SDWC turns 21! Still standing.

Just a little bit of housekeeping as we bring you the best – and sometimes it seems like the worst – in South Dakota politics; South Dakota War College is now celebrating another milestone as we turn 21 years old.

It’s far different than when we originated on the blogspot platform, but we’ve still managed to keep chugging along as we passed the twenty-year mark, and added another trip around the sun behind it.

Years ago, when thinking about a potential endpoint, I had envisioned that I wanted to make it through the 2026 election, and then hang it up with this year being the site’s swan song. But there’s so much happening to keep things lively. This is not a time to step back, but as many in the state’s political arena are doing, it’s a time to step up.

Somewhere in the last 20 years, or even more recently than that, people stopped talking about less government being the ideal. Now, when they talk about local control and freedom out of one side of their mouth, out of the other people they might be micromanaging posters and stickers on the walls of schools, and declaring it should be felonious to publish public documents.  That does not sound like the freedom I used to remember.

All the while ignoring that when they pass all these new laws, they increase the size of government, and what it costs to run that government.

Our state is at a crossroads and the Republican party is under a cloud of turmoil and divisiveness we have not seen for 100 years. Politics are changing. And I think we need as many people as possible to be involved in the future of South Dakota to set us on a productive path of growth. Not a reductive path of stagnation and NIMBYism.

If I were to ask myself again today about a future ending date for the SDWC,  my answer today would be.. I don’t know?  In 2031 when I am eligible to start taking Social Security? In nine more years when dakotawarcollege.com turns 30? Maybe? Maybe not. Someone could come in and offer to write me a reasonably sized check, and I’d give it some thought.

But after 21 years, SDWC is still standing. And will continue to do so for some time to come.