Johnson encourages more civic engagement from local students

About 250 students from seven local school districts learned about civics from and asked questions of U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson on Thursday, Oct. 3.

Johnson was at Northern State University’s Johnson Fine Arts Center for his third Level Up Youth Conference in the state. The previous events were in Rapid City and Sioux Falls. The goal, he said, is to increase engagement among South Dakota’s youth.

Johnson said South Dakota is among the states with the lowest percentage of young voters. According to the Center for Information and Research on Civil Learning and Engagement, 17.5% of South Dakota young people between 18 and 29 voted in the 2022 general election. The highest total was 36.5% in Michigan.

“If even 10 decide to get involved because of this conference, it’ll be worth it,” Johnson said during an interview while the students were gathered in breakout sessions.

He wants to encourage more youth now on the sidelines to get engaged and involved in politics.

During a brief message to the students, Johnson discussed three things — being compassionate, being positive and getting involved.

“And when you get there, you have to work hard,” he said.

While there are many factors people can’t control, like height, economic background or size, one thing they can control is their work ethic. Johnson said he likes to show up to events 15 minutes early and stay 15 minutes late.

That little bit of effort, he said, works out to an extra three weeks a year.

“Working that much harder, you will have more of an impact,” he said.

When it comes to being optimistic and positive, Johnson said it’s easier to inspire people with a mindset of addition and multiplication as opposed to subtraction and division.

U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., waits for a student to ask his question during the Level Up Youth conference on Thursday, Oct. 3 at Northern State University’s Johnson Fine Arts Center. Aberdeen Insider photo by Elisa Sand.

Johnson peppered with policy questions

As he opened the floor to questions from students, he immediately faced some thoughtful policy queries. The first one, though, asked about Johnson’s view on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his desire to eliminate the “deep state.”

Deep state is an American political theory that a clandestine network of government officials and financial and industrial leaders work together to broker power and impose its beliefs on the public.

While there may be some opposition, Johnson said, there aren’t millions in opposition.

“I don’t think that exists,” he said.

Johnson was also asked about Trump’s desire to eliminate hundreds of government jobs, something Johnson said he’s opposed to.

If an employee refused to follow a “lawfully given order,” Johnson said there is a process to fire that person.

He was also asked why he voted against one version of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, but later voted in favor of it.

Johnson said that came down to the substance of the measure proposed. He supported extending the program, but said some of the reauthorization proposals included stipulations he did not support.

“What I voted for was a clean extension,” he said.

Asked his thoughts on a carbon capture pipeline proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions, Johnson said he prefers not to judge until after all information is presented.

“In our government, if you meet your burden of proof, you get to do it,” he said.

The board making that decision in South Dakota is the Public Utilities Commission. Johnson, who is a former board member, said if Summit meets the burden of proof for a permit, it should get one. If not, it shouldn’t.

Recaps of other topics he was asked about follow.

• Border policy: Immigration done properly is what makes America great, but 8 million people crossing the border illegally is wrong. That’s especially true when many of those people are coached by drug cartels to claim asylum when they are not legitimate refugees. Right now it’s too easy to get into the United States illegally and too difficult to get into the country legally.
• Who’s to blame for fentanyl coming to the U.S.?: While 95% of the fentanyl comes from across the border, the chemicals needed to process the drug come from China.
• Why didn’t he support a child tax credit increase?: He agrees with the idea of a child tax credit, but said when the U.S. government is spending $6 trillion a year and bringing in $4.5 trillion, sometimes a no vote is merited even with a good idea.

U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., talks about balancing his home life with his career in politics while visiting with young professionals who are part of the Aberdeen EDGE group. Courtesy photo.

Conference was one of multiple Aberdeen events for Johnson

The conference was one of few events for Johnson in Aberdeen.

He spoke with young men and women at an Aberdeen EDGE event on Wednesday, Oct. 2. EDGE is a group for young professionals. Johnson talked about balancing his home life with his career as a politician.

Johnson also toured the A-TEC Academy at Central High School on Oct. 2 and had a visit planned at Agtegra on Oct. 3.

After touring A-TEC, Johnson said what impressed him was the vast selection of classes and programs available to students.

“Anything students might be interested in, A-TEC has a class,” Johnson said, noting the selection of programs is much broader than the career and technical education classes offered at other high schools he’s toured.