to the Senate a few years ago. One of his bills is Senate Bill 68 which would require members of the Legislature that are not returning for the next term to get special permission to attend out-of-state conferences. I was in the South Dakota State Legislature for twelve sessions, 1993-2004, and went on two out-of-state trips – one to New York City and one to Phoenix. However, I never went on a trip once I knew I wasn’t coming back to Pierre. I think this only makes sense. An out-of-state trip is either a conference or a fact-finding mission of some kind. In either case, the idea is that it will lead to new legislation, regulation or reform in the next session. If you’ve been voted out of office or are not running for reelection, why are you going to a conference or on a trip? This legislation is just makes sense.

Another of Senator Schoenbeck’s bills is Senate Bill 65. SB 65 changes the drop out age from 18 back to 16. This is an incredibly good idea. The drop out age used to be 16 and some kids did drop out. However, most of them realized, usually after just one semester, that dropping out was a terrible idea. They lost much of their friend network and shared experiences when they dropped out. When they looked for “real” jobs the dropouts found that many required at least a high school diploma and most a lot more education than that. So, they came back and finished, either in regular high school or at Second Chance. Often in the legislature, doing anything qualifies as accomplishing something. The fly in the buttermilk is activity is not the same as achievement. I’m sure those who raised the drop out age to 18 meant well and thought it was a positive thing. As a teacher (36 years teaching Social Studies at Mitchell High School) I can tell you this was a terrible, harmful, destructive policy in practice. Kids still “dropped out” at 16, they just stayed in school. Allow me to explain. They were truant. They were defiant. They were disruptive. They didn’t do their work and they didn’t accrue credits and then formally dropped out once they turned 18. But, by the time they realized what a terrible decision this was – they had wasted two years of high school. Now, those “kids” were 20 and “too old” to go back to high school. Some got GED degrees, most drifted into menial, dead end jobs or crime. Senator Schoenbeck’s bill restores sanity to the system and gives those struggling a better chance to realize what is in their best interests while there is still a window of adolescence for high schools to meet their needs.

Senator Josh Klumb, from District 20, is the Senate sponsor of House Bill 1090. HB 1090 modifies protections for agricultural operations from nuisance claims. In order to sue an ag operation, the person would have to live contiguously to the operation and show actual damages. When I served on the City Council I would get tired of people who complained that they moved to the country and missed City services (water, garbage, plowing, sewer etc.). They would whine about the noise of farm machinery and the smell of animal production. There are advantages and disadvantages of living in the city. The same is true of the country. Nature is to be enjoyed, true. The “country” is to be farmed; our lives literally depend upon it. That involves sights, sounds and smells one doesn’t usually experience in the city. Senator Klumb’s legislation is well crafted and sound. It’s just unfortunate that it is necessary, especially in South Dakota.

When I was in the Legislature, Steve Sibson came to me with an idea. Why, he asked, could his underage teenagers buy a R or NC-17 rated movie at Shopko (then) but Jeff Logan wouldn’t allow them in to see the same movie at the Logan Luxury Theater without a parent physically present or a signed “R card”? He applauded Jeff Logan but wanted legislation to require carding for underage teenagers for buying movies meant for a more adult audience in retail stores, similar to cigarettes and alcohol. I agreed that was a commonsense proposal and so did every other legislator I asked to sign on to the legislation. I thought it was a slam dunk. Boy was I wrong!

On the day the bill was being considered three lobbyists from the Motion Picture Association of America (the G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17 ratings people) showed up wearing suits that cost more than the GEO Metro I was driving at the time. They called me a fascist. They said I was assaulting the US Constitution and shredding the First Amendment. By the time they were done flaying me, the vote on the State Affairs Committee was 12-1 to kill the bill. I was the only one who voted for it. Later, stores routinely carded teens and refused to sell those under 17 R rated movies. I thought then, and I still think now, that Steve Sibson had a good, common-sense idea for quality legislation.

As Voltaire said, “Common sense is not so common.”