“America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great” —- Alexis de Tocqueville
Have you noticed the increase in crime in Sioux Falls lately? Not just run-of-the-mill stuff either. We’re talking Florida Man-level bizarro world insanity that has become just another news day on the prairie.
I won’t go over all the stats here, but the bottom line is that Theft and Violent Crime is definitely on the rise in our beloved city of the Heartland.
If you follow the news at all, you will not consider this to be a controversial statement.
Here are a sampling of some local recent developments to prove my point:
Sioux Falls experienced forty (40!) car thefts one weekend. In ONE WEEKEND. Mind you, the penalty for stealing a car in SD ranges between five and twenty five years in prison, so this is no small crime.
Sioux Falls suffered sixteen homicides in 2024, which is a record high.
In 2023, incidents of “Motor Vehicle Theft” in the city totalled 1,118. We don’t know the number for 2024 yet, but I would imagine that it has increased.
A few stories from just the past few weeks in Sioux Falls:
Guy shoots and kills gay hook-up after doing meth together.
Guy runs over woman sitting in middle of road, then drags her for two miles.
Embezzlement by government employees.
Pedophilia, pedophilia, and more pedophilia.
Masseuse groping a female customer.
More embezzlement by government employees.
Gunshots.
Stabbings.
“Group Assault” of homeless-on-homeless people.
Beheading (ok that one was in Yankton, but come on folks!)
South Dakota is starting to feel like the Beirut!
Now to be clear, I didn’t write this article with the intention of blaming anyone in government for the sad fact that our relatively safe little big town is getting less safe every year. Anyone familiar with my writing knows I’m not against holding public officials accountable. In fact, I love it! But in this case, I believe that our crime problems run much deeper than anything our local law enforcement, city council, mayor or anyone else in government is capable of getting a handle on. Certainly no one runs for office or becomes a cop with the intention of allowing their fellow citizens to get terrorized by criminals.
No, the problem is us. Humanity.
For South Dakota to be great (and who doesn’t want that?), then we must become good. We must bring decency back.
The solution that I propose is simple. We need to become more Based.
If you’re not familiar, the term “Based” has evolved over the past few years as internet slang to define an attitude and worldview that what used to be called “politically incorrect”, which then became “anti-woke”, but really for the bulk of human history would be considered “normal”. An example of a common Based opinion would be that there are actually only 2 genders. Regardless of what you believe right now, it is objectively true that up until about five years ago, the vast majority of humanity understood this to be the reality of the natural world.
Being Based has come to mean espousing a typical American’s 1980’s worldview.
But the Based that I’m talking about here is not a political or partisan stance; at least it shouldn’t be. It’s about what’s in our souls.
The Based philosophy that I am recommending is to live your life Based on the Word of God. I know, this will sound like a radical idea to some of you, but please hear me out before calling me a Christofascist.
What I am advocating for is not a top-down cultural reformation, but rather an inside-out self-enforcement of restraint of our own sinful natures.
For non-believers – atheists and agnostics – the concept of “sin” may seem archaic, but nonetheless we all understand the concept of committing sin against our neighbor, even though we call these acts by a different name. Aggression, transgression, crimes, assault, harassment, violating or suppressing someone’s rights. All of these would be eliminated if we simply obeyed what Jesus said was the 2nd most important commandment: Love your neighbor as you love yourself. The Golden Rule. Loving your neighbor means not stabbing or shooting them. Loving your neighbor means not embezzling money from them, or assaulting them, or coveting their stuff; or as it is stated in the Ten Commandments “coveting your neighbor’s wife, animals, workers, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor”.
Think of how many crimes would never happen if we all lived our lives this way.
Not through any kind of coercion, mind you. Just voluntarily decided, every day and in every thought, to live our lives in obedience to these strictures. Poof, crime instantly disappears. We could put Ring doorbells out of business.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
SB51 is a SD Senate bill up for consideration in the upcoming session (thank you Sen Carley!) that is sure to make some heads explode in hysteria. At this point, the bill is described simply as this: “require the display and curricular inclusion of the Ten Commandments and other documents.”
While some readers may reflexively balk at such an idea, perhaps claiming that it would violate the Establishment Clause prohibiting the government from establishing or promoting religion. However, the reality is that the 10 Commandments were displayed and taught in most public school settings throughout all of American history up until it became “illegal” to do so in 1980. Anyone who works in our public school system today can tell you how difficult and chaotic it is to teach our modern youth, and it’s only getting worse. It is not unheard of for kids to graduate high school without being able to actually read. Let’s look at some of the obvious problems that have only gotten worse for the youth of our nation since 1980.
SSRIs, or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, are a class of drugs commonly used as antidepressants in the treatment of depression, anxiety disorders, and some personality disorders. It’s difficult to determine the exact percentage of children who are now on SSRI’s, but a recent study revealed a 64% increase in anti-depression drug use for young adults and adolescents from 2020 to 2024.
Suicides- The suicide rate for youths is reportedly 63% higher now than it was in 1980.
Reading- Finding accurate data on reading literacy comparables is very difficult due to the different standards that were used back in 1980, but we do know that only 19% of HS graduates today can read above a “basic level”. This is pathetic.
School shootings – Mass school shootings were virtually non-existent before the mid-1990’s. Unlike other societal disorders that have exploded in recent years, such as Gender Dysphoria and Autism, the phenomenon of mass shootings cannot be chalked up to “better reporting”. It simply never happened before. Ever wonder why?
Could the solution to these and other problems be as simple as putting the 10 Commandments back in public school curriculum?
YES!
Now of course it isn’t quite that simple, but I would pose this question to all you doubters out there: Would our children get dumber, more depressed and violent if they could all recite the 10 Commandments by heart? I don’t think so.
Put another way, our prisons are not filled with people who were arrested while attending Bible study.
The fact is that our society’s morals have withered because of the sin that we’ve allowed to take hold in our hearts. We are not a more moral people, generally speaking. Collectively, we have abandoned many of the shared values that we use to hold as a society; values that made us a decent people. If you disagree, I dare you to uninstall your video doorbell right now!
Those who claim that we are better off in a secular society, keeping religion in silos out of the public eye, I would ask you to start paying more attention to the crime reports in our sparsely occupied state. The crimes are not only getting more frequent, they’re getting weirder, and more violent. Then apply the following template to every single crime story that you read: Would this crime have happened if the perpetrator was living the way Jesus commanded us to?
I think not.
In conclusion, I know that this article will be controversial to some of you, particularly those who enjoy a secular society free of discussions involving the words “sin” and “obedience”, but I am merely advocating for personal goodness. This is not about policing other people’s behavior or being judgmental towards other people about what you perceive to be their problems/sins.This is about the man in the mirror, as Michael Jackson sang. But to achieve this, we must acknowledge that the moral structures that underpin our American laws and mores are not based on secular notions of Man’s inherent goodness. Our peace and prosperity have flowered not out of the soil of reason, but from the Truth found in God’s holy Words.
And to those of you who consider yourselves Christians, I would encourage you to live a life of obedience to the Bible, dependent on the providence of God, in every aspect of your life. Kill the sin, every day.
Let’s all start buying Bibles, then maybe we can start selling our doorbell cams.
Now that would be Based.
“Do not envy the violent
or choose any of their ways.
For the Lord detests the perverse
but takes the upright into his confidence.
The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the home of the righteous.
He mocks proud mockers
but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.
The wise inherit honor,
but fools get only shame.”
PROVERBS 3:31-35
