The state of the state is statist

 

 

"He is who he is. And he is ours..."

 

Thank you very much Governor. It was great to hear your vision for our fine state. This state has a public education system which continues to fail kids (that was not addressed), an energy policy which will leave us will brownouts and sky high electric bills (that was not addressed), and an unelected, unregulated bunch of bureaucrats on the Metropolitan Council that continue to take a wrecking ball to liberty.

Here is my first question - how are we fitting into our neighborhood with this less than democratic agenda? For starters, North and South Dakota both have Republican Governors. Iowa has a Republican Governor. And Wisconsin has not only a Republican Governor, but maybe also a candidate for President. In contrast, we have a populist, a progressive and a statist. We have Mark Dayton. Just to remind some who may have forgotten, when our Governor was a Senator, he was voted one of the five worst Senators (Time Magazine, 2006).

So here is my question for our sitting Governor. Where is the vision? Where is the long term sustainability? Why can't our public schools teach anymore? How are we going to keep our electric bills from going up 40% in the next five years? Why do we still have a shill organization like the IRRRB? Why do we have an unelected group of (whatever) on the Met Council? Why have the Met Council at all? Why does the size of state government always continue to grow? When is the last time we looked at every program funded by the state for viability and validity?

Get the picture? Your state of the state was similar to Mayor Betsy talking about Minneapolis being the land of sunshine and lolly pops. There is no crime, no problems. In Minnesota proper, you are telling us the same thing. Just get along and go along. Well Governor (as this is for ALL our state representatives), we out here in "realville" are paying attention. We don't want to just go along. We want smaller, for efficient, more accountable government. We want the Met Council scrapped and replaced with an elected body. We want our money back which is being held captive in the surplus.

I want see our Speaker of the House have a thirty minute press conference and enumerate vital positions of the conservatives. The positions of the people who care about our future. Of the people who believe in the sustainability of proper budgeting. Of the people who expect our elected officials to spend our money as carefully as their own.

No, that will never happen. Our state of the state will remain statist. People and business will continue to leave. People will continue to choose to retire in a more tax friendly state. Wisconsin's gains will continue to be our losses.

We had two excellent candidates running against our Governor in the last two elections. And yet we elected our Governor. Why? I have no idea. All I know is one basic fact of political life. Elections have consequences. The consequences in Wisconsin have been very good. The consequences in Minnesota, not so good.