Fight or flight

 

 

 

 

"This land is your land, this land is my land..."

Shhhh. Do you hear it? Listen very closely as they usually do not announce their departure. That is right. It is the sound of Minnesotans leaving this state. And not just a few. More and more all the time. They are leaving and taking their money and retirement with them. Why? They have been beaten down. They can't take it anymore. If they thought there was any hope what-so-ever, they would stay and fight. Instead, they have taken flight.

We built our house to our specifications over 30 years ago. We built it on a plot of woodland which was located (at that time) in a mostly unpopulated city. We both worked most of our 36 year careers while living in this house. We have paid copious amounts of federal, state and property taxes. We have developed our land. We have landscaped our backyard - so much so it has been in the local Parade of Ponds and in featured in the local paper. Long story short - we have put our blood, sweat, tears, plus a boatload of money into this house and yard. And we would prefer not to leave until we are ready to.

Now let me get to my point. Have I thought about leaving? Even with the financial and emotional investment we have put into this house? Even with immediate family in the area? Absolutely. Especially in the winter time, where time drags to a standstill. But even with hot, stinky summers, the cold bitter winters, this is still our home. As much as I have been tempted to leave due to the unfair and increasingly unfriendly tax climate towards seniors, I have become more inclined to fight. My dander is up. In other words, why should I have to leave? The fighter in me wants to help fix this place. Take on the machine.

So what does that mean? To stay and fight means going up against strong odds. Against entrenched statists. Against a DFL machine which runs like a politburo. So how do we start? First, the local level. School boards, county commissioners, mayors, city councils and so on. Get the right people involved at the grass level. During the past election, not only did the Republicans hold the House and retake the Senate, they also made huge gains at the state level. They now have 33 governors whereas the Democrats only have 16; they control 29 state houses whereas the Democrats only control 11 (10 are split); and conservatives picked up hundreds maybe thousands of seats at the community level.

The tide is starting to turn. Even in this very blue state, moderate Democrats who have only sipped the Kool-Aid are starting to wake up. We want our state back. We want our freedom back. We don't want the cost of state government to keep going up every year - we want it coming down! We want the Met Council to be eliminated or restructured where it fairly represents the people. We want our welfare system reformed, so people nationwide and worldwide stop referring to our major city as "Moneyapolis".

No, I am not going to take flight - at least not yet. I still have some fight left in me. I owe to my wife, my kids, my grandson - and I owe it to myself.