Your Voice is Making a Difference
SD Cracker Barrels and Legislative Coffees are happening this weekend
ACTION ALERT! This weekend, there are cracker barrels and legislative coffees taking place all over the state. At these events you have the opportunity to ask questions, hear your legislators’ positions on proposed legislation, and have a personal conversation with them. Be sure to know which district you live in and who are your legislators. Then check out the Mandate Free SD list of Cracker Barrels and Legislative Coffees for the schedule events taking place this weekend and weekends throughout the session.
Your voice is being heard and your efforts are paying off.
Let’s revisit where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going.
In July, Governor Noem tweeted that if your employer is mandating a vaccine, you can say no and go find employment elsewhere. This message was far from encouraging to South Dakotans and blue state refugees alike. A lot of people moved here to South Dakota, fleeing from such insanity. Not everyone can just “go get another job.” Folks, who have spent years perfecting specialized trades and occupations, felt abandoned. The Governor left them in the dust. The Declaration of Independence states that we were endowed with alienable rights given to us by our Creator, which includes “life” and “liberty.” The government and businesses have absolutely no authority to mandate or coerce any such injections.
In response, Mandate Free South Dakota was formed. We could not bear to idly stand by and watch our freedoms be stripped from us. We voiced our grave concerns. We stood together on the lawn of the South Dakota State Capitol fighting for lawmakers and our government officials to hear us. We banded together to fight against this gross overreach of authority.
Representatives Jon Hansen and Scott Odenbach brought a bill to stop employers from mandating COVID-19 vaccines. Many rallied behind them, including Speaker of the House Spencer Gosch. In return, Gov. Noem called two of the most well-respected conservative leaders in the South Dakota legislature - “headline chasers.” Defending these business vaccine mandates, she claimed, “They want to make government bigger and more powerful in your life. It’s like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” For bringing legislation to protect people’s freedom and livelihoods, that’s what these two fine representatives got in return – a smear campaign.
But that hasn’t stopped Representative Scott Odenbach, or others, from dropping a bill this legislative session to put strong protections in place for people who don’t get the jab. As we discussed in the last post, SD Vaccine Bills Emerge, there are several pieces of legislation that have been dropped to help empower us to take strong action like suing if we are forced or coerced with senseless vaccine mandates. Enough is enough.
Today, we should be encouraged by the momentum we’ve gained and by what we have accomplished. Some businesses have done away with or have decided not to pursue mandating their employees because of people like you fighting for freedom. In a previous Jobs not Jabs post, businesses like Starbucks and General Electric both scrapped their jab-or-test requirements.
Momentum is building. Southwest pilots said no to vaccine mandates and relentlessly protested until Southwest dropped their plan to put unvaccinated staff on unpaid leave, which would’ve essentially been firing them. Canada’s Truckers Inspire Global Convoys Protesting Against Covid Fascism recently, and now truckers in the U.S. are organizing a convoy from California to Washington, D.C. to protest the vaccine mandates. They're aiming for 700,000 + trucks to join, according to Ryan Fournier's Tweet. The only thing that would’ve made this better is if the truck convoy protesting these mandates would’ve started here on our own soil first.
But the American spirit is alive and well. There is still fight in us. Our voice is making a real difference. But we can’t stop now. We must press on. We must show up. We must stand firm in the fight.
Ronald Reagan says it well, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
We often feel the heavy burden of our powerful, big government, but we must remember, it is us that truly holds the power. It is “We the People.”