South Dakota Ramming More Bad Ideas Down People's Throats

More good ideas from South Dakota!

South Dakota has made recent headlines over a proposed anti-trans bill that would make it a misdemeanor for physicians to provide puberty blockers and gender-affirming surgeries to transgender people under 16. Now, the state is moving forward with another controversial bill that negatively mpacts the environment. Though cities and states across the nation are banning single-use plastics, GOP legislators in South Dakota want to ban cities and localities from banning plastic packages, straws and containers.  This seems like yet another Republican tantrum, in response to a changing world that the GOP dead-enders realize is leaving them behind.  Just listen to what some of these moronic GOP legislators are saying:

"Every time I think about a plastic coffee can getting thrown in the river, it doesn't bother me at all because it sinks to the bottom and it's habitat for bait fish, it's habitat for crayfish," Republican state Sen. Jeff Monroe said in the hearing on Jan. 28, as reported by Dakota Radio Group.

“Remember those of us from the small towns, the rural areas who live near these Class I communities. We don’t get to participate in the ordinance of these towns, but we have very little choice in whether to participate in the commerce in these towns,” Republican state Sen. John Wiik (the bill's sponsor) said, as reported by the Argus Leader.

Dana Loseke from the Friends of the Big Sioux River group argued that the river had a “plastic forest” in its riverbank.  In reference to a plastic bag, Loseke said, “500 years from now, how many generations from now, your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandkids will be able to dig this up, and it’ll still be there,” as reported by the Leader.

South Dakota isn’t the only state to consider this sort of legislation.  Republican Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee signed a bill into law last April that stopped local governments from making bans or regulations on plastic utensils and bags.  Arizona passed a similar ban years ago, as did Texas and Michigan too.

It's ironic that Republicans love to complain about the federal government forcing things on the states and local governments— and then they do the same damn thing when it’s something they disagree with.