Now that the Jon Hansen-Karla Lems ticket has been announced (softly), the Grassroots Patriot movement has – at long last -a genuine hope for our next governor. This time, we can win. This time, we can rally around the true conservative candidate that is willing to put himself & herself on the line to attempt the impossible: Defeating the Establishment. Four years ago, the grassroots wasn’t awake & organized anywhere near enough to help carry true SD Patriot Steve Haugaard into battle against Uber RINO Barbie (Botox edition) Noem. Experts agree that Steve would have made an excellent, sober minded, constitutionally faithful governor that put The People of SD first. But of course The System wouldn’t allow that to happen.
Screw The System.
Screw it into submission, I say.
Some of you, for a variety of reasons, may need a little convincing that these two are deserving of our support, and our trust.
So, this is what I intend to do in this post.
TRUST
As I’ve written about many times before, I am a relative newbie to this whole SD politics game, but I’ve been blessed with a crash course into it by some salt-of-the-earth genuine Patriots who I’ve gotten to know these past two years. You all know who you are, and I am thankful to have met you. We’ve fought some big battles together, celebrated glorious victories. Still to this day, the most common sentiment that I hear from my fellow Patriots is along the lines of “Who can we possibly TRUST in this stupid game that we follow?”.
Who can we trust is indeed the exact question that we should ask along the way. Anyone who asks for our support must be able to adequately answer it. Trust is earned, and it can’t be bought. Trust takes time to build; there are no shortcuts. Like a house on fire, trust can be destroyed quickly.
Patriots are scarred by a loss of trust in our government, and our institutions, rightly so. We’ve been abused too long to so easily trust any politician. I hope by now you all understand that my only desire is to fortify conservatism in our state, strengthen The People’s voice exponentially throughout all government appendages, while weakening the State’s power over our daily lives. I am loyal to those who are like-minded, and belligerent to those who aren’t.
18 months ago I met Jon Hansen at a Family Voice event, where I was struck by the certainty that I had met the next governor of South Dakota. This premonition has never left me, and I have never shared it with Jon. Nothing that I have observed since then has caused me to question this feeling of destiny. In fact, it has only strengthened.
Jon Hansen & Karla Lems are proven warriors, & God-fearing champions. You want a champion, don’t you?
Or should we keep on losing at Big Seats?
Jon/Karla have the right enemies, & the right friends.
The RINOs fought their agenda tooth & nail in this past session.
Lil pp despises them both, as does former archvillian sadclown hasbeen Lee Schoenbeck.
What more needs be said?
THE TOBY PROBLEM
While many of us are relieved/exhilarated by the Jon-Karla power couple ticket, all is not well in Patriot Land, I fear. A stalking horse prowls, snorting & stamping in the shadows; thrumming with rage, unstoppable in desire.
I don’t do whisper campaigns. I prefer to holler, so hang onto your butts, cuz here I go.
(TOBY, PLEASE ACCEPT THIS IN THE SPIRIT OF LOVE & UNITY AS INTENDED)
As a fairly successful businessman myself, I am uniquely qualified to identify with & critique Toby Doeden, at least as it relates to politics. I too despise & wish to grievously wound The System. I too have had friends tell me “YOU should be governor!”, foolishly but well-meaning. Some people- those who have little experience in either politics or business – are under the illusion that success in business ventures can be parlayed into an effective career in the political world. This notion, my friends, is a silly one, however tempting it may seem.
There’s only one Donald J. Trump, & even his 1st term was an unmitigated disaster. Anyone remember covid? Trump bumbled his way into DC only to get thwarted and bamboozled for 4 years by swamp creatures who knew what they were doing. Trump was ill prepared for that war, and we all paid the price.
Business is fairly predictable. Politics is nuts. Anticipating allies’ & enemies’ reactions is impossible in the political world. Understanding people’s true motives in being for or against particular legislation is as tricky as capturing smoke.
Look, I get it. The idea of sending a wrecking ball like Toby to sit in the big chair as an FU to the SchoenbeckMoretensens of SD sounds like a barrel of monkeys on a sugar high, but in reality it’s just a huge gamble. We can’t afford to gamble like this, felllow Patriots. We must be serious about governing ourselves.
Toby makes for a very effective trebuchet, hurling boulders at the castle walls. But after the walls come tumbling down, the trebuchet has lost its usefulness.
I’m not minimizing the level of positive impact that Toby Doeden has had as a fertilizer for the Grassroots in the past year. He has provided real help to fledgling candidates, monetarily & otherwise. He is a huge asset in the movement.
But that does not qualify him to be our next governor.
FACT: If it wasn’t for Jon Hansen, abortion till birth could very well be enshrined in our state constitution. He didn’t do it by himself, but HE DID DO IT. This accomplishment alone puts him at the head of the line. South Dakota is now safe(r) for pre-born babies because Amendment G failed spectacularly last November.
Dusty, Larry, Marty & Toby did not lead the fight against Amendment G. The only man without a “Y” at the end of his name did that.
Jon Hansen.
Karla was at the forefront of the enormous battle against the CO2 pipeline scam; a battle in which it took a gargantuan citizen effort against billion dollar companies to preserve our liberty. Karla is a proven warrior for South Dakota; tireless, faithful and worthy of our trust.
How quickly we seem to forget the fierce battles of our recent past. Battles hard fought & divinely granted the victory.
But some of us haven’t forgotten.
Jon Hansen is not only the perfect candidate for SD governor at this specific time, he managed to convince the perfect sidekick to join him on this Dream Ticket. I didn’t say they are perfect people, cuz there has only ever been one of those. Only a child expects perfection in humans.
I’ve personally known Karla Lems for over 25 years, and I can promise you that no matter how dissident you think you are, you simply don’t distrust our government more than Karla does. She’s a Real One.
Together, and with our help, they can make the necessary changes to our state government to preserve our liberty and affect real change.
During campaign season last year, I wrote an article titled “The Sump Pump Window”, in which I described the window of time before tragedy strikes, a time when we could have DONE SOMETHING to prevent it from happening to us.
This is that time, friends. The window of time that, if we fail to unite & focus our firepower on the enemy, we will look back on with sadness & regret, wondering why we were so stupid.
Because it isn’t just Jon & Karla running for governor.
It’s the entire Grassroots Patriot movement.
It’s us, and it’s our time to rule.
