Opinion | The Cruelty is the Point
Governor Rhoden takes photo ops while South Dakotans stress over food insecurity
This op-ed was originally published by , President of the Committee on Political Education for the IBEW 426 out of Sioux Falls, SD, and member of the Sioux Falls Regional Labor Federation.
Governor Larry Rhoden has now stated numerous times that he refuses to use state funds to alleviate any disruption felt by the delayed SNAP benefits to South Dakotans. Instead, he’s opted to rely on food centers, charities, nonprofits, and churches to carry the load. His excuse? South Dakota doesn’t have that kind of money. For food, that is. When it comes to funding a new prison, funding ICE raids in our neighborhoods, or lighting up Mount Rushmore, then he has all the funds he needs. We can scoff at the fact that lighting Rushmore costs ~$30/day, but the criticism lies in it being a higher priority than feeding people.
If you visit Governor Rhoden’s social media, he is largely absent from anything that is going on, save for his photo op at Feeding South Dakota in Rapid City, but otherwise, he’s fishing, talking to big investors, and claiming he loves this state when putting up the Christmas tree in the Capitol.
How can a governor proclaim to be such a proud citizen of his state when he can’t care about its most vulnerable constituents? Close to 75,000 people in the state rely on SNAP, rents and mortgages are up, and food prices are up. Yet, the governor refuses to use any state funding to help anyone. Rhoden loves being a critic of the government, yet is part of the same apparatus. Sounds like the solution is to look inward.
Watch Michael Iverson speak at the Sioux Falls “No Kings” protest on October 18th, 2025.
State Representative Marty Overweg also commented on the lapse in benefits, stating that he doesn’t believe “people will starve”. Having known many people who grew up in poor households who got by on mere dollars for dinners, it’s incredibly tone deaf to wave away the concept that people often have to skip meals because they simply can’t afford them. Overweg’s concept of starvation seems to only pertain to an extreme situation instead of an individual having to choose between eating three meals a day for a week or putting gas in their car.
It’s puzzling to wonder why people like Rhoden or Overweg are devoid of any compassion for their fellow human beings. It seems, however, that Rhoden’s brand of conservatism thrives on cruelty. It’s a kind of narcissism that somehow views any benefit or service as “bureaucracy” or “bloat”, but turn to the topic of prisons, police, ICE raids, and deportations, and suddenly there’s a blank check.
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