Rampelberg: South Dakota can't afford principled conservatives

The Dakota Progressive has been seeking out and recruiting principled South Dakota conservatives to run for statewide office as third party and unaffiliated (independent) candidates.

Black Hills Republican, Bruce Rampelberg is running against Sen. Lance Russell who is running simultaneously for District 30 and for their earth hater party's nomination for state attorney general. Rampelberg attended the University of Montana and is an owner of the American State Bank. In 2005 as part of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) Rampelberg helped to make Ellsworth Air Force Base a target for retaliatory attacks.

The following question or some form of it has been posed to at least a hundred potential candidates of varying conservatism at their Facebook pages including at Russell's page. Gideon Oakes, a Libertarian also seeking the District 30 Senate post, has also been contacted.

Rampelberg's response follows.

Are there any principled conservatives in the Black Hills area with the political courage to mount third party and unaffiliated runs for statewide office?

Hi Larry - Interesting question. This is my opinion. In Rapid City and the Southern Black Hills, the tea party people have managed to insult everyone who does not agree with their positions. Words like RINO and Liberal are spoken with vitriol. People who want to look at the big picture and find solutions to serious problems are verbally intimidated. Frankly, people who can think do not care for these tactics and tend to avoid situations where opinions and debate are shut down.

Continuing on, again in my opinion, many of us are dissatisfied with the lack of forward movement at the federal level and would like to see some changes in South Dakota as well. But the divisiveness resulting from the extremes versus the moderates leads to lack of trust and being unwilling to work together. And I do not see this changing anytime soon.

To your question, getting sufficient traction to make a difference as a member of a different party would be extremely difficult. Finding a leader with the resources and charisma to engage and challenge people into action while setting up a statewide organization is not easy. So our state's best leaders who are proven and acknowledged will continue to avoid getting into the morass of politics. And the ones making the most noise will continue to ensure atrophy keeping our state at the bottom of any measurement of the 50 states. [Bruce Rampelberg Facebook comment]