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There are two issues on which I strongly differ with the Minnesota GOP.

One is commuter rail - and I'll be writing about the House Republicans' mistakes in this area in the next few days.

The other? Gambling.

There's a move afoot in GOP circles to expand gambling beyond the Indian-only status quo.

Huge mistake on two counts.

First: Gambling inevitably costs more than it brings in. No exceptions. That's not conservative.

Second: This was supposed to be an Indian franchise. Forever. And that's the way should be. If you assume that our society owes Native America for having taken their homeland and pretty much wiping out their people and culture (since the end of the wars), then giving them an eternal franchise on gambling is not only fair - it's perhaps the only form of "affirmative action" that can ever be either meaningful or effective.

No. Do not expand gambling.