Attending my first GOP caucus as a participant was an exciting experience.  I had some butterflies going in because I wouldn’t know anyone there and it was something new.  The experience was quite different from what I had expected.  I’d like to flesh out my overall impressions a little more fully.  For those who are old hands at caucuses, this may seem to be a pointless exercise.  I disagree.  I do think there is something to be learned from a novice.  Wearing my sociology hat, I hope to bring a play by play of the experience so new ideas can be gleaned from my observations.

I live in south Minneapolis and expected our caucus to be held in a small room with about twenty people.  Minneapolis is such a one-party area, of course Democratic, so I thought a smattering of people would come.  I was wrong.  The caucus was held in a small gym with several tables for the precincts to gather around.  Around each table were four chairs.  I presumed that meant the groups would be especially intimate.  They were, but my precinct had ten people and an observer.  Certainly appeared to b a much bigger turnout than they initially planned.

Our convener was a pleasant young guy who is active in the city party.  He had attended four years ago as a Ron Paul supporter and has been with the GOP ever since.  One other man had attended the GOP caucus previously.  Otherwise, the remaining eight of us were first-timers.  That was quite apparent when we got started.  None of us knew how the thing was supposed to be run, but we were all in good spirits about our foibles.

Before we got started, I watched as the people trickled into the room.  It was hardly a monochromatic, male dominated scene.  There were two conveners who were Somali, as well as a few Somali caucus-goers.  There were people of Middle Eastern descent.  There were a couple of African Americans.  There were East and Southern Asians too.  It wasn’t a group that could be considered stereotypical Republican at all, at least according to the media’s narrative.  About 40% of the group was female.

There wasn’t a single white male dressed in a business suit, certainly no one wore tails.  I didn’t see a Rich Uncle Moneybags’ top hat in the room.  There was not one person wearing Mr. Peanut monocles in the crowd.  Most of the people looked like they had just gotten off work and hurriedly dressed down for comfort.  What’s more, the crowd was also surprisingly young.  According to the Star Tribune editorial writers, Republicans are supposed to all be old white people with one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.

That wasn’t the demographic I was witnessing, at all.

Many of the twenty and thirty-somethings were attired in post-Punk/former rock musician/hipster Uptown outfits.  These young people were just as heated and adamant as anyone else at the gathering.  I saw several people who I believe were gay.  In fact, I’d say at least ten percent of those attending were gay like me.  (By the way, Marilyn Carlson Nelson, none of us were attacked by roving gangs of homophobic Christian thugs as you have previously suggested)  The room had an electric charge to it as the caucus was about to convene.

Our little band of ten was unique perhaps.  We had only two people who had previously caucused with the GOP.  The other eight caucus-goers were driven by some motivation to travel to this alien space, gather with people they didn’t know, and assert themselves as part of a political party.  Some of the members of our group referred to the Republican Party as though it were an entity outside of them.  They were at a Republican caucus but not yet comfortable as identifying as Republican.  I felt a little that way myself, even though I’ve been working for conservative causes for some time.  It was rather telling.

It would be natural for me to comment on our discussions at this point, but I will refrain.  This is an examination of what group dynamic existed and not a discourse on policy.  The group was quite informed on issues and our conversations were at times heated.  Unfortunately, much of what we talked about was those things we didn’t agree on.  Little was said about what we shared ideologically.  But, it was clear this group was motivated to oust those Democrats currently in power and to replace them with someone more conservative.  That was obvious.

Since this was such an unfamiliar group who hadn’t done this before, I believe our process wasn’t as clean and straight forward as it could have been.  It was very refreshing for a group of people who were new to the process to get their views heard without censor.  Knowing we could openly discuss conservative beliefs without some leftist caterwauling was a nice change.  We voted on party platform suggestions without rancor or deep dispute.  In spite of being strangers in a strange land, it was a productive and enlightening evening.

Upon reflection, there are a couple of things the caucus experience taught me.  First, the common narrative of Republicans being old, white, male, and rich is downright absurd.  Of all the things our entire group was, that caricature certainly wasn’t present.  This is important to understand because for a political party to grow, it must be something people can identify with.  Human beings tend to congregate among those with whom they feel most comfortable.  We are usually most comfortable with others like us.  The tired, false narrative of Republicans as fat cat, cigar-chomping bosses or hayseed hick troglodytes is simply a smear job by the left and the political elite.  We were a very mixed group with one driving desire; to save our country from the policies that are hurting it.

The second thing I got from the caucus is this party is deeply fractured.  Not fractured by those supporting Santorum or Paul.  It is not split by the libertarians or social conservatives.  The Republican Party is alienated within itself.  Between the lies and mischaracterizations by the media about conservatives and the social void of a cohesive party structure in the city, Republicans are divided from each other.  Democrats have become very good at creating a socio-political cohesion of their members and allies.  Republicans, at least in the city, have not.

That is not to suggest this is anyone’s fault.  Blame isn’t what we need going forward; it is ideas.

To create socio-political cohesion, Republicans must think about a couple of things.  How do we ‘fix’ the brand name?  How do we connect our supporters together into a kind of network that supports our ideas and spreads our message?  Now, I know many party regulars at this point are ready to throw me into the lake.  They have built networks of people in their area.  They have brand identification that isn’t sullied.  That is great and I applaud those who have done so.  But, we need to build up our membership and network all over, in the city, in the country, in all suburban areas.

So, I propose two things to get started.  First, we should take advantage of newcomers to things like caucuses to revitalize membership.  We never really talked about the things the group agreed with as Republicans, or neophyte party supporters.  Part of the discussion should be those political ideas that unite us.  Starting the caucus with saying the Pledge of Allegiance was a good thing.  I found it quite heartwarming.  But, then when our group convened it was a discussion about delegates, candidates, party planks, and our differences on those things.  We never got to talk about why we were there which was ostensibly to kick out Obama and as many progressive/socialists as we can.  We never really created any social cohesion and at the end, we shook hands and drifted out into the night back to our own lives.

I understand the caucuses are not designed to be party rallies and social gatherings.  But, I believe injecting a bit of that into the mix could help create some connections.  Those connections would become networks along which human interaction would grow and thrive.  Developing rapport among one another is crucial for building relationships that will support our cause and spread our message.

I think we should also consider other kinds of activities for party members.  I don’t know enough election law to determine what these could be, but the Democrats have us all out-gunned on creating socio-political support groups.  We have groups which support conservative causes but there isn’t enough interaction or coordination.  Is there a way we could do more outreach into communities?  Can we make more forays into community events, not just as a political entity but as charitable arms identified with the party?  Republicans and conservatives believe deeply in volunteerism and helping others without using the government.  Perhaps there are ways we could openly practice that ideal more in the public eye.

I have to say I was deeply moved by the experience.  I will continue working with and in the Republican Party, hopefully making it a more vital part of the state.  My impressions of the caucuses were overall very positive.  I do like to learn from any situation I find myself in.  Perhaps my little navel-gazing exercise may have some ideas we can use as a group.  I came away from this meeting with the two impressions I had of the caucuses.  I am extremely proud to be affiliated with a group that is interesting and informed.  I found the party to be an incredibly diverse group of people with great ideas, interests, and hopes for this nation.  We just need to make sure everybody knows what we’re really like, and not what the common narrative makes us out to be.

Crossposted at Looktruenorth.com

The political scene is packed with pundits and predictors who despite being wrong most of the time don’t pause their endless flow of predictions across the media waves, which unfortunately influence the votes of many Americans who tune in to the news for a couple of minutes a day and form their decision based on their meaningless gibberish.

An overwhelming majority of these pundits have pounced upon Rick Santorum as incapable of going forward immediately after his stunning Iowa victory. Did their declarations come after having foretold the Santorum victory for months and weeks prior to the Iowa caucus? Quite the contrary; these political pundits actually foretold Santorum would come in somewhere towards the bottom and would drop out right after Iowa. Despite the results having been the polar opposite of their punditry, they continued to spew their worthless predictions.

Overblown egos had led to bold-faced demands to Santorum he should drop out of the race in the hope it would boost Newt’s campaign, despite no proof that such action would yield their wished-for results. To their utter disappointment Senator Santorum hadn’t accepted their lovely advice and just look at the mess they have now landed in, face-down! Rick Santorum has won Minnesota and Missouri with landslide victories!

In Missouri, Santorum won with 55.2% while Romney came in a full thirty points behind Rick at 25.3%. In Minnesota, a state Romney won in 2008, with 88% precincts counted, Santorum won with 45%, Paul came in a distant second with 27.1% while Romney squeaked in at third with merely 16.9% of the votes. To top off the night-turned-morning, Santorum surprised everyone with an unexpected sweep in Colorado, another state Romney had won in 2008 and which he was expected to win once again. Santorum won with 40.2% while Romney received 34.9%. His victory in Colorado has brought the total states he’s won to four out of eight, while Romney won three and Newt won one.

Who is Rick Santorum?

Rick Santorum grew up near the coal mines in Pennsylvania where his grandfather was a miner and understands the struggles of the everyday American. He served in the Congress for a total of 16 years, first two terms in the House and then twelve years as a Senator. As a freshman Congressman, Santorum was shocked at the level of corruption amongst both parties specifically in relation to the housing market, and together with six other Congressman, brought the information out to the public. They were dubbed the “Gang of Seven” for their courage, honesty, and refusal to let matters continue to slide downhill.

Rick Santorum is the only one, of the candidates left standing, who can and does provide a clear contrast to Barack Obama on all the major issues.

He has never bought into the nonsense named Global Warming. Despite having hailed from a liberal state, he opposed overbearing government regulation and intervention which were deemed crucial to the safety of the planet based on those bogus facts. He has also opposed government bailouts including TARP from the very beginning, and not simply when campaigning as a Tea Party Conservative. During the 1990’s, when many conservatives including Newt and Romney championed for health care mandates, Rick Santorum had stood up in Congress and denounced the concept of government mandates, arguing for the rights of each individual to make their own decisions.

Santorum is also the only candidate who has never wavered on family values no matter who the audience was or what was at stake. He had his very name disgraced because of his strong conservative social views and risked his career defending the lives of the unborn. One can actually credit his fearless defense of conservatism for causing his loss in 2006 since the Democrat’s turned their entire arsenal at him precisely because of his constant outspoken championship of conservatism. Yet, he hasn’t backed down or regretted taking a stand for conservatism. Quite the contrary, he continues to do so with his head held high.

In short, Rick Santorum is a proud representative of the conservative viewpoint on all major issues we wish to challenge Barack Obama including Obama’s trademark legislations – Obamacare, government bailouts, government takeovers, and Cap & Trade. Santorum also provides a clear contrast to Obama’s endless choking environmental regulation, stifling energy policies including the denial for the Keystone Pipeline, first-class insulter of our allies and apologist to our enemies.

This is the case, and would be so, even if he wouldn’t have won with landslide victories this night. His victories, though, highlight the strong positives he brings to the table, since he focused throughout his campaign strictly on substance and the issues.

It just so happens to be that Rick Santorum is also the only candidate currently in this race who is a conservative and has remained staunchly loyal to conservatism during his representation of the purple/blue state of Pennsylvania. We can therefore be confident with a President Santorum that he won’t engage in any rash moves which will contradict conservative principles even if he will come under extreme pressure and badmouthing of the Democrats. He’s already been there and remained rock strong in defense of conservative values.

Obama’s entire three years has been an endless play of pitting poor against rich, ethnic groups against one another and so forth. With Rick Santorum on the Republican ballot, his fight against the rich will fall flat, for Obama’s income exceeds that of Rick Santorum’s. Additionally, Santorum’s amazing ability to unite with average blue-collar hardworking Americans, as he’s proven repeatedly in liberal Pennsylvania, will help him carry the crucial swing-states one must win in a presidential election. He’s won Iowa in the primary and can carry it in the general, and is polling best against Obama in the important swing-state Ohio. He is also the only one on the Republican side who can make Pennsylvania turn red again after having gone blue in every election since 1988. He is also polling extremely well in many other crucial swing states.

Yes, Santorum has lost his reelection in 2006 in Pennsylvania, but he has also won two statewide elections, in 1994 and 2000, despite PA having gone blue in every presidential contest since 1988. Santorum’s strong support for Bush’s War on Terror was a major cause for his loss, for anti-war protests were reaching its peak.

There’s still a long road ahead, although a clear shift has taken place this night. Santorum ran on a conservative platform and has shown that conservatism is quite popular amongst Americans across all spectrums. He has also proven capable of winning the heartland of America including swing states which are crucial in the general election. We may still look back at this night as the turning point in the primary in more ways than just one.

Abie Rubin blogs at The Thinking Voter and can be followed on Twitter.

Besides the Presidential sweepstakes in Minnesota, there is also a Senate race and eight Congressional seats up for grabs. Throw in some redistricting drama and the general weirdness of the Minnesota voters and the state can be potentially perilous for the GOP in 2012. So much depends on the movement of district lines here and there and the entire dynamic can change. In addition, Minnesota has one of the latest redistricting deadlines in the country.
Some have looked to the north for an opportunity for the GOP to pick up 10 electoral votes. I do not see it happening. The population, at large, despite pockets of conservatism, has a progressive streak that allows this state, like Wisconsin to the east, to be one of those states where it is hard to get a read on their political proclivities. However, it would be foolish at this point to expect a Republican victory out of this state. One major reason is that while Obama’s approval ratings nationally are in the mid 40s, in Minnesota they have been consistently over the 50% mark. I really do not expect it to drop in the future, but may actually increase. I think that we can safely assume that the 10 electoral votes go to Obama in 2012.
In the Senate, incumbent Democrat Amy Klobuchar seeks her second term in the Senate. She has a clear, unchallenged path to the nomination facing a token primary challenge from perennial candidate Dick Franson. In 2006, Klobuchar won with 58% of the vote. The problem for the GOP is finding a top tier candidate to at least make this race close. Norm Coleman, who lost a protracted legal battle against Al Franken (see what I mean about Minnesota voters?) passed on a chance to challenge the incumbent as did state senator Dave Thompson, the most outspoken and recognizable state legislator. That pretty much leaves state representative Dan Severson. Severson was Tea Party before there was a Tea Party. But there is a serious problem from the start. Klobuchar has a war chest of $5.1 million and rising for an election ten months away. In his one filing, Severson had raised $3,700. To put that in perspective, that Democratic perennial candidate mentioned earlier raised $5,700. In one interview, he stated that a donor mentioned that it was the consensus Klobuchar would win and it made greater sense to financially support her.
Instead, Severson has said he will use other means to paint Klobuchar as a stone cold liberal out of step with the basic values of most Minnesotans. Another possible strategy will be to somehow link and relate Klobuchar to Al Franken. Severson has asserted that corruption in the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office is what guaranteed the win for Franken in the first place. In fact, all three potential major announced candidates for the GOP nomination may actually be way to the right for Minnesota voters. Preliminary polls indicate Klobuchar will win by about a 20 point margin. In the end, it would seem unreasonable to honestly expect the GOP to take this seat. Given her advantage in so many areas, Klobuchar will be returned to the Senate.
A lot will depend on redistricting when it comes to the House races. That will not occur until late February. Since Minnesota neither gains nor loses any seats, changes will reflect population shifts in the state. The 1st District currently stretches along the southern length of Minnesota and is represented by Democrat Tim Walz in what is nominally considered a Republican area. If Republicans are going to gain any seats in Minnesota, it will be in the name of Mike Parry who will likely oppose Walz. However, Walz has the advantage of incumbency and a sizable war chest.
John Kline should win reelection in the 2nd. Erik Paulson, another Republican, represents the 3rd. In actuality, he would be a formidable foe in the Senate race, but he declined the opportunity to run against an incumbent. Al Franken may be a better target. Sharon Sund should be his opponent. In the 4th, Betty McCollum faces little chance of losing as does Democrat Keith Ellison in the 5th, although Republican challenger Lynne Torgerson shows some life.
In the 7th, Democrat Colin Peterson will likely face Lee Byberg in a race that will likely be closer than most people are thinking. However, I believe that Peterson will prevail. In the 8th District, if Republicans think they can pick off Tim Walz, the Democrats have a chance to pick off Chip Cravaak in the 8th. He will face a very serious challenger in Tarryl Clark who last ran against Michelle Bachmann in the 6th.
Which brings us to the 6th District currently held by Bachmann. Redistricting may very well alter her district to the point that she will have more difficulty in 2012 than in the past. Truth be told, her margins of victory in the past have not been stellar. With the more liberal elements encroaching on her territory, she faces a tough challenge from here on out. Minnesota law prohibited her from running for two federal offices at the same time so she had to suspend her congressional campaigning when she declared her Presidential run. With that now officially ended, she can concentrate on things back home. She has star quality and maintains a high profile and can easily raise money. Additionally, no Democrat has declared their candidacy. However, despite a Bachmann in 2012, her days are numbered and 2014 may be the end of the road for her House career. That would most likely mean that she would consider a run against the vulnerable Al Franken.
In conclusion, Minnesota’s ten electoral votes will go to Obama while Klobuchar will return to the Senate. I cannot see a change in the Congressional delegation as far as numbers go. However, there may very well be a swap of sorts where the Democrats lose Walz and the Republicans lose Cravaak.

Running totals thus far:
Obama with 93 votes to 107 for the GOP nominee;
Net gain of 2 Governors;
Net gain of 3 Senate seats, and;
Net loss of 6 House seats.

Next: Iowa

Fox Lake Power Plant has been listed as an electrical generating plant to be closed down by the EPA ostensibly due to it being ‘dirty’ and not complying with new rules generated by the EPA administrator uber-radical Lisa Jackson.  In my last post I questioned why this small rural Minnesota power plant being placed on the list because it doesn’t even burn coal and hasn’t since 1998.  It seems the EPA, as administered by the Obama administration, is using a kind of “slide rule of law” in determining what plants should close and which remain open.  Instead of adhering to a historically American version that demands all people to be treated equally before the law, Lisa Jackson and President Obama view some populations as more equal than others.

How is Fox Lake being treated in comparison to other plants serving other populations?  Is there a political calculation being used instead of a scientific standard?  These questions arise because it seems rather bizarre a natural gas fired power plant would be closed for coal-burning reasons.  It has been suggested the reasons are Fox Lake still has a coal burning boiler on the premises and an ash pond, though that pond isn’t polluting.  Following these standards, let’s look at two other power plants and see how they are treated.

I looked into the power plants that generate electricity for the Twin Cities Metro power grid.  The entire metropolitan area is served by several power plants, two within the city limits of Minneapolis and St. Paul.  One, in St. Paul, is called the High Bridge Power Plant.  The other in Minneapolis is the Riverside Power Plant.  Other plants also feed the Twin Cities Zone of the grid including a plant called Sherco (Sherburne Power Plant).

Riverside Power Plant was converted to burning natural gas, in 2009.  It is five times the size of Fox Lake and serves the dark blue inner city.  If we consider the fact it once was a coal-fired plant, we’d have to conclude it spewed poisonous gases far more copious that little Fox Lake did, and for eleven years longer.  Yet, Riverside isn’t on the EPA’s shut down list.  According to an EPA filing, the Riverside Generation Plant is now 100% gas-fired but “Unit #8 is currently idle, is not producing ash, and is not expected to operate on coal again before it is converted to gas.”  This document was sent on March26, 2009 and there is no reason to believe the coal-fired boiler was removed since them.  The pond was dredged and going to be removed.  However, the ash had to go somewhere so its existence is an issue.

So why isn’t Riverside being shut down?  It burned coal until April 2009, according to Xcel Energy’s website.  It has a coal-fired boiler on site.  In fact, it lists coal-fired boiler Unit #7 as being used as a secondary steam generating unit from the exhaust from the gas-fired units.  Sure, it’s not burning coal but the mere existence of a coal-burning unit at Fox Lake was considered enough to shut it down.

If Riverside were to be shut down, the city of Minneapolis would be starved of electricity.  The plants in the surrounding areas would be hard pressed to fill the void.  Yet, Riverside and Fox Lake fit the same criteria.  They simply serve different populations, one urban and dark blue, the other rural and red.

Next, if we look a little to the north of the Twin Cities, we find a far more stark comparison to Fox Lake.  Up in Becker Minnesota is a plant called Sherco.  Sherco supplies power for the northern and western parts of the metropolitan area grid.  Becker is in a conservative part of the state, but it serves a population that is blue as well.  Sherco is the polar opposite of Fox Lake, yet it isn’t being shut down either.

Sherburne Power Plant is enormous, generating 2400 megawatts of power, five times the amount of electricity as Riverside and 24 times that of Fox Lake.  It’s a coal-fired plant with state of the art scrubbers to keep pollution at a minimum.  However, Sherco isn’t on the EPA’s list, even though it burns coal and has enormous ash ponds, one which leaked in 2007, according to EPA filings.

Sherco was even listed as one of America’s ‘dirtiest’ power plants by the Environmental Integrity Project in 2007.  It was listed in the top twenty producers of mercury and thirteenth biggest producer of that evil, toxic gas carbon dioxide.  It spews out sulfur dioxides and nitrogen oxides, yet curiously it isn’t on the EPA’s list.  Why would such a filthy polluter get away with all this terrible energy production while meek little Fox Lake gets padlocked?

Well, Sherburne Power Plant is the big dog that fuels business and homes for most of the Twin Cities area.  In fact, if you add up all the other electrical generating plants throughout the Twin Cities, only then do they match the power generated by Sherco.  Almost half of the electricity used by the Twin Cities area comes from the coal-burning Sherco plant.  If that plant were to convert to natural gas, it would burn as much as 80% of all of Minnesota customers use now.  It’s a big plant and important in keeping the Twin Cities’ lights on.

But, according to the EPA, it is a dirty, polluting plant.  So, why isn’t Sherco getting shut down and leaving Fox Lake alone?

In a word:  political calculations.

Shutting down such a plant would be the death of the Twin Cities economy and howls of public protest would shout down any argument to the contrary.  The plant is the heart and soul of the economic engine of the Twin Cities metropolitan area.  So, the EPA had to get out their slide rule to factor in the political considerations.

Fox Lake is little and rural. Sherco is enormous and serves a highly populated area.  Even though Fox Lake’s ‘transgressions’ pale in comparison to Sherco, one is shuttered, the other ignored.

This is not an argument for shutting down Sherco or any power plant for that matter.  It is the use of political considerations while making public policy that should trouble us.  The people of southern Minnesota and northern Iowa shouldn’t be treated differently than people of the Twin Cities, regardless of political power.  The EPA should be generating rules and regulations that can be implemented regardless of population served.  If the rules promulgated do irreparable damage to a large group, it will do so to a small group, though with less of a political impact.

This is just plain wrong.  It doesn’t fit our strict standard of a law impacting everyone equally.  It creates a sliding scale of harm compared to cost.  Regulations should treat all players the same.  One group doesn’t get a pass while another is punished for the same offense.  The Obama administration doesn’t care about such considerations.  Lisa Jackson gets out her slide rule and calculates harm and political risk, and makes a determination.  That’s the rule of man, and not of law.  We should not tolerate it.

Crossposted at Looktruenorth.com

References are as follows:

http://www.xcelenergy.com/About_Us/Our_Company/Power_Generation/Sherburne_County_(Sherco)_Generating_Station

http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/industrial/special/fossil/surveys/northern-states.pdf

http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/news_reports/documents/DirtyKilowatts-Top50MercuryPowerPlantReport.pdf

http://minnelectrans.com/documents/2011_Biennial_Report/2011_Biennial_Report.pdf

The following is a press release from North Star Tea Party Patriots.

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Minnesota Democrats and Governor Mark Dayton are in a pickle.  Dayton believed if he just stood up to the newly elected Republican legislature and made them appear extreme, public opinion would flood to his side.  Dayton was elected by 43% of the vote due to a RINO third party candidate and now he thinks he has a firm mandate to shutdown the state to rob the productive class.  Unfortunately for the Democrats, the state has mostly yawned and/or sided with Republican legislators.  The Minnesota press has been trying to rile the general population against the ‘no new taxes’ mandate of the state legislature and that hasn’t stuck.  So, Governor Dayton decided to go on a little tour to give his propaganda wing some visuals.

From ‘Shifting tactics, Dayton takes tax plan to the people,’ by Rachel Stassen-Berger and Mike Kaszuba, “For the first time since Minnesota’s government shutdown began, Gov. Mark Dayton hit the road on Tuesday to promote his point of view, appearing before parents and teachers at a high school in St. Cloud.”  Let’s be perfectly clear about this.  Dayton wasn’t appearing before a random group that just happened to wander into the St. Cloud Apollo High School.  He appeared before parents, who are almost all government union members, and teachers, who are ALL government union members.  This isn’t a genuine listening tour or townhall discussion.  This was a spectacle dreamed up by his Democratic Politburo bosses for the easy use and consumption by his leftwing pamphleteers at local television stations and newspapers.  There is nothing real about this.  It’s theater and theater not unlike that used by Catherine the Great two hundred and thirty years ago.

You see, Catherine had an image problem.  Her lover, Grigory Potemkin, a prince of the realm had defeated the Khanate in southern Russia and chased these Muslims from their homeland.  As a result, there was a vast land that lay open and empty.  Russia and the Ottoman Empire were fighting over control of the Black Sea and each hoped to get France, England, and the German princes and Austrian Empire to side with them.  Russia had a terrible reputation because they’d basically caused a diaspora of many of these Tatars from their lands.  Furthermore, many western leaders doubted they had real dominion over it.

Potemkin came up with a great solution.  He recruited a bunch of people to settle this area.  He ran around creating villages and towns and put these settlers in those areas.  However, he just didn’t have enough people and so when Catherine invited an entourage of Western leaders to tour the newly conquered territory, they wanted to show how Russia conquered and peopled these lands. Problem was there just weren’t enough people but ever the crafty one, Potemkin cheated.

From Jay Winik’s book, ‘The Great Upheaval,’ he explains the Potemkin village of infamy.

“But were these towns real?  Or was this all some quixotic fantasy?  To this day, the very phrase, ‘Potemkin village’ evokes the myth, not of docks, towns, and palaces, but phony constructions made of pasteboard; it is further believed that Catherine saw the same peasants and the same flocks over and over again, who were simply moved down the River Dnieper each night ahead of the empress’s entourage.”

Fast forward to King Marx Dayton and his Potemkin Village Tour.  At each spot, the busy little Potemkin prog/soc’s are gathering up their union astroturf to politely listen and applaud at the right times.  These aren’t just gatherings to get information on the shutdown or voice their concerns.  This is stagecraft.  This is government by artifice.  Why are they going to all this trouble?  Well, as it turns out, even the Party shills at the Star Tribune are getting blue.

Continuing from Stassen-Berger and Kaszuba’s article they opine:

“Dayton has weathered some criticism in DFL quarters for making several concessions in recent weeks, even offering to drop his call for higher income taxes on the wealthy. Over the weekend, in the absence of budget talks, he went silent. At the same time, the GOP put out an unwavering message — the state spends enough — cycled ceaselessly through social media, news conferences and partisan bloggers.”

Now this is just overripe bilge.  Dayton didn’t drop his call for higher taxes, he made one little proposal to tax everything else except the rich but the GOP didn’t bite.  When the people of the state told the Republicans” no new taxes,” it wasn’t just on the rich, the poor, or the dead, but for everyone.  They have more than enough money as it is.

But, their second comment is quite interesting.  They are saying that “social media, news conferences and partisan bloggers” are making a difference.  This is quite the departure from the usual DFL chanting points.  First of all, Kevin Diaz informed us last fall that the Tea Party movement didn’t have a following in Minnesota.  Since Diaz is a member of the Democratic Party propaganda elite, it must be true.  So who are all these social media types who are pressing the Republican narrative?

Second, there were certainly news conferences but the local media treated the GOP with as much disdain and distortions of their remarks as ever.  But, the writers also named partisan bloggers.  Now, that’s interesting because we are just a bunch of kooks that no one reads.  How could we have influenced anyone?  All truth flows from the pens of the Star Tribune and the camera lenses of ‘oh we Kare Eleven, so much.’   It appears we may have struck a nerve.

What’s happening is the Democrats have overplayed their weak hand.  They are burdened with a governor who sounds like he’s about ready to either burst into tears or explode with Tourette’s.  They have a bunch of union thugs running around telling people where to stand and when to clap.  They have a message of ‘eat the rich’ and then when we’re done with them, climb into the pot, you’re next.  They are trying desperately to get their government sector to browbeat the productive sector.

But, it’s just not working.  Maybe this whole Potemkin village thing will work out for them.  Or, maybe we’ll see right through their Wizard of Oz curtain.

Crossposted at Looktruenorth.com

Government shut-downs are such brutal things. Consider the tragic case of Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton. The GOP has been so mean, and so uncaring, and so inconsiderate that he has been forced to lay off ½ of the 40 people originally on staff due to a government shutdown.

According to the Minnesota Post, the following essential personnel stand tall by their beleaguered governor’s side.

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Government shut-downs are such brutal things. Consider the tragic case of Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton. The GOP has been so mean, and so uncaring, and so inconsiderate that he has been forced to lay off ½ of the 40 people originally on staff due to a government shutdown.

According to the Minnesota Post, the following essential personnel stand tall by their beleaguered governor’s side.

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Everything happens for a reason. In the wake of Minnesota’s state government shutdown, many reasons have been offered to explain the impasse between Governor Dayton and the Republican-led legislature. Most seem to center around the notion of compromise.

On Friday’s Almanac, DFL party chair Ken Martin sparred with MN-GOP vice chair Michael Brodkorb over which party was to blame. Each accused the other of refusing to compromise. While there is certainly an instructive argument to be had over which side has been more willing to negotiate, it defers the important moral consideration which will inform any deal.

Martin evoked that consideration on Friday. “I ask you… Why is it so important in this state to protect 7,700 millionaires at the expense of 99.9% of Minnesotans?” Almanac co-host Cathy Wurzer summarized the DFL talking point as “millionaires over Minnesotas,” as if earning a certain amount of money is a renunciation of one’s residency and citizenship.

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Day Two

This whole shutdown thing isn’t going quite as they planned.  Several problems are arising in Governor Mark Dayton and the progressive/socialist wing of the Democratic Party’s plan to starve out the Minnesota population with a government shutdown.  First, the economic pain envisioned by Dayton isn’t happening.  Second, we are finding ourselves with a ‘government by fiat’ situation instead of a democratic republic.  Finally, Minnesotans are taking the situation at hand and dealing with it which upsets all their apple carts at once.  The narratives are being dismantled and the memes are washing away.

Desperate for stories about human misery and Republican perfidy, the crack reporters of the DFL’s favorite pamphleteers at the StarTribune ran around the state looking for problems.  Since there weren’t any GOP mobs assaulting the homeless, they came up with some interesting case studies.

Stocked His Freezer with Canned Goods

Strangely enough most people weren’t terribly upset by the extra day off before a long 4^th of July weekend.  Undeterred, they reported this laid off uncritical state employee as saying, “My frustration and my anger are very, very high,” Yaeger said. “In the near future, we move to rage.”

Yaeger, who has stocked his freezer with canned goods and meat, said jokingly that he’s now accepting free dinner invitations from friends.”  ‘Feeling effects at home, in wallet,’ by Kelly Smith, Richard Meryhew, and Warren Wolfe, Startribune.com, July 2, 2011.

My goodness.  So this 53 year-old training coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Health is so upset with the extra day off he’s moved to anger that could become rage.  This doesn’t sound like a very stable person especially with him putting his canned goods in a freezer.  Perhaps he believes without state government his canned goods will spoil and so he needs to double protect them.  Either that, or he really like frozen beets on a stick in this hot weather.

Regardless, the stories get even more bizarre.  There is a couple in Coon Rapids and the husband was laid off from his uncritical state engineering job.  “The couple started the day by pulling their 2-year-old from day care. For a time, he’ll stay at Mike’s parents’ house to help save money. Meanwhile, Heidi has set aside her “dream job” as a self-employed photographer to seek a second job.”  How desperate are the StarTribune reporters for a story that they come up with this remarkable tale.  Mike Mendiola has been laid off until Dayton sees reason.  They both know the state government will go back online sometime, but in the mean time they have to cope.

How are the Mendiolas coping?  They pulled their 2 year old from day care to stay with Mike’s parents.  Why the hell isn’t Mike just taking care of his child?  What would you need day care for if you’re home and laid off from work.  So what if poor Heidi has to look for a real job.  Quite frankly, these supposed tales of woe just make me more furious that we have 23,000 able-bodied Minnesotans soaking up millions of dollars in tax revenue on uncritical jobs and whining about having to take care of their own children.

This is ridiculous.  I know that Kelly Smith, Richard Meryhew, and Warren Wolfe were supposed to find people traumatized by Dayton’s Shutdown but this borders on a mockumentary in its effect.

Government by Fiat  (Not the car company.  That might be better)

Yesterday I listed off the noncritical items that were shutdown in Minnesota’s state government.  Quite a list of nonessential services I think.  These nonessential services were selected by dictator,  er Judge Kathleen Gearin, Chief of the Ramsay County District Court.   From the StarTribune, Times News Service, June 24, 2011, ‘Judge will likely decide next week on Minnesota government operations in event of shutdown.’  They reported this:

“Although the Minnesota Constitution says, “No money shall be paid out of the treasury of the state except in pursuance of appropriation by law” — meaning passed by the Legislature — Swanson argued that the U.S. Constitution contains an overriding requirement that the state cannot “deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law.”

So, our Attorney General argued that our state constitution requires the legislature to appropriate money unless it conflicts with her opinion on the other parts of the U.S. Constitution.  In other words, “no money” really means “unless it’s inconvenient to the Democratic Party patronage system.”  Swanson argues there are facets of state government which simply have to operate otherwise we’ll just be dying in the streets and public unions will not get their take of the public funds.

Gearin agreed and made an arbitrary laundry list of noncritical parts of the state government which could ‘safely’ be shutdown.  But, she decided to appoint a ‘special dictator, I mean, ‘master’ to review her arbitrary laundry list and allow funding to flow to vital services like rest areas for the incontinent and fireworks displays for the blind.

July 2, 2011, ‘Agencies make pitches for continued funds,’ by Star Tribune’s intrepid Mike Kaszuba reports:

“All took their seats before Kathleen Blatz, a former state Supreme Court chief justice appointed as a special master to hear the pleadings. Blatz promised to have her first recommendations as early as Sunday.

In some instances, she said she had heard enough. “I thought they made a strong argument here today that they were” a critical state service, Blatz said after Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services made its case.”

Congratulations Minnesota.  You’ve got yourself a tyranny.  Thank the heavens we have someone as distinguished and accomplished as Kathleen Blatz to decide where we need to spend money and what social programs are worthy of our tax dollars.  It’s not like we have a political branch charged by our CONSTITUTION to decide these things.  NOOOOOOO.  Now we’ve got ourselves a benevolent dictator to decide for us.  Does anyone really believe this glorified legal bureaucrat, once a state supreme court judge, is going to carefully decide funding based on public discourse?  Of course not.  That’s the new Undemocratic Party way, brought to you by the Prog/Soc wing of The Party.

Just as an amuse bouche of the kinds of testimony Minnesota’s ‘special master’ heard on Friday, we were treated with this.

“I don’t mean to scare you,” said Julie Tate of Minneapolis, who sat before Blatz in a wheelchair and lobbied for state funding for Vail Place, a community-based mental health program serving 1,700 adults in Hennepin County. “[But I] feel suicidal most of the time.”

Well, if you’re feeling suicidal, then let’s pull out the checkbook.  It’s not like it’s any skin off Kathleen Blatz’ nose.  So what if she decides to fund a mental health program without public comment.  If someone threatens suicide then we HAVE to fund their program.  I mean, if someone uses extortion, we have to fund them, right?

This is the nature of our policy making today.  We have abandoned all reason when it comes to public funding of anything.  The pain of cancer has been equated with the pain of ‘Mommmm, he looked at me funny.’  We no longer rationally evaluate public needs but simply cave to the most incessant whiner.  Everybody gets a place at the public trough.  That’s why we are all in the dilemma we face both in Minnesota and on the national level.

Robin Hood Visits Minnesota Parks

On the morning talk show on KTLK, former gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, the Republican endorsed candidate, gave a shout out to Minnesota residents.  He told them to walk around the closed gates at Minnesota parks and enjoy the scenery.  Sheriff of Nottingham Mark Dayton was hoping that closing the parks on a long 4^th of July weekend would make the people of Minnesota angry.  It did, but not at the Republican-led legislature.

In ‘’Closed’ doesn’t deter park visitors,’ Larry Oakes in July 2, 2011’s Star Tribune writes, “The gate was closed and the visitors center was locked, but hundreds of travelers still enjoyed the scenic splendor of Gooseberry Falls on Friday – even though all state parks are officially off-limits to the public as part of the government shutdown.”  It seems many people are taking Emmer’s advice.  Instead of meekly accepting the official park notices, visitors are streaming into Minnesota parks to enjoy the scenery and the beauty the state boasts about.

State officials weren’t too happy.  However, dragging eleven year old girls kicking and screaming out of a nature area doesn’t exactly present a positive picture of our state governmental officials.  Instead, the prog/soc’s issued grave warnings of peril.

“The state Department of Natural Resources, which manages state parks, is strongly advising visitors “not to enter the grounds of any state park during the shutdown.” The agency’s website offers this warning: “We are concerned about serious health, safety and security issues if visitors enter parks when there are no restroom facilities, water and staff available. For example, 911 calls might not be available due to lack of cell phone coverage.”

Oh no!!!  Can you imagine the horror of hiking through a park without a park staff member on hand to collect their entrance fee?  What are visitors going to do without having a rest room or water readily available?  It’s not like we have things like convenience stores and bottled water to rely on.  Oh no.  But my favorite little part of this warning is the cell phone coverage threat.  Are they trying to suggest that cell phones rely on state government park facilities to operate?  Are they really trying to scare people from visiting a park because Google might not be available?  Did cell phone coverage suddenly become more sketchy because we aren’t collecting the permit fees?

This kind of ‘theater of the absurd’ isn’t unique to this shutdown.  People in Minnesota are used to the nonsensical argument routinely pressed by our prog/soc officials.  That’s why people are visiting the parks even though Sheriff Dayton has warned them away.

Backfire

This entire experiment by the Left and the Democratic Party in Minnesota is instructive.  We are watching them spin and lie and fabricate and without any real effect.  They were so desperate to raise taxes on ‘the rich’, they were willing to give up all reason and sense to do so.  We are now seeing just how worthless and wasteful these social experiments really are.  We are starting to see that employing tens of thousands of state workers to push paper is stupid.  We are watching as the existential threats of a government shutdown are all air and no substance.  Antiseptic sunlight is exposing the hidden costs of liberal ideas.  It’s time to start cutting.  Not just because we can’t afford this mess, but because it goes to the very heart of our society and culture.  If we are willing to give up governing to special dictators and reason to political patronage, we are rapidly moving in a very scary direction.

It’s time to dissect the whole operation, throughout the country.

Crossposted at Looktruenorth.com