Most people I know tend to say things like “I don’t really
like politics,” “I try to stay out of politics,” or “I’m not really very
political.” I probably made similar
comments when I was younger, but for the last decade or so, I’ve had a hard
time understanding these phrases.
Politics, for good or bad, is simply the process by which we govern our
communities, states, and country.
Politics determines how we choose who will represent our interests in
government, fight to protect our rights, and demand change when it is
necessary. “Being political” means that
you do some research, understand fact from fiction, and speak out about what is
most important to you. People who choose to “stay out of politics” tend to vote
for candidates and issues they don’t fully understand, or in many cases, not
vote at all.
Almost two years ago, I woke up on the morning of my
daughter’s 8th birthday to the news that Donald Trump, a former
reality show star and lifetime con-man was my new President. I also learned that Jason Lewis, a former
radio show host with a history of horrible comments and ultra-conservative views,
would be my Representative in the U.S. House.
As I pushed forward in the days and weeks ahead, one thing was very
clear to me. We were in trouble as a
country. When I finally gathered my thoughts
and tried to re-focus on my daily life and responsibilities, I wrote this post
as a sort of therapy.
As I look back on these words, a few things jump out at me. The first is how bad I expected this to turn out. The second is how accurate many of my
predictions were. I can still feel the
ANGER about the results, but also the DETERMINATION to persevere and move
forward. Finally, now two years later, we
have another opportunity to make our voices heard, and to demand change in the
direction that we are headed.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the opportunity to undo the selection of
Trump, but we can add some much needed checks on his power, which the current
Republican leadership in the House and Senate have refused to deliver. In Minnesota specifically, we have the opportunity
to help with that by getting rid of Jason Lewis and Erik Paulsen, two of our representatives
who have voted in lock step with Trump, both for the tax cuts for the wealthy, and
for a bill that would strip away protections for pre-existing conditions in
your health care.
A little while ago, I decided to start writing a blog that
focused more on politics, instead of my initial focus, which was sports. I had big plans – I’d write a series of posts
where I’d take critical issues and break them down for people so they could
better understand them, and determine their “political” and personal views
about each issue. Unfortunately, this project never really got off the ground.
I did write a little bit about health care politics here:
…and I created a new blog site, which I introduced with the following
post.
In this introductory composition, I talked a bit about how
interesting Minnesota is politically.
What I’ve observed after spending most of my life here is that most
people “don’t really like politics” and “try not to get too political.” I’ve
always been curious about why that this.
Is it simply that “Minnesota-Nice” politeness creates citizens that don’t
like to argue or publicly disagree with each other? That may be part of it, but I have another
theory. Minnesotans pride ourselves on
common sense and practicality. We don’t
like negative political ads because they conflict with our desire for fair play
and our distaste for corruption. While
the perception is that we are a “blue state” and are left-leaning from an
ideological standpoint, the reality is that we are centrists who tend to choose
candidates that share our values of practicality and common sense.
As November 6th inches closer and closer, I
encourage everyone to do their homework on the candidates, learn to separate
fact from fiction, and VOTE for candidates that will help move this state and country
in the right direction. There really is
too much at stake in this election to sit this one out, or to vote based on
party affiliation alone without understanding the important issues at
hand. In the original spirit of this
blog, I’ll try to break down some of the choices, focusing mostly on the
candidates that I get to vote on. I’m
not going to get too much into individual races, but I’ll provide some
resources to help you make good decisions, and provide some insight into the
races that are important to me personally.
WHO AM I VOTING FOR?
As a first step, I encourage everyone to understand who they
will be asked to vote for, so you can do some research before arriving at the
polls. The best way to start is to find a sample ballot for your district:
This will let you know what races you get to vote on, who
the candidates are, and is a great starting point to do some research into who
best represents your interests.
KEY RACES
Here is some great overall information on who is running for
what, and what they stand for:
US SENATE:
We currently have two open US Senate seats right
now. One is due to the resignation of Al
Franken, and the other is just a regularly scheduled election, with Amy
Klobuchar as the incumbent. Normally,
these 6 year terms are staggered so that you don’t vote for two state senators
at the same time.
US HOUSE:
Depending on where you live, this will be
different, but I will be voting for Angie Craig to replace the aforementioned Jason
Lewis as my representative. Here are few
reasons why I’m voting that way, but I encourage you to do your own research
and to vote your conscience.
- I can’t get the image of a smirking Jason Lewis standing behind Donald Trump after the U.S. House voted to strip away health care from millions of Americans. If not for Democrats and a few Republicans in the Senate (including the late Sen. John McCain), this would now be law. Despite the facts of the bill, the many other attempts to “repeal Obamacare” without a replacement for it, and a current GOP supported lawsuit that argues requiring coverage of pre-existing conditions is unconstitutional, Republicans are now running ads touting their unwavering support for coverage of pre-existing conditions in heath care. https://dccc.org/third-time-jason-lewis-lies-vote-gut-protections-pre-existing-conditions/
If your clearly documented policy position is so unpopular with voters that
you have to claim to support the thing you are actively voting to destroy, what
does that say about you?
- Lewis also supported the Republican tax-cut bill. This bill is so unpopular today, that most Republicans aren’t even campaigning on it, other than to call it a “middle-class tax cut” (which it wasn’t), and claiming that voting against the bill is evidence that a candidate is against middle class tax cuts. The facts of the bill are that 90% of the tax cuts went to corporations and the very wealthy, the poor got nothing, and the middle class got very little. Even if you are in favor or corporate tax cuts (to encourage growth and innovation), most large companies used the money to buy back shares of their own stock instead of investing in growth, jobs, increased wages, or innovation. Even the companies that did reward employees with bonuses, generally did so as a PR stunt, as these were “one-time” bonuses, while the tax cuts are permanent. The results of these tax cuts will lead to some of the largest budget deficits in our nation’s history (just in case you are into “fiscal responsibility”). In fact, we are projected to have a 1 Trillion dollar deficit in 2019!
- Finally, Jason Lewis is afraid to face his constituents. I know this, because I wouldn’t face me. The ONE time that he held open town halls back in MN, he showed who he really is. Instead of making tickets available to anyone, he had a sign-up form, carefully screened and selected the attendees, chose extremely small venues, and then further limited the number of tickets so that the venues weren’t even close to capacity. Then he took mostly screened and scripted questions, didn’t allow much open debate, and left early. I requested a ticket on day 1, hours after the form went up, and was denied entrance to the event
- Also, there is this: https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/18/politics/kfile-jason-lewis/index.html
MN GOVERNOR
In the Governor’s race, Mark Dayton is retiring, and he will
be replaced by either Tim Walz or Jeff Johnson. Walz is a moderate Democrat who has served
in the state senate for years from the Rochester area. He is a former teacher and football coach who
supports working Minnesotans, higher wages, and affordable health care. I would expect that his policies would be fairly
similar to Dayton’s, who managed to lead Minnesota to be one of the most desirable
places to live by virtually every measure (other than weather). For that reason alone, Walz will get my vote.
UPDATE: OK, definitely vote for Tim Walz! He came to speak at my work today, and completely knocked it out of the park! He seems like a pragmatic leader and has a history of working in a bi-partisan manner. He is committed to making Minnesota a leader in educating our children, making college affordable, improving our infrastructure. Oh, and get this, he believes in climate change and wants MN to lead in green energy jobs. He spoke with ease about many subjects, but was also willing to admit what he didn't know. I think he'll make a fantastic Governor and has what it takes to being us together as "One Minnesota".
UPDATE: OK, definitely vote for Tim Walz! He came to speak at my work today, and completely knocked it out of the park! He seems like a pragmatic leader and has a history of working in a bi-partisan manner. He is committed to making Minnesota a leader in educating our children, making college affordable, improving our infrastructure. Oh, and get this, he believes in climate change and wants MN to lead in green energy jobs. He spoke with ease about many subjects, but was also willing to admit what he didn't know. I think he'll make a fantastic Governor and has what it takes to being us together as "One Minnesota".
Jeff Johnson is another state senator with far more
conservative views than Tim Pawlenty, whose fiscal policies created massive
budget deficits, cuts to local spending and funding for education. We were in a
bad place when Pawlenty left office, and if you want to go back there, vote for
Johnson.
MN ATTORNEY GENERAL
This race is essentially between Keith Ellison, a current
member of the US House of Representatives, and Doug Wardlow, who is mainly a lawyer. The interesting thing about this race is that
Keith Ellison is a household name, having served multiple terms in Congress
representing our state. Wardlow, on the
other hand, is almost a complete unknown.
In fact, in a recent poll that had Wardlow ahead, most people (even his
supporters) had never heard of him. Many
people are voting for him simply because they don’t like Ellison.
Here are a few FACTS to know about WARDLOW:
·
On his website, https://www.dougwardlowag.com/policies,
he calls out two things that are extremely troubling:
o
Minnesota
First: This is an intentional play on America First or Make America Great
Again, and is a hint at similar “nationalist” beliefs that he shares with the
current occupant of the White House. A
vote for Wardlow is a vote for the Trump agenda.
o
Crack
Down on Sanctuary Cities: A “sanctuary city” is a Republican term to
describe cities that don’t participate in raiding schools and hospitals to seek
out immigrants for deportation. Trump
and Wardlow seem to agree that Minnesota is being “flooded with illegal
immigrants” and we need to round them up and deport them. I disagree.
·
He has promised to POLITICIZE the Attorney
General’s office by immediately firing all MN attorneys that he has determined
to be “Democrats”. This is absolutely
unheard of, and would be a dangerous precedent if he followed through on this
promise. This stinks of the same type of
corruption that we are seeing in the Trump Administration, where political
loyalty is more important than ethical leadership. https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2018/10/12/doug-wardlow-fire-democrats-dems-in-ag-attorney-generals-office/
·
He is a member of Alliance Defending Freedom,
which the Southern Poverty Law Center has determined to be an “Anti-LGBT Hate
Group.” Here is what SPLC has to say
about Wardlow’s employer: https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/alliance-defending-freedom,
and it is SCARY! Also, here is a good
article in City Pages that discusses his connections to the organization: http://www.citypages.com/news/meet-doug-wardlow-the-throwback-homophobic-candidate-on-minnesotas-2018-ballot/491670151
·
Finally, Wardlow apparently attended Eagan High
School, which is where I currently live, and where my kids will eventually
attend. I have friends who went to
school with him, one of whom called him a “tool”. Now, I don’t want to base my vote entirely on
the recollection of some dude in high school, but based on the other available
facts, I think this seems about right.
ELLISON:
·
Keith Ellison has represented Minnesota’s 5th
district since 2007, and we know plenty about his politics and who he fights
for. I think his record and his beliefs
speak very positively about what he would bring to the table as the next MN
Attorney General.
- The major concern has to do with allegations of abuse by a former girlfriend. This is very similar to what happened to Al Franken, in that the allegations were made public but not proven, both denied the allegations, and both men called for an investigations into themselves. In Ellison’s case, the MN DFL did an investigation that turned up very little.
http://time.com/5411815/democratic-investigation-keith-ellison-minnesota/
- Some have still claimed that it wasn’t a truly independent investigation, which is unfortunate. The main allegation seems to be that, while they dated, Ellison was abusive, though very few specifics have been provided. The strangest part of the allegation is that his accuser claims there is video evidence of the abuse, though she refused to share it with anyone, including the investigator. It seems odd that someone would accuse physical abuse publicly, have video evidence to back up their claim, but then refuse to show it to anyone.
- As the #MeToo movement has grown, many people (supporters and non-supporters) have argued that we need to believe victims and investigate all claims, but also be careful not to reward false accusations. This is especially important in politics, where these accusations affect votes, and therefore our representation. In the public sector, facts matter and the accused have the opportunity to a fair trial. In the court of public opinion, however, there is no such protection.
If you made it to the end, I appreciate you spending the time. I truly believe that we need to create more interest in politics and encourage more people to vote. The only way for us to reclaim our Democracy is to get involved, get informed, and get working. I hope that you do so, and that you stay involved so that we can continue to build an America that works for ALL OF US!
