I was at the Cub store by 60th and Nicollet in South Minneapolis, and I met my old friend Joshua-Micah Cohen-Tostengaard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Josh has been a lifelong Democrat; the guy bleeds blue.\u00a0 He has impeccable <\/em>DFL credentials.\u00a0 And he’s bugged.<\/p>\n “I am a Democrat”, Josh said, “but I hate the DFL and the national Democratic Party.\u00a0 I’ve voted for every Democratic presidential, Senate, Congress, Gubernatorial, State Constitutional and Legislative office, every election, ever.\u00a0 But I’m not going to anymore”.<\/p>\n I asked him why?<\/p>\n “Because while I have always been a good, dues-paying liberal Democrat, I have found that I just can’t abide my party’s policies!\u00a0 Although I’ve been a card-carrying liberal my whole life, I cannot stand the left’s stances on gun control – I own an AK47 and am carrying a Desert Eagle in my cargo pocket right now!\u00a0 I’m very pro-life, and find my party’s stances on all abortion issues to be noxious.\u00a0 I support my party, but I find their drive to disengage from Iraq – indeed, to cut and run<\/em> – to be horrendous.\u00a0 And while I revere the legacy of Hubert Humphrey and Fritz Mondale, I think the party’s high-tax, low-growth, punish achievement policies are going to kill this state.:<\/p>\n \u00a0” I think Local Government Aid is a subsidy of failure.\u00a0 I applaud my party’s record on welfare, but I think that aid should be closely tied to work.\u00a0 While I believe in my party’s history as a supporter of immigration, I support English as a national language, and believe that the border should be closed, immediately.\u00a0 Oh, while I support my party on transportation issues, I think every cent spent on trains and buses is a complete waste.”<\/p>\n Was that all?<\/p>\n “Yes.\u00a0 Well, there’s one more thing; while I support my party’s historical legacy, I think David Strom and Phil Krinkie and their “no new taxes” pledge issued exactly the call this state needs, no matter what the DFL party as a whole says”.\u00a0<\/p>\n “So”, Josh concluded, “I’m a Democrat.\u00a0 But what my party has become, nauseates me.\u00a0 I can’t support them, since they oppose everything I, as a Democrat, believe”.\u00a0<\/p>\n It was an interesting conversation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Of course it never happened.\u00a0 Josh doesn’t exist.\u00a0<\/p>\n