Partial transcript from South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s speech at CPAC :

"I think the main question that needs to be answered this weekend is: Why does America need conservatives?

Tha question can be answered by just mentioning a single year. And that year is 2020.

Everybody knows that almost overnight, we went from a roaring economy to a tragic nationwide shutdown.

By the beginning of 2020, ... we had the lowest unemployment rate in over half a century — and unemployment rates for Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans reached the lowest levels in history. More than 10 million people had been lifted out of poverty and off welfare.

All of that changed in March. Most governors shut down their states. What followed was record unemployment. Businesses closed. Most schools were shuttered. Communities suffered. And the U.S. economy came to an immediate halt.

Let me be clear. COVID didn’t crush the economy. Government crushed the economy. And then, just as quickly, Government turned around and held itself out as the savior. Frankly, the Treasury Department can’t print money fast enough to keep up with Congress’ wish list.

But not everyone followed this path. ... South Dakota is the only state in America that never ordered a single business or church to close.

We never instituted a shelter-in-place order. We never mandated that people wear masks. We never even defined what an “essential business” is. Because I don’t believe Governors have the authority to tell you your business is not essential.
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In South Dakota, I provided all the information we had to our people. And then I trusted them to make the best decisions for themselves, their families, and – in turn – their communities.

We never focused on case numbers. Instead, we kept our eye on hospital capacity. Dr. Fauci told me that I would have 10,000 COVID patients in the hospital on our worst day. On our worst day, we had a little over 600. I don’t know if you agree but, Fauci is wrong a lot!

Even in a pandemic, public health policy needs to take into account people’s economic and social well-being. Daily needs still need to be met. People need to keep a roof over their heads and feed their families. And they still need purpose. They need their dignity.

My administration resisted the call for virus control at the expense of everything else. We looked at the science, data and facts and then took a balanced approach.

Truthfully, I never thought the decisions I was making were going to be unique. I thought there would be more who would follow basic, conservative principles – guess I was wrong.

Ask yourself this question. How far will people go to enforce mask mandates? Once you start lockdowns, how are you going to sustain them? In South Dakota, we had some cases in March and April, but the virus didn’t really hit the Midwest until late fall.

Should we have kept people in their homes from March onward?

Of course not.

It is important to ask those questions. We have to show people how arbitrary these restrictions are—and the coercion, force, and anti-liberty steps governments take to enforce them. Often, enforcement isn’t based on facts. Justifying these “mitigation efforts” has been anything but scientific.
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America needs conservatives at the state and local level. But we also need conservatives at the highest level of government too.

In America, we have government of, by, and for the people. Our Founding Fathers established our national constitution. And the people of individual states crafted their own constitutions that place specific limits on the role of government.

Those limits are essential to preventing government officials from trampling on people’s rights.

The people themselves are primarily responsible for their own health and wellbeing. They are the ones entrusted with expansive freedoms – free to exercise their rights to work, worship, and earn a living.

No governor should dictate to their people which activities are officially approved or not. And no governor should arrest, ticket, or fine people for exercising their freedoms.

Governors – and members of Congress and the President – have a duty to respect the rights of the people who elected them. But it seems these days that conservatives are the only ones who know what that means.

‘Personal responsibility” is considered a God-given gift in South Dakota. “Personal responsibility” is not a term that conservatives have abandoned.
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When I was preparing to come speak with you, I came across some fascinating remarks made back in 1962.

Listen to this:

The Declaration above all else was a document not of rhetoric but of bold decision.

“The Declaration unleashed not merely a revolution against the British, but a revolution in human affairs.

“This doctrine of national independence shook the globe–and it remains the most powerful force anywhere in the world today.”

Fantastic right?

Those are the words of Democrat President John F. Kennedy.

Is there any wonder why Ronald Reagan often said, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The party left me.”

There was a time when both political parties clung to certain fundamental principles. But today, we seem not to share even the most basic ideals.

America needs people who will stand up for these fundamental principles. America needs conservatives.

It’s easy to look back on 2020 and remember the issues with COVID. But COVID is only one piece of a very problematic puzzle. It certainly showed us how deep the divide really is, and how thin the barrier is between freedom and tyranny.

But there was a worse movement happening in 2020, and it’s an ongoing problem.

Across America these last several months, we watched an organized, coordinated campaign to remove and eliminate all references to our nation’s founding and many other points in our history. Rather than looking to the past to help improve our future, some are trying to wipe away the lessons of history – lessons that we should be teaching our children and our grandchildren.

This approach focuses exclusively on our forefathers’ flaws and fails to capitalize on the opportunity to learn from their virtues–and they had many of those. By discrediting the individuals who formed America’s founding principles, they create doubt. And then they can remake America in a very different political image.

It is our job to help explain why this is wrong.

Remember, America wasn’t founded for the personal gain or personal power of men like Washington, Adams, and Jefferson. The signers of the Declaration of Independence put their lives and sacred honor on the line to affirm people’s God-given freedoms.

Still today, the Declaration of Independence is one of the most important statements of purpose ever written. Not just because it serves as the justification for our Independence to the entire world, but also because it has led to our prosperity and inspired many other nations and peoples to seek freedom.

How many of us live up to our own ideals? Without the words, the beliefs, and the sacrifices of those few, the world would not have a ringing example of true freedom. To attempt to “cancel” the founding generation is an to attempt to cancel our own freedoms.
America is good. We should illustrate to the world that people thrive when government is limited, and people’s ingenuity and creativity are unleashed.

https://peckford42.wordpress.com/2021...