Ericka+Richards


 * Name:** Ericka Richards

**State:** South Dakota


 * My Poltitical Party: ** Moderate


 * Representative: ** I choose Steve Stivers for my representative. He is a representative from Ohio. He is a Republican, and even though I am moderate, I agree with him on many issues. He believes in increasing the amount of jobs in America, and promoting economic development to help families. His main concerns are job growth and lowering government spending, which I strongly agree with. He thinks all citizens deserve equal health care. He believes we should lower the costs on health care so all citizens can afford it. I also believe affordable health care is something everyone should has as a human and a citizen of the United States. [|Steve Stivers]


 * President in 2012: ** My preferance for the 2012 president is Romney. He shares beliefs with me including helping the best students with their education by providing them with the proper tools to be successful. He also believes every child should have the right to a mother and father, but gay marrige should not be descriminated against, which is exactly how I feel about this issue. He believes we should not waste our money on stem-cell research and he is for free trade. He does not believe in raising taxes for more money, and he appreciates the veterans that fight for our country very much. He also believes that to restore out government and to lower the national debt, that we need to form a smaller, simpler, smarter government. I think reducing the size of our federal government is a good strategy to bring out nation back to health.

**Mock Congress Bill**: SB48 Keep America Legal Citizens I think everyone should vote yes for SB48 because it will have many benefits to our country. It will ensure the safety of all citizens. It will also decrease the amount of illegal harmful drugs being brought into our country. Once this bill is passed we will quickly see a large improvment in our ecomony. We will provide our country with a stricter border control, more efficent citizenship process and a new strategy to keep us aware of all immigrants in our country. We will be helping out our country, while also helping our immigrants searching for a better life at the same time. SB48 will be an all around success and affect our country positively in many ways.

**5 Intersting Facts:** - Home of the famous monument; Mt. Rushmore - Black Hills Gold is found in South Dakota - Home of the Badlands National Park which holds many fossils - One of the largest Native American populations (9 official tribes and around 60,000 people) - Home of the Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, where there is the largest bones of a mammoth discovered where they died

**5 Reasons to Visit:** - To visit the many national parks, such as Mt. Rushmore - To see the beautiful scenery - To participate in ourdoor adventures like hiking, rock climbing, hunting, fishing, mountian biking and much more - Winter sports such as, skiing, snowmobiling, and ice fishing - To visit famous caves

**3 Main Resources:** Cattle, wheat and mined products (granite, clay, limestone and many others)

**3 Biggest Employers:** - Tyson Fresh Meats Inc - Ellsworth Air Force Base - Rapid City Regional Hospital

**3 Key Issues:** __Smoking-__ I think an important issue today would be smoking. When it comes to this topic I believe that there should be no smoking allowed in public what-so-ever, but citizens should be allowed to smoke freely on their own property. There should be no smoking in public, because secondhand smoke can harm others who don't smoke. I also think they should cut back on some of the more harmful substances in them to avoid deaths across our country. Smoking is a choice and taking it away completly would be a huge violation of citizens freedom rights. But sliming down can be a benifit to everyone. Smoking is the cause to many drastic health conditions and even death across the United States. We should work harder to encourage public awareness of what smoking does to smokers bodies. We should also work harder to carefully monitor teenagers who are too young to smoke. There are many kids that smoke underage and do not know what they are getting themselves into. __School Cafeteria Food-__ Another issue would be the food served at schools. Obesity has become a huge problem across our counrty and has increased drastically over the years. When sudents are at school they are taught to eat healthy, but when they go to lunch and are offered unhealthy foods which is a bad influence on the children. Even though it is a way for kids to begin making their own decisions, kids don't always make the right decisions, and if we let them make these choices on their own they will regret them in the future. If children wish to eat unhealthy foods during their lunch at school they can pack lunches with what they want to eat so that the schools are not held responsible for their weight issues. The problem is, majority of the students will only buy unhealthy cafetaria food. And if there is not enough students buying the schools food they lose a lot of money. Many schools are caught in the middle of healthy students and financial issues. __Underage Drinking-__ One more issue is underage drinking. There is a reason the legal drinking age is set at twenty-one; because alcohol is very harmful and young citizens bodies can not handle some of the substances it contains. Even though this is a law, many teens nation wide are not following it, and are getting away with it very easily. This issue should be monitored a lot more than it is, because it is very harmful to our underage citizens. The alcohol itself can damage their body, but if they consume too much they can get drunk and make even more bad choices. Teens do not make good decisions and they might not understand how much underage drinking can hurt them in their future. Even though teens may know how bad alcohol is for you, there is a lot they will do when they are being peer-pressured and under the influence. It can make everlasting effects on their bodies, and even kill them. This issue is harming the one drinking, and everyone around them.

[|Steve Stivers] [|Steve Stivers] [|South Dakota] [|South Dakota] [|South Dakota] [|South Dakota] [|South Dakota] [|Smoking] [|Cafeteria Food] [|Under Age Drinking] [|Largest Employers in South Dakota]
 * Resources: **