Decades before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech.”

Our Founding Fathers believed so strongly in civil and open public discourse that they put freedom of speech in the First Amendment. They knew that our American republic could only function if people openly shared their beliefs and the reason for those beliefs – and that had to happen at all levels of society, from statehouses and the U.S. Capitol to individual conversations between friends, family, and neighbors.

Recently here in South Dakota, we embarked on a process rooted in civil and open public discourse. When the previous prison plan failed during the legislative session, I started a pri

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