There's a fundamental flaw in the debates raging about the shape of the next biennium budget. Much of the language of this debate portrays government as them, and taxes as something they are going to do to us. Listen carefully — you'll hear it from politicians, reporters, and neighbors.

But government isn't just them, it's all of us. Government is the vehicle we have to shape the way we're going to live together in this state. Other sectors play roles — churches, schools, businesses, nonprofits, to name a few — but none has the sweep of the government in its ability to affect all people in the state.

Think about it this way: Think of the state as something smaller — a family gathered around the table to talk things over or a small village where everyone meets in the town hall to discuss common concerns. There's no them, only us.

As a state, we've decided over the years that three areas of funding are of utmost importance to us: health care, education, and aid to local governments that provide our basic services. Not so different from a family's priorities or a small town of neighbors. You'll recognize these as the three major pieces of our state budget now facing heavy cuts in the current debate.

Common sense about how to live together
All three reflect priorities that would have emerged out of thoughtful discussions in families and town hall meetings. Our children need a strong education to equip them for productive and competitive lives, so we spare no expense to be sure they receive the best education we can give them. And when our family members get sick, we want them to be able to get the care they need to get well — and to stay well. And finally, we recognize that the family income is best pooled to provide for the collective basic needs of the whole family. This isn't rocket science — it's just common sense about how to live together and care for one another.

What happens when the town discovers that the school roof leaks and there isn't enough money in government coffers to get it fixed? Or when a child is injured and requires several surgeries to get better? Or when a major road has been washed out by a flood? We talk together about how to fund these unexpected items. And then if the needs are important, we dig deeper to find a way to pay for them. We don't shut down the schools or let our neighbor get sicker. We don't quit traveling. We wouldn't let that happen.

But if there is no family table or town hall, if elected representatives who are making the decisions have been cast in the role of outsiders, a them instead of an us, then the debate shifts to how deep to cut — leaving the invisible or least influential to fend for themselves. And that's a flaw, because when the well-being of our family and neighborhood suffers, we all suffer.

Time to dig deeper
If we're in this together as Minnesotans, then I want to dig deeper. If the choice comes down to this, then I want the decision-makers — those making these decisions for me and my neighbors — to raise my taxes and to do so in the most fair and progressive way possible, rather than lower the ability to educate kids and keep my neighbors healthy. I don't want my state to shift huge tax burdens to local communities and make essential services dependent on unequal local property tax bases.

We're in this together, neighbors. Those who represent us need to hear that we take considerable pride in this state for the way we treat each other and for the quality of life we share here.

I want our state to have piles of kids so successful in schools that they are the first in their clan to go to college and succeed. I want both the public schools and the colleges to be first-rate and accessible. I want the young adult working two or three part-time jobs with no benefits to be able to go to the doctor.

I'm not proposing the massive gouging of the citizenry that some would suggest. Had we maintained the tax rates we were using in the '90s (Can any of you really say you remember they were higher then?), we wouldn't be in this fix today. The family budget would be way better off.

Let's simply decide to be family members together, to be a neighborhood together, to be citizens of this state together, and come up with what we need to take care of all of us.

The Rev. Peter Rogness is bishop of the St. Paul Area Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).