The One, the Only . . .

Is Minnesota Ready to Become a Cold Florida?

So as you know, we winter – well, most of the winter and apparently not enough of it – in FL. FL is a red state; governor, and both houses of the legislature and pretty much every other government body in the state down to and including dog catchers. Oddly, it is still pretty similar to MN in that it has a LOT of relatively "blue" areas (Like here, areas where most of the people actually live – go figure.) Any hoo, the people there are kind of conflicted just as we are here. For example, the Tampa St Pete area where we stay is desperate for some sort of transit (they are well on their way to becoming a FL version of the nightmare that is Atlanta - ugh.) Everyone knows they need to do SOMETHING . . . yet apparently their aversion to “ big gubmint” solving any problems precludes them from actually proposing or voting for it – so, hey, build some more lanes! (And traffic, of course, just gets worse.)

FL is also the home of the “stand your ground” law which says that if you feel threatened you can shoot the bastard and not be arrested. While we were there, an old guy (retired cop) shot another guy in a theater because the dead guy was using his phone during the previews – cretin, that almost IS a shootin' offense! Turns out that the shooter felt threatened when Mr. AT&T got mad and knocked over the shooter’s popcorn – BANG, problem solved. In the end, the judge ruled the shooter was not covered because the current law requires that the shooter prove they were threatened and he didn’t. Republican solution: change law so that the prosecution must prove that the shooter wasn’t threatened. I kid you not. Not sure if it passed but, well, you get my point, they are very serious about their guns!

Did I mention their public school system? Virtually anyone with any means at all sends their kids to private schools because the public system is so poor. To their credit, they know it and they are trying to do something but when your teachers are terrifically underpaid and universally disrespected it's kind of difficult to turn it around. (This seems to be a common thread among a lot of red states - and some blue ones too - but I'm sure it's just a coincidence.) Any of this sound familiar? 

Now FL is a notoriously corrupt state – and I don’t mean as in Republicans. It has been corrupted and pillaged in a bipartisan way for a hundred years (read any Carl Hiassen book for a hilarious but tragic history.) Thankfully, that is very different from our Minnesota experience.  We are fortunate to live in a state that has a history of trying to do the right thing for the most people most of the time. Republicans and Democrats have battled back and forth here forever – when one starts going overboard they get thrown out and the other guys get voted in – but there was always some common parts of our experience; we are all Minnesotans with common ideas of what it means to be a Minnesotan and not afraid to do what was right for all Minnesotans: good public education, good roads and transportation, helping those most in need like the elderly, (me, me!) the disabled and those fallen on hard times. Because the parties had at least these things in common we have been an island of political civility and good governance. Some may call that liberal but I choose to call it pragmatic (of course I'm also Scandinavian and we know how THEY are!)

But something has changed and I’m beginning to get worried.

Our Republicans are starting to sound like the dummies that run FL, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and a number of others including, god help us, Kansas (check out what 5 years of extreme right wing economic experiment has done there; hasn’t been too great for Wisconsin either.) All fine states I suppose – but there’s a reason that few people will move there no matter how low their taxes are; they just aren’t great places to live. Why? At least partly because of a governmental paranoia; an intense fear that government might actually be able to solve problems that help the people - all the people - and we wouldn’t want that! These states are run by he men (and he women?) who busted sod and lifted themselves up by the boot straps and did it on their own without the damn gubmint interfering! (Okay, that last part was snark for the irony impaired.)

I have no doubt that Democrats need to take some blame - maybe a lot of blame - for this apparent lurch to the right by our Republican friends.  As with the national party, Minnesota's has become arrogant and elitist to an extreme as well. Overbearing political correctness and blatantly ignoring the needs of people who are a natural constituency is seldom a good political strategy. And it wasn't.  

Nonetheless, from transit to the DNR, from health care to education and from protecting hard won rights of minorities and others to the environment, the  Republicans are drifting dangerously close to making us a poor, sad, cold version of Arkansas or many of the other red states that are getting to live the latest great Republican dream of an America . . .  in the 1950’s.  I do not doubt their sincerity, I simply think they are misguided.

The history of America, of humans in general, is progress. Duh, otherwise we’d still be living in caves and driving cool cars with stones wheels! There is certainly room for differences in how to manage or embrace the changes that progress brings – as there should be – but as Thomas Wolfe said 8o years ago, “You can’t go home again.” The past is gone and the future is coming and it could not care less about our political beliefs and petty human squabbles.

Please talk to your representatives, both Republican and Democrat, and tell them that we can’t go home, we have to go forward – because that’s where we are going rather we want to or not.