Dennis Daugaard is the new Republican...

...governor of South Dakota. In a front page story in the Times this morning, "Budget Worries Push Governors to Same Mind-Set," Daugaard says:

“Some of our sister states and some cities within them face the very real possibility of bankruptcy because of their mountains of deficits and debt.

“They have promised their citizens something for nothing,” Mr. Daugaard said of other states during his inauguration in Pierre this month, “and created a society where everyone wants to be carried and no one wants to pull their own weight.”

Is that really true? Is everyone in South Dakota on the dole? Does having a police force, a fire department, roads, etc. mean "no one wants to pull their own weight?"

Just for kicks, I looked up South Dakota in the Tax Foundation's rankings for State Business Tax Climate Index. The Mount Rushmore State (nice nickname) was ranked number one for the last two years. (That doesn't sound -- on the face of it -- like the citizenry is overtaxed.)

So is the problem in South Dakota (and many other states) that people don't want to "pull their own weight?" Or was Daugaard closer to the mark when he said that states "have promised their citizens something for nothing?"