I will see your billion and raise you a few more...

"In January of 2019, we need to swear in a Governor who is NOT a progressive and NOT a RINO (sorry Tim)."

When Jesse Ventura was Governor of the great state of Minnesota, he did many things wrong. However, he also did some things right. And he said some things which were true. Like what? Like calling the Republicans and Democrats the Crips and the Bloods. Why did he do that? Because they both operated the same way. Sometimes the only difference between the two parties were their colors.

This is not a hit piece on Tim Pawlenty, but Tim was part of the problem with our state. State government grew under his watch. And he did not raise taxes to cover this growth - but he raised many fees (code speak for hidden taxes) and shifted bunches of money around. Two terms of Tim, and we had bigger government.

Then Mark Dayton came around. And one of the biggest mysteries in the universe was how Dayton beat a highly qualified man like Tom Emmer. But he did. Dayton won and Minnesota lost. After Dayton was sworn in, his unspoken mantra to his predecessor was, "I will see your billion and raise you a few more."

Under Dayton, spending was off to the races. Wait a minute! Hold on! We have had a GOP controlled House for half of Dayton's tenure! And a GOP controlled Senate for Dayton's last two years! I don't get it! Yes, (Ventura talk) the Crips and the Bloods work well together. One gang just spends money a little faster than the other gang. But between the two of them under Dayton's tenure, the size of government in Minnesota has gone up an astounding and unsustainable 56%!

Dayton tried to mask this massive increase in spending by giving us the third highest tax bracket in the country. True, our top bracket is over 3% lower than the Republic of California's top bracket, but guess what? Even with the crushing tax burden that California has, the goofballs running that state are still spending so much money that their debt is an amazing $1.1T.

In January of 2019, we need to swear in a Governor who is NOT a progressive and NOT a RINO (sorry Tim). We need a REAL conservative who will say, "I will fold on your billion and start reducing the pot." NO MORE saying maybe we can reduce the growth of spending. We need a Governor who will reduce spending from the year before. NO MORE hidden fees. I love how Matt Dean has described out government - it has become "flabby". In fact, I will take Matt's term and strengthen it a bit. Our state government is morbidly obese.

I am backing Jeff Johnson for Governor in 2018 for one simple reason - the trajectory we are on (and I will use by good friend Tom's words with his permission), is making Minnesota "Illinois in training". Yes, it can get that bad. The GOP has some incredible people lined up to run for Governor. Any one of them would be a vast improvement over Dayton. I just happen to think Jeff's vision is the preferred path we need to take right now. 

How would Jeff do working with the Crips and the Bloods in St. Paul?  He probably won't be voted the homecoming king by the free spending lawmakers and lobbyists down there. But he will be a hero to the taxpayers. He will be the person who FINALLY breaks Minnesota's addition to uncontrolled and unsustainable growth in government.