A dream last night...

 

 

"It was the best of times and they can be the best of friends...of course when that happens, the taxpayers suffer..."

Okay, that was just a shameless way to get you hooked. I really did not dream about this. However, I have thought about it. Many times. I have been thinking about the upcoming special session. I know what the expectations are by many people. The Speaker will get in with Senate Leader Bakk as well as the Governor, and "cooler heads will prevail". Translation - Representative Daudt will get round heels, fold like a bad poker hand, and the size of our government will grow even larger.

Here is my thought how I would like to see things go. Once the Governor vetoed the education funding, the deal was dead. Gone. Back to square one. For the Speaker of the House this could be an excellent opportunity to make lemonade out of lemons. As most of us know, the growth of state government has been galloping like a wild stallion.

Just to keep things straight, lets look at the past 10 years to see how our state government is doing. During the biennium of 2004-2005, spending was just over $28B - a healthy sum in anyone's book. However, that was not good enough. As Samuel Gompers would often say, "more, more, more!" The current biennium which was not good enough for Governor spend-a-lot, is $39.5B. That is over a billion a year (on the average) increase for the past ten years. In other words, that is a 41% increase in the size of our government.

Looking at all kinds of different statistics, the one which remains constant is this - median family income in Minnesota has remained statistically flat for the past ten years (or longer). So as the growth of our state Government has gone up over 40%, our personal growth is zip. Nada.

My opening offer on K-12 in the special session would be less, much less than what was on the table before the veto. The Speaker should apologize for agreeing to a number which is unstainable. A sustainable number would be more in line with the growth of personal income. In other words, what the people of this great state can afford. The Speaker should also notify the Governor and the Senate Leader the next time around, the Heath and Human Service budget is going to get a hair cut. Not just a light trim, but a "high and tight" haircut.

I think it is great we can go fishing, smoke cigars and all that other crapola. But at the end of the day, the people we elected to govern us need to govern. Be good stewards of our tax dollars. CUT the size and scope of government. STOP allowing Minnesota to be a welfare beacon for people worldwide. STOP funding a broken education system until we kick the union out and effect some positive reforms. STOP taxing the socks off our seniors and our retired military.

You want a special session Governor? Bring it on. Many of us out here in the hinterland are very disgusted with how the regular session turned out. Many in our state government could take a clue or two from how Anoka County governs. All I get from Anoka County is more efficient services for less tax money. What a novel idea for the state (and federal) to emulate.