If I Had A Sunday Morning Talk Show: Questions For South Dakota's Gubernatorial Candidates

Given the fact that I have a face best designed for radio and voice best suited for silent film, I am unlikely to get a Sunday morning talk show. My curiosity, however, does prompt the following questions that I hope the candidates will be asked.

First question: The Trump administration has asked a federal court to remove current protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Do you support the administration's effort? If so why? Please explain what protections you believe people should have.

Second question: The Trump administration has held office for 72 weeks. It has tried to roll out several "infrastructure weeks." Given the federal government may not be able to create an infrastructure plan and South Dakota's infrastructure earned a D+ in 2017, what can the South Dakota do to improve it's infrastructure without federal support?

Third question: Recent celebrity suicides have brought the issue to the forefront of the national discussion. "Suicide numbers in South Dakota have increased substantially in recent years. According to a recent report from the Centers For Disease Control, the state's suicide rates have increased 44.5 percent between 1999 and 2016. " What is your plan to help South Dakotans dealing with mental illness?

Fourth question: James Poulos, one of the nation's best young public intellectuals, has opined that the digital age accelerates public passions while predigital institutions have become too weak to react. What would you do to help South Dakota's public institutions be more responsive to the public demands created by the digital age?

Finally, former Indiana governor and current president of Purdue University, Mitch Daniels has said, 

Pollsters have even begun to use the term “hatred” to describe the degree of estrangement. They tell us that members of both tribes [those with a university education and the hopes of a good paying job and those without those advantages] tend to belong mostly because of their animosity to the other side. In almost reciprocal numbers, they describe the other side as “closed-minded,” “dishonest,” “unintelligent,” even “immoral.” As we trust each other less, trust in the institutions of our society has eroded in parallel. Almost no sector—government, business, the media, higher education —has escaped a steep drop in public confidence. Some constant vigilance and skepticism about centers of authority is a healthy, all-American instinct. 

But ultimately, to function effectively as a free and self-governing people, we must maintain some degree of faith that our institutions and those leading them have our best interests at heart, and are performing their duties with sincerity and integrity. And today, we plainly lack such faith.

South Dakotans are not immune the erosion of faith in our fellow citizens, leaders and institutions. What will you do as governor to begin the process of restoring that faith?