The MN Blog Cabin community has been lighting up with posts on the shutdown this week.
Let’s start with the lighter side.
Sank, from OLD AND IN THE WAY — in all caps of course — brings a bit of levity to the shutdown talk in his piece, Shutdown Malaise. He says, “I’m noticing that for an old, fat, middle-class white guy, a government shutdown looks an awful lot like a any other functional government. More evidence that folks who pay for government get much less from it than others.” Sank: Speaker for old, fat, middle-class, white men everywhere.
Ed Kohler from The Deets takes aim at the GOP in his piece, @MNGOP Defends the 7,700 Making $2,688,312 Per Year #mnshutdown. “In a nutshell, Dayton is asking Minnesotans who make, on average, $2,688,312 per year to chip an extra $33,766 per year to the state. That’s not chump change, but it shouldn’t prevent many people making that kind of coin from taking the kids out to eat once in a while, but buying Kraft Deluxe Macaroni & Cheese for home.” Around MinnPost, the Deluxe mac and cheese is saved for weddings and birthdays.
“Dear Governor Mark Dayton, Senator Dan Hall, Representative Pam Myhra, and everyone else in the Minnesota legislature who’s failing their constituents,” begins An open letter to my Minnesota political representatives from Joe White’s blog Wide White. He follows that up with a post What’s the Minnesota shutdown really all about? “My personal conclusion is that Governor Dayton is ultimately to blame for the shutdown. It’s simply unrealistic to think that 109 Republicans who campaigned on a platform of no new taxes will agree to a tax hike,” he says. That appears to be a safe bet as of Friday, July 8.
Mr. D from Mr. Dilettante’s Neighborhood shares his thoughts on why government workers might be living “paycheck to paycheck”:
“A few possibilities:
- They really are underpaid and are struggling to make ends meet in this cruel, cruel world.
- They take their personal finances as seriously as they take state finances.
- Because a government job is usually a sinecure, they didn’t see a need for saving for a rainy day, because it never rains on government workers, especially those with pensions.”
No comment. I’m no meteorologist.
Nonprofit Spark throws down the gauntlet, accusing polictians of giving the people the finger. In Shutting down websites is a third finger up to Minnesotans, Spark says, “Shutting down state department websites is wrong and just plain dumb. These department directors have now tipped their hands with the third fingers straight up at Minnesotans.” In related news: Department directors respond that they were just scratching an itch.
Erik Hare of Barataria shares a brief, “news poem” on the shutdown. An excerpt: “…Through long winter months as they met and made speeches and collected per diem like so many leeches…” The Organization for the Humane Treatment of Legislators provided this edit: “While the pols and the people were all symbiotic, not taking per diem is unpatriotic”
Aaron Brown, from MinnesotaBrown, is dropping science and searching for hidden meanings in his piece, Futility loop: State shutdown halts filling of Range rumble stripes. “The county commissioner is wearing a green shirt with an American flag tie. All of this means something…”
And before we go getting all serious, there is one shining light in an otherwise dim harbor; a veritable miracle promising bright days and happy tomorrows; An unlikely solution to the Minnesota government shutdown from her blog Minnesota Prairie Roots. She begins, “My extended family likes to have fun, so we plotted this weekend to overthrow the Minnesota state government.” My family likes to have fun too, but we limit ourselves to overthrowing local municipal offices or installing my brother Erik as the town zeppelin-driver, never something too important. “We also agreed that one of our first subversive, defiant acts would be to clamber onto the golden horses atop the state Capitol,” she says. Touche, Audrey. Touche.
Breakdowns:
Erik Hare from Barataria brings us A Weak Hand.
“As a blame game neither side can really win. The general public is not going to see this as political issue but primarily one of ‘You didn’t do your job.‘…The longer it goes on the more likely we will see major Republican losses. I don’t see any other reasonable conclusion, given that Gov. Dayton continues to make new proposals and is playing his role well. We will see if this is correct when it has gone on long enough to have a few reliable polls. I think we can expect that to take hold early next week. Judge this analysis then and we’ll see where we are.”
Minnesota Budget Bites, a nonprofit largely funded by foundations and their parent organization, the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, brings some heft to the budget arguements.
Mr. D from Mr. Dilettante’s Neighborhood hits KARE 11 on their shutdown coverage in Shutdown Memes Part II — Nothing We Can Do Except Suffer.
A ROSE IS A ROSE…. He says, “Allowing disagreements to be settled in a way that saves face is as American as baseball and the hotdog. But saving face is considerably different than the perpetuation of a fundamental untruth.” Leave baseball and hotdogs out of this, Arne.
MinnesotaBrown,Busy people don’t have time to try to talk people out of a political position held in the same part of the brain as religion. This is true of liberals, but especially true of the newest incarnation of the conservative movement — which combines the cocksure theories of libertarianism with the inflexibility of fundamentalism. This movement holds particular sway over the GOP held House and Senate.”
Leah Weaver from JDs Rising: “I don’t have any grand insight into the shutdown, or pithy words of wisdom for dealing with it. I can only hope that legislators and the Governor realize that their inability to find a compromise has broad and far-reaching effects. While hard-line ideology can help get a person elected, it’s proving disastrous when it comes to actually governing. Many Minnesotans are being negatively affected by the shutdown, and I am sure that this won’t be forgotten come November elections.”
The Human Side of the State Budget Crisis from TC Jewfolk advocates for vital services to continue despite government shutdown.
The last word(s):
CharlieQ of Across the Great Divide brings us Shelter Report: Of Shutdowns and Strawberries Shutdown Effects on Homeless Families.
“…But there is no way this budget struggle and the debate over taxes and spending for education and social services will come within a million miles of these kids. Upon what spreadsheet will A and K appear? What standardized test would give the top score to “strawberries?”
Blog Cabin is a selection of blogs from around Minnesota. If you have a blog you would like considered, please contact us at JHansen [at] MinnPost.com or via Twitter @MNBlogCabin.
