Minnesota politicans – DFLers all – have blessed the rest of us with three quotes that sum up the difference between conservative and “progressive” politics – and, indeed, the evil of progressivism – more concisely and starkly than all of the Poli Sci PhDs in the world have done through all of history.<\/p>\n
Back in 2007, it was Saint Paul DFL Senator Cy Thao, who said “When you guys win, you get to keep your money. \u00a0When we win, we take your money!”.<\/p>\n
In 2009? \u00a0Larry Pogemiller, who said “I think it’s silly to assume people can spend their own money better than government can”.<\/p>\n
Both of these statements can be read as “politicians slipping up and telling the truth”; they’r funny, as far as that goes.<\/p>\n
But both statements also point out what is so profoundly wrong with “progressive” politics; it exists by not only sponging off the labor of others, but by trying to convince them that being sponged is in and of itself noble.<\/p>\n
And now we have a third. \u00a0Last Sunday,\u00a0on the Esme Murphy show, Elliot Seid \u00a0– the capo for the Twin Cities Service Employees International Union (SEIU) said “We don’t have a spending problem. We have a revenue problem!”.<\/p>\n