Reality Check

"Yes, she is a Democrat. Yes, she is liberal. And yes, she is my friend."

This might shock some of my friends. Some of my longtime friends already know this. The woman in the picture is Sandy Pappas. She is a big deal in the Minnesota Senate. She is a Democrat. She is a liberal. And she is also a friend of mine. Has been for years.

I have known Sandy since I was 16. I was in some high school plays with her. She was in high school and remains today, a very, very nice person. In 1997, she ran for Governor against Norm Coleman and lost. She maintained her role in the State Senate.

I ran into Sandy in 2011 at a high school gathering. We chit chatted about high school, families, and so forth. Then I asked how things were going in St. Paul (I was ginger as her party was currently in the minority). She looked at me and smiled. "We are going to be in control of both the House and Senate after this next election." I asked her why she was so sure. Her reply - "Because it is important for us to do so." And they did it.

Lesson to be learned here. I remember a line from the movie The Thin Red Line. A general officer asked one of his colonels how bad he wanted to take a beach head. The colonel replied, "As much as it takes sir". Democrats seem to want power so bad in both St. Paul and Washington, they do what ever it takes. As Sandy said, it is important to do so.

I am a simple man so I look at things from a simple perch. I see things happning in a serial fashion:

• Protect - Republicans have got to maintain control over the House in Minnesota. The same is true for the House of Representatives and Senate in Washington. More on this later.
• Win - Republicans have got to win the Minnesota Senate this next election. There is nothing we can do about the Governor's job as we let that slip away last election.
• Perform - More and more people are convinced there is not a dime's worth of difference between the "R"s and the "D"s. Government continues to grow no matter who is in charge. We need to be able to give people hope. Show them we know how to control the size of government. Government is not a juggernaut - it is an organization. We created it - we can un-create parts of it. 
• Vote - I think we have seen in many past elections, especially the last two governor races, Democrats will unite and vote for anybody on their ticket. Even if the person is very flawed. Chris Christie said "We can't govern if we can't win." That is true. In 2012, millions of people who voted from McCain in 2008 stayed home rather than vote for Romney. The result - we ended up getting the worst President this side of Mars re-elected.

So here is the reality check. 2016 will be here before we know it. The damage done to our country has been incalculable. We need to win this next one. We have to win this next one. It is an all hands on deck event. Our motto should be taken from the Al Davis playbook - "Just win baby, win!" End of story.