South Dakota

People seem to pay attention to obituaries when a third person of the same type of fame passes away, say an entertainer, sports figure, famous author--a bold face name. But sometimes attention should be paid when two people with a common denominator leave the grounds. Because when two people with South Dakota in their bios pass away in the same week and whose obituary notices appear on the front page of the New York Times, attention must be paid.

South Dakota is a fairly large state with few relatively few people in it. It ranks fifth from the bottom in population, with the 2010 census pegging the breathing at 819,761. It only contributes the minimum of three electoral votes, so it's surely not a 'swing state.' So, when two people of some notoriety pass away, it's worth noting. A third would mean someone on Mount Rushmore developed serious fissures and crumbled to the bottom.

The first person to warrant attention on their demise was of course George McGovern, the 1972 presidential candidate who will forever be remembered for losing the election by a true landslide. He didn't even carry his own state, and was only on the plus side in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. It was bad.

Aside from all that, the man had a long life, that he admitted he was happy in 90% of the time. That's not bad at all.   

George McGovern is much referred to as the "Prairie Liberal." His mother was 20 years younger than his father, and his father was born in 1868, a full eight years before General Custer lost the last big one at Little Big Horn, fighting the Lakota Sioux Indians, who came from South Dakota. It would be safe to assume that Mr. McGovern's father could remember what he was doing when that news reached home.

The second person with South Dakota in their resume is Russell Means, an American Indian, who was born on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, and who passed away there. Mr. Means is most famous for leading an armed protest at Wounded Knee, South Dakota in 1973 in protest of Native American treatment over the years.

The protest however did not give him Gandhi, or Martin Luther King status. We was a rugged guy who apparently was not liked by many, even people you might think were on his side. They thought he was too self-serving. He was shot several times, stabbed, imprisoned, and acquitted from some big league court cases. He had many parts in movies, commercials, recorded CDs and wrote a memoir, all while running for several elected offices, most notably trying to run for U.S. president in 1987.

If there is such a title, he was the "Prairie Curtis Sliwa." South Dakota can't afford to lose any more people.

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