The Minnesota DFL has a state government trifecta with control of both legislative chambers and the governorship for the first time in a decade. They are moving one of the most progressive agendas in the nation. Some contend they are overreaching and will pay the political price come 2024. Is that true? The numbers suggest no.
Minnesota is one of 39 states with a one-party legislative trifecta. Of those, 22 are Republican and 17 are Democrat. Across these 39 states, single party control means winner-take-all politics where because of pronounced political polarization, the governing party moves its agenda without real support from the other party.
Minnesota is one of those states. In just a few weeks the DFL has codified abortion rights, adopted anti-discrimination legislation, adopted renewable energy legislation, granted ex-felons voting rights and permitted undocumented individuals to secure driver’s licenses. And we have not even gotten to how they plan on spending the $18 billion surplus on not simply one time programs (of which much of the money represents), but on structural items such as education and rent subsidies that have long term fiscal commitments. “Go big and then go home” seems to be the motto.
Yet some argue the DFL is overreaching.
Their abortion bill goes beyond what Minnesota public opinion seems to support according to critics. Licenses for the undocumented goes too far, and perhaps legalization of recreational marijuana is not a high priority for suburbanites who want the DFL to address crime and public safety issues. These bills along with others portend overreach with voter pushback in 2024.
But don’t count on the backlash. It may never happen.
Whether the DFL agenda makes good public policy is not the subject of this commentary. What is the subject is whether the Minnesota Republicans pose a viable challenge to the DFL in 2024 in the nine or so suburban House seats that will determine control of that chamber.
Consider first that the DFL may simply say that moving and securing their agenda while they have the chance is a once in a generation opportunity. What they are moving in many cases is structural legislation that will be hard to undo in the future. Once many of these laws are in place there is no real viable way to unwind them. Moreover, the DFL is responding to their constituents and if elections mean anything it is translating voter preferences into public policy.
Additionally, only the House is up for election in 2024. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the DFL will still hold the Senate and governorship until 2026 even if they lose the House. There is no serious chance of repeal in the near future. Moreover it will be a presidential election year where turnout will favor Democrats. If Trump were to get the party nomination again – a real possibility – he will hurt the Republican chances to pick up crucial suburban seats where he is very unpopular.
Plus, the Republicans have a problem longer term. They have failed to win statewide office since 2006 and have not won the presidency in Minnesota since 1972. The state GOP party is in disarray and seems to have financial difficulties. The Republican poor showing in the state is reducing the probability that national money will flow to Minnesota, which is looking less and less like a swing state and more like California.
And while a lot can change, the Republicans neither have a farm team from which to recruit a viable statewide candidate in the near future (which Republican has any hope of beating Sen. Amy Klobuchar in 2024?) nor do they have policy positions that seem to resonate with majorities of the Minnesotans. For example, part of the reason the DFL moved its abortion legislation is that Republicans, including Scott Jensen and Rep. Michelle Fischbach, 7th District, wanted to ban it. They and Republicans were never willing to compromise on the issue and paid the price. The same can be said on guns and perhaps other items.
But perhaps the most important reason why the DFL don’t fear the electoral reaper is demographics. Demographics are not destiny and the DFL will be sadly mistaken if they think it is. Candidates, messages, and strategy still matter.
While in 2022, 2020, 2018 (excluding Klobuchar), and 2016 the DFL won only 12, 13, 20, and nine counties, it is winning the counties that matter. Five counties in 2022, Dakota, Hennepin, Olmsted, Ramsey and Washington account for nearly 46% of the registered votes and 46.5% of the actual voters. While nearly 70% of those registered to vote cast ballots in the big five counties and in the rest of the state, Democrats are winning these five by an average margin of more than 25%.
Moreover, nationally and in Minnesota rural or non-metro voters cast their ballots for Republicans, with white working class being the core base for that party. While short term Minnesota’s rural counties are growing because of the pandemic and perhaps urban crime, longer term they face a severe population decline. Nationally, white working class are in decline as the nation diversifies, and the same is true in Minnesota. With reapportionment over time, fewer and fewer seats will go to Republican-leaning areas, reducing even the GOP’s regional voice and influence.
[image_caption]David Schultz[/image_caption]
David Schultz is a distinguished professor at Hamline University in the departments of Political Science, Legal Studies and Environmental Studies.
“The Republican base is literally dying off.” And those who aren’t are moving away. It’s time to scuttle this ship.
Numbers, Dennis… numbers. What’s your evidence? How many Republicans (either literal numbers or percentages) are moving away?
Beyond those numbers, what does “…scuttle this ship” mean in this context? Specifics, please.
California is on the verge of becoming a failed state. Their tax base is collapsing, as is much of their water and electrical infrastructure. They have outlawed doctors from questioning Covid policy. They are mandating covid jabs for kids. Their population is declining. Businesses are fleeing the state. They are trying to mandate the ability of kids to get gender transition drugs and surgery without their parents consent. Much of the State is an open air homeless drug market.
If MN Democrats want to follow the lead of California, it bodes very well for Republican generally. But yeah, Republicans would do well to open up the tent, and their heads to new ideas.
You should run on that platform, word for word. Just a hint though, if you keep veering into bat”:$- insanity, you’ll probably not get the engagement your ego is craving, we’re going to (well, already have really) ignore you as a mildly amusing spectacle.
As usual, your’s and other’s comments reveal a lack of interest in facts that are contrary to your ideology. Your responses to my comments are almost always little more than insults belittling me, which is a sure sign of your refusal to argue in good faith.
I am not here to fill the gap in liberal understanding because “official” media refuses to report anything but ideological reinforcement and hatred of the other. I am here so that this is not merely a liberal fishbowl, and if Minnesota is bankrupted economically and morally because it wanted to be Midwest California, then you can’t legitimately say no one told you different.
You’re a troll, that’s all, and not even a particularly novel one. The nod to self-important narcissism is a nice touch though, whatever would we do without YOU as our voice of reason.
Gotta admit that WHD is right about the name calling.
A troll and a narcissist? Like I said, all you really do is call me names and belittle me. Good thing readers can make their own determination, if they haven’t all been driven away by the smug toxicity around here. But speaking of narcissists, here is a fun article on modern narcissism from a friend of mine.
https://barsoom.substack.com/p/the-marxcissists
I also recommend you spend some time looking into Jungian projection and acting out of the shadow.
Dude: Barsoom is a Con troll site, thanks for confirming our point.
Your first paragraph reads like a typical “conservative” diatribe against progressive politics, which the majority of Californians apparently support. In any event, despite your Parade of Horribles, it’s quite unlikely that the Repub party or the “conservative” movement will ever stage a California comeback. (Or a pacific coast comeback, for that matter.) The things you cite as policy obscenities (to the extent they have any accuracy) are simply not viewed as such in that part of America.
People are leaving urban California (to some degree) because of violent gun crime. The massive increase in privately-held weaponry can be laid at the door of the “conservative” movement; the illegitimate Repub majority on the Supreme Court has made urban life more difficult across the nation, no doubt.
The other reason that there have been population shifts in California has little to do with all you recite; people are leaving because global warming is causing decades-long drought, which has turned much of the pacific coast into a 12 month wildfire season. So the once beautiful temperate climate of that region is rapidly being destroyed by climate change.
And it will be interesting to see what these first American climate-change refugees do to the politics of wherever they decide to resettle. But I doubt it will do much to help the Repub party, anywhere!
Violent crime is up in Minneapolis too, and every major liberal city, not because there are more guns than in conservative cities, but because progressive prosecutors, supported by liberal mayors and city councils, no longer indict most criminals, and criminals know now they can get away with crime. Lori Lightfoot in Chicago just paid the price for that, but surely people will deny that as she did, blaming it on racism and misogyny. And such crime will continue to get worse in liberal cities, as long as liberals blame it on conservative gun policy.
So now explain why red states tend to have higher violent crime rates. Also, why have crime rates been dropping again even though Liberals defunded the police? You could also try to figure out why the United States has higher rates of violent crime despite having by far the highest incarceration rate in the world, multiple times that of China. If simply locking people up made crime go down, we should have the lowest crime in the world.
But I doubt any conservative has an explanation as to why their made-up safe space world doesn’t match reality since all of their beliefs are simply taken from whichever white supremacist Tucker has a writer these days.
“multiple times that of China”
Don’t they just execute people instead?
“So now explain why red states tend to have higher violent crime rates. Also, why have crime rates been dropping again even though Liberals defunded the police?”
You lead with this, and both points are categorically false, so there can be no argument with people who simply make up facts because that is what they want to believe. But I do agree, simply locking every criminal up is not really a solution. But neither is letting most of them go and then pretending they are not preying upon the citizenry.
I’m not sure what sources conservatives use for their “facts”. Maybe it is Fox or other places that easily dupped them into believing the election fraud lies. Here is one article that condenses the info on violent crime. You can also just go to Wikepedia for raw data if you want to crunch the numbers yourself.
https://news.yahoo.com/republican-controlled-states-have-higher-murder-rates-than-democratic-ones-study-212137750.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAH6V5OfU7ywAV8JaecgZrLVRRbKNmAZBtDkXlpi084w5120avCiF4kKIrbKO-gZt7PvufGAlJj73756GnlT_0rSFcZP9bOky3OP3zjQGR21mpsDe08gxU0mE45uR_VRcDEV2XLOBvpnCQF9Z3_ZS1uvTLRvGqpPw-CBj2hUDX56Q
Current trends are a bit blurrier since reporting isn’t uniform but the direction is fairly clear. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/01/26/crime-rate-homicides-shootings-declined-2022/11075070002/
https://www.minneapolismn.gov/government/government-data/datasource/crime-dashboard/
This list of crime in Minneapolis show precipitous increases across the board.
I pulled this out of your article on murder rates higher in Red States:
“To allow for comparison, we calculated the state’s per capita murder rate, the number of murders per 100,000 residents, and categorized states by their presidential vote in the 2020 election, resulting in an even 25-25 split.”
They then go on to say the rates in red states are 40% higher. But we know that rates of poverty pretty much are corollary with murder rates, so it would be much more accurate to say murder is higher wherever there is greater poverty. Which then begs the question, why is there so much poverty in America, so much economic despair? And that I would lay at the feet of BOTH parties.
The Minneapolis stats you sent have half the indicators up and the other half down. Hardly the “precipitous increases” you tried to claim. Plus, it looked to be 2023 numbers for which we have just entered our 3rd month. In Minneapolis, 2022 saw a 20% decline in homicide, and significant declines in carjackings, shots fired, gunshot wounds, and robberies. All while Minneapolis police said they were understaffed and working with hurt feelings because people got mad when they murdered somebody and conservatives claimed the police had been defunded.
Thanks for showing you need help understanding basic math. The split could be 25-25, but when red states at the top have significantly higher numbers, it means the red state average is substantially worse. This is a concept any high school graduate should be able to grasp. But what is crystal clear in all of this is that conservative “tough on crime” policies have done nothing to reduce crime. They are 100% performative and used to scare people into helping them lock up as many minorities as possible.
Poverty is for sure a driver of crime, but red states and counties are also poorer since they tend to adhere to conservative ideology. But since conservatives believe that every dollar somebody has represents a dollar they have earned, the fact that the top 10% of wealth holders in this country have 62% of the wealth and the bottom 40% have less than 1% is justifiable, and poverty simply the fault of the poor. It helps justify their focus on reducing taxes for the wealthy and corporations. All while eliminating any regulations or accountability for corporations so they can crash toxic trains into small towns without consequences. To a conservative, the poor deserve to be poor after all, and their policies clearly indicate that belief.
I also went and did some quick calculations on violent crime across states based on rate per 100,000. I created three categories; Republican, Democrat, and Split. Split was applied to states that had divided state governments. The average violent crime rate of Republican states is 422, Spit states 403, and Democrat states 319. Republican-run states average violent crime at rates 32% higher than Democratic-run states. Split states are exactly where logic would say they would be, in the middle. As with most things, conservatives are the problem, and pretending otherwise hurts everyone.
Remove the states of the SE and the rest is a proverbial wash. Acting like conservatives are at fault for rising crime in a place like Minneapolis where there are literally no Republicans in local elected government is by definition a refusal to take responsibility.
Speaking of my trouble with math, here is a link where it is quite clear, violent crime has been increasing every year since 2019 at least.
https://tableau.minneapolismn.gov/views/MPDMStatCrimeData/CrimeDashboard-byDate?:embed=y&:display_count=n&:showAppBanner=false&:showVizHome=n&:origin=viz_share_link
I provided data that covers the entire country, but of course, since you are a conservative, the first thing you do is ignore any of the data that shows you are 100% wrong. Stats clearly indicate conservative policies result in higher crime. Your new link on just Minneapolis, after having me point out you lied about the first one, shows that 2020 was up over 2019 but then down in 2020, the same in 2021 and appear to be trending down again in 2023. So again, you don’t seem to be able to read data. Or you are purposefully dishonest. I actually would guess the latter.
So basically completely counter the conservative propaganda that Democrats defunded the police (didn’t happen) and crime is skyrocketing (you showed the data that isn’t true). It is completely typical of conservative “thinking”. It is completely dependent on denying easily demonstrated reality.
Yes indeed, remove all the gun-crazed “conservative”- controlled states of the Neo-Confederacy from the equation and it’s a wash!
Whatever failures of prosecution that have occurred across the country during the pandemic, the root cause of the trouble is the tsunami of privately-owned weaponry, “legal” or no. But at least now I’ve got you pointing to something that might actually cause an urbanite to relocate, as opposed to the farrago of nonsense about Covid-19 policy that you were initially reciting!
You mean the entirely unscientific masking, lockdowns, censorship and mandates that did so much damage to the economy and to people’s psyche? And the massive number of vaccine injured and “died suddenly” who are mocked, ridiculed, gaslit and otherwise ignored? The lost learning and the massive mental issues kids are now having? That Covid policy?
Another reason it is baffling to me that Minnesotan’s gave Democrats the House, Senate and Governorship, and why I am so very wary about what they are going to do with that power and that budget surplus.
“And the massive number of vaccine injured and “died suddenly” who are mocked, ridiculed, gaslit and otherwise ignored?” As is typical, conservatives simply repeat Fox News but have no verifiable data. But since when folks like Dennis Tester try to use stats on vaccine efficacy they accidentally prove themselves wrong, it is easy to see why.
Have you heard about the new poll that says 40% of Americans think they know someone who died from the vaccine? Yeah, every time I hear one person reject the notion that people were harmed by the vaccine (and covid policy generally) I see two people losing faith in official medicine and refusing to forget…
Hmm, and you call masking to prevent infection “entirely unscientific”…
https://www.thefp.com/p/the-real-science-on-masks-they-make
The Free Press:
The Real Science on Masks: They Make No Difference
Face coverings do nothing to reduce the spread of Covid, according to a new, gold standard scientific review.
By John Tierney
February 27, 2023
While that is the misinterpretation of the study that was trumpeted and disseminated by mostly rightwing media, that was not the actual conclusion of the review authors, nor what trained epidemiologists understood it to be saying. The authors actually said no firm conclusions about mask wearing on getting infected could be drawn, because of the widely varying parameters of the various studies. Nor did the review have anything to say about masks preventing one from transmitting the disease to another.
The moral of the story is that biased “conservative” media and journalists don’t understand this type of science reporting, nor does the rightwing base that is eager to hear and read such misinterpretations.
Conservatives overwhelmingly were duped by Fox’s obvious lies about the election and believed the C-grade pseudo-documentary 2000 Mules. They are easily manipulated by misinformation and not credible on any topic.
Not a single person in the world has died as a result of getting the vaccine, and in typical fashion, will not be able to deliver a single example as evidence.
I’m not talking what some troll has said about his wife’s uncle’s neighbors son, but an actual person, who soon after getting the Covid vaccine keeled over and died. And when I say soon after, I meant immediately after, you know, so there might be a chance at proving causation. Not a single one.
Did you ever get vaccinated, WHD? Up to date on your boosters? I don’t think you’ve ever said…
We care!
Twice I have tried to post articles about boosters here but Minnpost is still censoring contrary science about Covid “vaccine” effectiveness, despite that with every passing day the evidence is more clear.
Here is a THIRD one: https://igorchudov.substack.com/p/was-the-cdc-lying-all-along-about.
Violent crime is up in EVERY major city in the US, regardless of which “party” is in office. The whole notion that causality of crime has anything to do with a single metropolitan area is hogwash… Every city is a part of a state and nation and shares the economic and social conditions of both.
Besides which, by your logic, the cities that you should be complaining about include many located in “red” states such as Louisiana, Arkansas, Alaska, Arizona, Texas and so on that have GOP leadership.
Crime and all other social ills are a function of economics. So-called “red” states, as a rule, have higher rates of poverty than so-called “blue” states.
Also BK, problems with Western fires are more about people moving into wilderness areas, and a long-time lack of forest management, particularly 100 years of suppressing fire. But yeah, that is one of the reasons people are moving out, because the mismanagement of governance is putting them at risk.
You are simply ignorant of the exponential increase in wildfires across the state of California, that’s all.
Full stop.
People are leaving California because of the cost of living. Specifically housing and taxes.
Coming up with personal gun possession and climate change as the reason is a deflection in an effort to present your personal opinions on guns and climate. These are not the reasons people are leaving but rather another effort to politicize everything.
There are plenty of other problems in California…. but people are leaving because they don’t want to pay or can’t afford to live there anymore.
California has had higher costs of living, such as housing and taxes, since time immemorial, and it didn’t stop people from moving there. In any event, it’s frankly absurd for you to maintain that no one has decided to leave California as a result of gun chaos and increasingly adverse effects of global warming. That’s just “conservative” wishful thinking…
Just because CA cost of living has always been high isn’t stopping people from leaving now. Between NY and California over a million people have left …. and we know what those two states have in common.
Whats absurd is the need for commenters to weave their pet political issues into their own political narrative while being devoid of any fact.
Of course there’s no climate change or gun violence impacts in Florida. But people are actually moving there.
What support can you provide for your several assertions of catastrophe in California? It’s way too expensive for my modest retiree income, it’s true, and I’ve read of people who’ve left for other areas, but it’s a huge state, with an equally-huge and diverse economy, so the exodus will have to be sizable to be noticed. Do you have numbers you can cite? Population loss percentages? Number of businesses fleeing the state? What credible source says “much of the state is an open air homeless drug market?
California has lost population two years in a row. That has never happened, and it is enough to lose a congressional seat. Their budget went from 100 billion surplus to 23 billion deficit. Clearly not all is well in Cali. As for open air drug markets, San Diego, LA and the Bay Area all have a massive problem with it, and do nothing about it. If you are really concerned you should have no problem finding that info yourself, even if google and facebook are still about censoring inconvenient facts. After all, Gavin Newsome is a front runner for 2024.
You continue to complain about Google or FB censoring conservative thought (like conservatives can have a thought not previously generated by Faux news), but, and this is the important part, Googles house, Googles rules – plain and simple. Don’t play by the rules, you get dropped, not censored, cause as you should know by now, only the gubmint can censor.
Oh, and California dropped the mandate for vaccine for children which is a pity, but there you go. Parents that refuse to vaccinate their children ought to be put in jail for a few days, so they might take the time to ruminate on how they could be better citizens, you know, like the rest of us.
Everything you just posted is authoritarian not just in spirit but in practice, American.
It is always funny when conservatives try to use California as a scare tactic when across the nation, red states and counties are the ones dependent on outside government funds while having high rates of violent crime, are poorer, less educated, and have worse health.
But wealthy conservatives prioritize lower taxes because they can move into gated communities and have the unaccountable police forces they love simply shoot or lock up the poors, gays and minorities. The other benefit is they can ensure the only history taught is the one they make up. The one that pretends the slavers were misunderstood, the KKK were heroes, the Ten Commandments (and their interpretation of the Bible) is the law, and helping others is weakness. You know, their ideal fascist paradise.
The only place in the universe that version of truth exists is in your head.
Red states and counties largely being the ones dependent on outside taxes and more violent are easily verified facts. Much like how the more educated one is the less likely they are to be conservative. A driving force behind conservatives’ desire to dismantle education on every level. The description of the type of place conservatives fantasize about is based on their own rhetoric (which is indistinguishable from something on the Daily Stormer) and the policies they are passing in red states all over the country.
If conservatives really want to live out their pseudo-independent fantasies by moving into the country I would suggest they be fully honest about it. When they get sick they should be relegated to only their local clinics and hospitals where any illness more complicated than a broken bone is basically a death sentence. No more trips to a city for heart surgery or cancer treatment. Plus, that science stuff said that the Covid vaccine was safe, and conservatives don’t believe science anyway. They can also stop taking outside funds to build their roads and infrastructure. They can get around on horses and use candles for light. The internet might be good for trolling Liberals, but since it started as a government initiative, it must be evil. Same with all of those computers from California and China. The big corporate farms might be able to afford a road to the freeway and a solar farm, but all the useless towns would die quickly.
I do agree with you on one point. I wouldn’t recommend anyone inform people that feel like you about the reality of their dependence on taxes from urban areas. They can be highly volatile and would rather ban a book than read one and shoot somebody who doesn’t comply with their Christian nationalist norms. The biggest threat to a conservative is information. It isn’t surprising that one of the best indicators of whether somebody will be a conservative is the level of education they attain.
You should try talking about what Democrats believe, and where democrats want to take the culture, because your take on conservatives is all caricature, ugly and false. You say Conservatives want to dismantle education at every level? Conservatives want a say in what their kids are taught, and how they are taught. They think gender and sexual indoctrination has no place in the schools. They think loading up kids with a hundred thousand dollars of debt to get a college degree after which they are little more than social justice zealots is madness. They think giving debt relief to college graduate social justice zealots while loading debt on current college “students” is also madness.
Conservatives have always looked to dismantle public education since it was first implemented, and vouchers are simply the latest salvo. They are offended by anything that doesn’t align with their Christo-fascist ideals, which is clearly shown by what they are doing all over the country right now, including making literally talking about racism a criminal offense and creating legal requirements on what clothes people wear. They like to focus on the LGBTQIA+ community because it is small, and conservatives have always looked to enforce their bigotry towards minorities, whether it be gender, race, or faith. Conservatives love indoctrination as long as it follows their Christo-fascist values. Just look up the Fourteen Defining Characteristics of Fascism by Justice/Demianiw. Conservatives are proudly promoting all of them and seem to admire what the Taliban has in Afghanistan. So much for their claim to be for individual freedom. So, if public schools can’t be trusted to teach their bigotry, they will work to tear them down and use the funds for private schools and homeschooling where they can indoctrinate kids into fascism without restrictions.
For higher education, the tail of conservative shamefulness is even clear. Conservative saint Reagan created the playbook while governor of California by making state colleges much more expensive to attend so that it would be harder for lower-income people to attend. As his advisor at the time said, “We are in danger of producing an educated proletariat. … That’s dynamite! We have to be selective on who we allow [to go to college].” They have also continually looked to reduce funding for higher education for decades. Why fund education when educated folks tend not to vote for conservatives?
You might know all of this but conservatives, by their nature, have zero understanding of history. If they did, they wouldn’t be conservatives. All of this very true ugliness was not created by my describing it. It was created by the fact that conservative ideals are inherently ugly. Don’t complain when somebody else simply reflects that fact back to you. If you don’t like it you can change whenever you like. You could start by reading some of the books conservatives hope to ban. I know that is unlikely since I have never met a conservative who feels they need to understand something before vilifying it.
I think it would be smart politics for the “D’s” to include “R’s” as much as possible. And be sure to give them credit where it is due. I typically watch hearings on PBS 2.2. during the session. I have been pleasantly surprised to see a number of freshman “R’s” that don’t seem to have drank usual GOP Kool-Aid. Where perhaps “compromise” is not a dirty word. What a thought for a functioning government. Compromise.
No. Conservatism of any stripe is incompatible with long term civilization, its why you don’t see any conservative society last more than a generation or two without descending into totalitarianism or sectarian chaos. The idea that one can deify unabashed selfishness and still live in community with other human beings without conflict is utterly flawed on its face. As long as conservatism is allowed to persist, our society will continue to slide inexorably toward oblivion.
Spoken like a true one-party authoritarian. While many so-called conservatives are not really, true conservatism is about conserving tradition, like family, a work ethic, the classic virtues of prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude.
As for sectarian chaos, I should think that would very much describe liberal identity, race and gender politics at this point.
Yeah, not so much. Those “values” you cite are so much pap, and believe me, when you and yours set about trying to implement your fascist fantasy agenda, you’ll find out just how unified we herd of cats can be.
That is the first time I have heard fascism defined as “family, a work ethic, the classic virtues of prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude.”
You must be fun to hang out with.
Why yes, fascists NEVER appeal to a sense of fake nostalgia about “lost” traditional values. I mean it was only the entirety of the Nazi platform, but I’m sure you must be right
So does that mean you do not believe in family, or a work ethic, or values like prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance? Or are you merely projecting again, calling me what you refuse to acknowledge within yourself? Because that is definitely dime a dozen these days.
I’m inclined to agree with Mr. Duncan. The self-described “conservatives” today have perverted what one would normally take to be conservative values beyond recognition.
Once in a while, I read the Imaginative Conservative blog, largely because it’s a conservative point of view that doesn’t sound like it’s being voiced by either a spittle-flecked lunatic or a sullen old geezer at the end of the bar at the municipal liquor store. I can’t say I agree with much of what they say, but it is interesting reading.
Thank you RB. There is nothing classical conservative about the Republican party. Elements within the party are trying to drag it back to basics, which would bring it more in line with Americans generally, but they are at once denounced by the party and demonized beyond all recognition in the media.
Another viewpoint is that it is leftists and liberals are destroying the state and the country with conservatives scratching and clawing as they are being dragged along into the abyss.
You are correct, that is A viewpoint. A ridiculous, mindless, and massively incorrect one, but A viewpoint, yes.
There is still the refusal to acknowledge how much more damaging to society covid policy was compared to the virus. There are 5 million people from all over the world now in the country having crossed the border extra-judicially, we know essentially nothing about. Liberals have normalized an unholy relationship between the Intelligence community and major media. There is inflexible support for Ukraine risking WWIII. There is the eugenics program masquerading as therapy convincing weak and vulnerable children to think they are trans and need to be sterilized and sexually mutilated.
Every word you have written is total nonsense, but thanks for revealing the total bankruptcy of your argument. I suppose doing anything to oppose fascist dictator Putin’s expansionist aggression risks a serious war with his criminal Russian Empire and soldiery, but apparently you are willing to give appeasement a chance…
Full stop.
Amazing – I agree with David.
The DFL are not in danger of any backlash no matter how extreme their agenda.
We must all remember the DFL own the media (or the other way around). If “unilateral Tim” can practice his fiddle for 3 days while MN burns – and the media does not call him to account for his inaction – he is safe.
The legislative actions of the State DFL are designed to make more and more people dependent on the State. What a great way to buy votes! With +21% Tim, he will create even more government dependency with the unbridled growth of the State.
When the unions, trickle-down education, and the media own the DFL – you can do what you want.
Eventually there will be a reckoning. Eventually you will run out of other people’s money – but who will report it?
PS – David – it is a 19-billion-dollar surplus.
The Star Tribune is owned by Glen Taylor, once a Republican member of the MN Senate and a donor to Republican causes up until 2020.
KSTP is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, the CEO of which is Stan Hubbard, who is Republican donor.
Fox, obviously, owns the Fox channels, 9 and 29 in the metro area.
Would you care to reconsider your statement that the DFL controls the media?
It never seems to occur to the so-called conservatives that it is their message that lacks appeal. It doesn’t matter what the so-called “liberal” media says – the public just isn’t buying what they have to sell.
Ownership has nothing to do with media liberal bias. Editors and journalists do though.
Yes indeed, Rupert Murdoch’s ownership of Fox News (and the other organs of his media empire) has no effect whatever on the content those wonderful entities present!
The republicans abandoned the cities years ago, fleeing to the suburbs and exurbs, conceding the cities to the democrats to do with them as they will. We can see what that looks like today. The same exodus is happening now as republicans migrate to states that are more in tune with their culture and beliefs, leaving behind states to stew in their own dysfunctional juices. Similar results are expected.
Red states collapsing into 3rd world hell holes,(more than they already have I guess) like the rural areas they are abandoning already have? Yep, you’re probably right.
The great thing about Dennis is that he provides a clear charecature of conservatives that is 100% genuine despite the fact it could just as well be from The Onion. All the facts and logic in the world aren’t going to change his opinion because conservative ideology is based on never processing information that might cause them to learn something. They are willing to lie to themselves and everyone else to maintain the safe space fantasy they have constructed. The one where they can unquestionably follow the words written by their heroes who owned slaves and genocided their way to wealth. If they can manage that type of intellectual dishonesty without feeling shame the fact that red states are worse in almost every metric and the population continues to urbanize and leave red rural areas isn’t going to make them flinch.
It is the reason it was so easy for Fox to dupe them into believing the election fraud lie and why something as obviously fraudulent as 2000 Mules became gospel while stacks of independent medical studies on the Covid vaccine equate to a conspiracy. Conservatives have a belief first, one given to them without questions, and then simply create fairy tales to justify them. One of the saddest parts is that their stories aren’t even very creative and don’t make any effort to even stand up to the most basic fact checks.
Preaching to the choir my man, though I think our caricature needs are filled more reliable by WHD (though he’s been increasingly lax in letting the festering reality seep through bad “liberal” impersonation, of late).
I just moved from Minneapolis to rural Minnesota. You might want to stay in the city, if that’s what you think. I don’t recommend coming to a town like mine and telling the locals it is a 3rd world hell hole.
Well of course, because rural Minnesota is still in (Blue) Minnesota, and we crazy Minnesota lib’ruls still try to aid smaller rural communities, even if they consistently vote against their interests and elect representatives who do everything they can to make things difficult for urbanites.
I think Matt was talking about Red State hellholes, such as MO and TX. Try moving there before you proclaim the delights of rural living…
Some of my favorite, and most gifted and talented people I know live in MO. And Texas population is rising, while California’s is falling. So while I don’t want to move to either state I can say confidently I would be welcomed there, while I’m certain anyone going there calling it and the people there 3rd world, would not be welcome to say the least…
Yes and no. In a previous life in pursuit of biological science research career I DID find myself living in SE MO, as well as the Delta in Mississippi. Those areas don’t resemble any part of the US that I recognize, tar paper shacks, overt, open, and virulent racism, and a overwhelming sense of defeat that permeates every fiber of every town and citizen. The experience was profound for a small town kid from Wisconsin. Where I differ from your assessment was that in the subsequent decades since that experience, I now have come to recognize that similar sentiments were always present, below the surface, in the towns and people I was raised amongst, and as the years go by, that “surface” is ever more ephemeral. Rural people everywhere are pretty much the same, the twin poles of imperious self-righteousness and seething resentment of all who challenge the notion that small towners are the highest form of humanity in existence drives everything they do and think. While we like to think “our” rural folks and towns are somehow different, they just aren’t. I challenge anyone to spend time in NW Wisconsin, and SE Missouri, and tell me how they’re in any way different.
Yet, it’s perfectly acceptable to call cities third world hell holes? It’s funny, you guys manufacture hostility and resentment, and grievance, and they you imagine yourselves to be victims of someone else’s hostility, resentment, and grievances. Whatever.
Nowhere have I said cities in America a 3rd world hell holes, not in this thread or anywhere else.
Too late, grew up in one. There’s a reason rural kids leave.
There are a lot of reasons many of us are returning and happy about it.
I lived in Minneapolis for twenty years. I love Minneapolis and always will.
Isn’t it fascinating that all you have to do is state the facts and people around here immediately go for the jugular? I appreciate your willingness to tell it like it is. Though I know it can be taxing to shine light in the darkness.
“The republicans abandoned the cities years ago . . .”
Yes, they did. They started the abandonment with their enthusiastic ignition of the culture wars. When all a party has to run on is the three Gs of Guns, God, and Gays you can’t expect to gain much traction in a diverse city.
Republicans used to be elected regularly in Minneapolis. Arne Carlson represented a Minneapolis district in the Legislature before he became State Auditor. Although the City Council is officially non-partisan, known Republicans were still elected, sometimes without any more than token opposition. They were sane Republicans. They didn’t spend their time shrieking about Holly competing on the girls’ track team, or Lola using the women’s bathroom at Target. They focused on the issues that mattered to people, not on some hysteria fed to them by reactionary media hustlers.
If Minneapolis and St. Paul are one-party towns, the other party has only themselves to blame.
True enough. But then politicians in Minneapolis and St Paul should blame problems there on Republicans.
“shouldn’t” or, with a ? at the end.
In a great many areas of public policy, every Blue city in the US is now held captive by the partisan and lawless rulings of the democratically-illegitimate Repub Supreme Court, a judicial regime forced onto an unwilling nation by the reckless Trump/McConnell minority faction. Such rulings as that Court’s textually incoherent and radical interpretation of the Second Amendment. And its rulings that undermined Covid policies in urban areas, to name just a couple recent ones.
That illegitimate “conservative” judicial majority has also worked to undermine the Biden executive branch (as well as democracy in general) in a dozen different ways, all harmful to the quality of life in urban areas. So let’s not not forget that Repub control still extends far into Blue states and cities, and absent expansion of the Supreme Court to restore its democratic legitimacy, voting for all the state and locals Dems one can will still mean little.
One goal of today’s nihilist “conservative” movement is to damage America’s cities, because most of their residents simply won’t vote for “conservative” candidates. For anything!
It is not anything so apocalyptic as that…
Abandoning the cities has led to a mindset that urban problems are not state problems because they aren’t the issues of “our” people. Anything wrong in the cities can, according to this mindset, be addressed by further withdrawal, or by violent, authoritarian responses.
Speaking of authoritarian responses, I wasn’t ready to stick around for the next round of unscientific lockdowns, masks and mandates.
Having to wear a mask is pretty small potatoes, in the scheme of things. I refuse to get all bent out of shape about it.
They say California is a predictive model for the future of the rest of the country.
I’ll be over here, pondering that.
As a progressive Democrat (and Matt if you don’t believe I am a progressive Dem, look up my record in the MN House for ’07-’08) I think much of the acrimonious discussion above is terrible. Let’s remember that a lot of conservative people have worked very hard over the last 170 years and contributed immensely to make this the great State it is today. I feel that David Schultz could be wrong. The House GOP needs to switch only four districts in 2024 to have a majority. If they do the Walz/DFL agenda will come to a halt. When I was elected in ’06 we switched 21 seats to take over the House. If the GOP puts up the correct presidential candidate the coattails could go a long ways, especially if there is a slight recession. If you want to see the new face of the GOP google State Sen Julia Coleman. People like her will pull away many suburban voters from the DFL. I think Dems are overreaching because there are many new Dem legislators who lack sufficient real world experience.
07-08 was a lifetime ago. We live in a different world now. Go ahead and attempt to appease your executioners, see how far it gets you. I choose to protect myself, in any manner I see fit.
The “over-reaching” argument if facile, and I’m happy to see the DFL finally rejecting it. First let’s be clear, the “moderation” we’ve seen in the past wasn’t political wisdom, it’s was conservative impulses within the MNDFL that sabotaged progress. The last time the Democrats had the trifecta they dialed back their agenda out of fear of over-reach and blow back, and then they lost anyways. The result was over a decade of failed government and ongoing crises and legislative gridlock. They left multiple crises from education to transportation on the table and voters were stuck with it for decades.
If you’re going to have a two party system, you can’t have two conservative parties. One of your Parties needs to be a liberal Party. By the way, when you only have two Parties, one of those Parties cannot be a Fascist Party.
At any rate, electoral success is never guaranteed, no Party stays in power forever. So just do your job you if get a chance, solve problems, pass legislation, get things done and then run on your success. If you’re going to “lose” lose for what you did and who you are, not for what you didn’t do and who tried not to be.
There isn’t really too much doubt that a functional urban/suburban political coalition would pretty much turn any “purple” state Blue. Perhaps that tipping point has been reached in MN; those who would like a stable and effective state government (one that actually tries to address problems and plan for the future) can only hope.
As usual, the leading message of the MN Repub party in 2023 is “Give back the surplus!” This reflects the perennial goal to hobble state government and return it to always having to operate in crisis mode. Because a bedrock tenet of “conservatism” is that government cannot function, and it certainly shouldn’t be allowed to try.
Unfortunately, urban/suburban coalitions have a variety of fault lines, making them difficult to maintain. And it is obviously Job One of every state Repub party to do everything they can to effect a breach in such an alliance. Because if the alliance held, today’s “conservatism” would be doomed.
To me the most refreshing thing about this new liberal MNDFL is it’s finally breaking away from the bipartisan delusion of “cooperation”. Liberal solutions and policies have been left on the table for decades while absurd fantasies of bipartisanship dominated the status quo and yielded paralysis. We’ve always known that liberal policies are popular, from abortion to education and wealth distribution a majority of Americans support most liberal policy options. If Republicans want to move out to the country and secede from the rest of the country they’re welcome to try… it wouldn’t be the first time. In the meantime though it looks like widening golf between reality and revelation is finally catching up the Republican Party. They’ve been practicing stupid and promoting alternative realities and ignorance for so long they simply can’t stay in the game at this point.
All Republicans can offer is a paralyzed government and Libertarian dystopia. From religion to liberty they simply have no coherent concepts to work with. Americans and Minnesotans don’t want paralyzed government, the want a functioning government and all Democrats have to do is show everyone what that looks like… checkmate.
The thing that strikes me the most about “Republican” commenters here is irrelevance of most comments. It’s just recycled stereotypes and grievance.
The only thing that concerns me is the fact that Fascists have found their way into the Republican Party, and Fascists don’t simply fade into the shadows, they attack and destroy democracies. I’m hoping we can still vote Fascists into oblivion, I don’t want to have to fight them again.
The majority of the comments on this site have becoming nothing but name calling, ranting and shouting down any opinion that isn’t your own. When did it become unacceptable to have a differing opinion? It is like a bunch of children.
It seems like a pretty interesting substantive discussion to me. Yet you choose to look at some tepid “name calling” as your addition to the thread.
Is calling someone a troll “tepid”? Now imagine that you’re the troll.
It’s about the most minor online pejorative I can imagine. I doubt it bothered WHD in the least, to be honest.
It isn’t my soul that is being harmed by being called a fascist, troll, math challenged or whatever.
It’s almost like conservatives, accustomed to a lifetime of having the floor unchallenged, don’t enjoy having the utter fecklessness of their worldview pointed out. Did you think that three decades of the word liberal being used as an expletive would go on forever without any response? Who am I kidding, you’re conservative, of course you did.
I must agree with your assessment of the name calling, ranting, etc.
See post above :” A ridiculous, mindless, and massively incorrect one” Note the absence of civility and no proof offered to back up the opinion.
Were you looking for one of Marge’s “safe spaces”?
Thought this article was interesting and quite apropos from this perspective. Is the world more gray or more black and white? We all get to chose.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/belief-in-inherent-hierarchy-differentiates-liberals-and-conservatives-study-finds/ar-AA189zhF?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=d77e716708234b2b9ca658922c6e31f3&ei=63
I read that article and it’s stupid. What differentiates liberals from conservatives is that liberals are collectivists who seek identify by membership in groups. They prefer to live in densely packed cities to isolated rural areas. They seek security about all else (safety in numbers, union jobs, race/gender identity, prefer mass transit to driving in cars to be with other people, would rather work in the office versus working from homes because they need to be in constant touch with other humans. They avoid participating in sports and would never join the military because it would mean they might die. They want and expect to be protected by government police instead of depending on their own self defense because they trust and believe in the power and authority of big government instead of depending on themselves. Their American Dream is a good government job. It’s a matter of low self-confidence and esteem. They have an inherent need to be taken care of which explains their demand for more and more government services. They tend to be women and men who think like women.
By contrast conservatives are individualists who eschew group identities. (“You see yourself as a black man, I see myself as a man.”) They prefer to live in the country away from crowds instead of crowded cities. Given a choice, they’d rather work from home rather than a crowded office. They participate in sports and believe in competition based on merit. They join the military and are willing to die to protect their nation. They avoid mass transit like the plague and drive themselves everywhere. They don’t voluntarily join unions, they own their own businesses or prefer working alone. They believe in self defense and don’t expect the government police force to protect them. (“When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.”) Their American Dream is to own their own business. It’s a matter of high self confidence and self esteem. They have an inherent need to protect their loved ones. They prefer fewer government services and less taxes to pay for the ones we have because they’d rather take care of themselves rather than looking to government to take care of them. They tend to be men and women who think like men.
Well DT and of course you have scientific data to support your conclusions? I tend to lean left and literally abhor groups, because of group think, and a requirement to pledge allegiance to the party, how do you explain the MAGA crowd? I don’t use mass transit, I was in the military, I played sports, still race sailboats, have a small lake place, own and use a chain saw, my wife ran her own business, I do our taxes, I prefer folks be responsible, I’m not in a union, I have no debt, etc. etc. etc. how can all these things be, and still be left leaning? Your rant sure does appear to show a belief in absolute differences rather than lots of gray? Thanks for the great example that validates the article!
PS: The only government job I had was my enlistment in the USN 69-73. The last point then becomes you don’t believe in what America was founded on. “We the people of the United States of America, in order to form a more perfect union….” It doesn’t say to be independent it says to “form a more perfect union” , it says “United States” not separate and independent states, etc. etc. etc. perhaps you can explain those value differences? Last observation from your comments you live in Saint Paul and grew up there, how can that be, are you not a true conservative?
Dude, you also worked at the U of M.
However nonsensical, imaginary and (necessarily) data-free, that’s some pretty impressive self-congratulations, bravo! You and your fellow “conservatives” are paragons of virtue, at least in your own eyes…
I could, but it really just speaks for itself doesn’t it?
Something to know about my party is that at any given moment there is a Democrat somewhere saying something really stupid which a Fox New intern will be able to find. Mine is, after all, the party in which someone thought getting rid of police departments was a good idea.
Hiram… yours is also the Party with a substantial number of members who instinctively attack liberals, and have a history of losing elections to guys like Trump. No Party is perfect eh?
I have a sense that the Minnesota GOP is no longer a viable political party. Because of various issues in the post they went into deep debt supporting losing campaigns, and the result is that they can’t raise money. i, if you were a Republican donor, would you contribute money which would mostly go to paying off debts incurred by past campaigns? I know I wouldn’t and that would be particularly true of a party that simply doesn’t look professionally or competently run.
We are seeing the result. A party that should have a lot going for it, one that a lot of voters in the state support is unable to find candidates capable of running viable statewide campaigns. It’s no wonder that national money goes elsewhere. When you look at the campaigns where there is some chance of Republicans winning close races, those campaigns seem to have been taken entirely out of the hands that of the candidates they nominally support. Nobody trusts the local candidates with their money.
Dennis: “What differentiates liberals from conservatives is that liberals are collectivists who seek identify by membership in groups.”
So Dennis, you’re telling us Indian tribes are inherently “liberal” societies and settler colonial cultures are champions of liberty and freedom? OK then.
This garbage about “collectivism” is just an illustration of the fundamentally incoherent nature of Libertarian mentalities. The idea that founding fathers weren’t creating a “nation” and that liberty opposes organized society is simply daft. Much like the bizarre claims that we live in a “republic” but not a democracy. All of this combined with the obvious instinct to rally around Fascists like Trump simply betrays an authoritarian impulse trying to hide behind dystopian fantasies of “liberty”. The moral degeneracy of Libertarian/Republican mentalities is just an acce
Meanwhile Mr. Duncan, among others who rallied behind the concept of feminazies, yell “Liar” at the president during SOTU addresses, and attack the capital to overturn elections… are whining about the loss of civility and all the name calling? Whatever. If you support Fascism, don’t be surprised if someone calls you a Fascist.
Meanwhile, all this anti-collectivists individualism is finally collapsing on itself. The problem with “individualists” is they can’t organize a one-man parade and so you see everywhere from Tennessee to Otter Tail County they’re comming apart at the seems… The moral degeneracy of Libertarian/Republican mentalities is just an accelerant… I’m inclined to just watch it all happen.