{"id":4807,"date":"2009-05-20T06:53:41","date_gmt":"2009-05-20T11:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=4807"},"modified":"2009-05-20T07:26:59","modified_gmt":"2009-05-20T12:26:59","slug":"the-c-word-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=4807","title":{"rendered":"The “C” Word"},"content":{"rendered":"

The dominant sentiment among Minnesota’s left (expressed in this case <\/a>by the estimable Bob Collins via Twitter – and I am not lumping Collins in with “Minnesota’s left”, per se, by the way, but he happens to express the sentiment more concisely than most) is that Minnesota is a messed-up state (sometimes with the qualification that it’s still a great place to be,anyway.<\/p>\n

Of course, what’s “messed up” (think they) is that the GOP didn’t fall meekly into line behind the DFL’s “Crack Whores With Stolen Gold Cards” tax and spend spree.\u00a0 The GOP broke with recent tradition and worked as a caucus <\/em>to try to act like Republicans are supposed <\/em>to act.<\/p>\n

There was no talk of “compromise” and “bipartisanship” when the DFL was revelling in their supermajority in the Senate, and their almost-veto-proof lead in the house, last fall.\u00a0 No, it’s only when they ran into a governor that’s outmaneuvered them at every turn, who’s not only stuck to his guns but creamed the DFL in doing so, that the “C” word – compromise – has escaped their rusty, creaking jaws.<\/p>\n

“Diversity”, “Compromise” and “Reaching Across the Aisle” are things the DFL only values when they are out of power.\u00a0 Which – this is the funny part – they are not.\u00a0 They hold nearly-absolute power in Minnesota; only a governor and a couple of Representives stand in the way of Minnesota becoming another California.<\/p>\n

Did I say “California?”\u00a0 Megan McArdle shows us the future <\/a>of a state that acts like the DFL and their bobbleheads in the regional media want the state to act (emphasis added):<\/p>\n

California is completely, totally, irreparably hosed.\u00a0 And not a little garden hose.\u00a0 More like this<\/a>.\u00a0 Their outflow is bigger than their inflow.\u00a0 You can blame Republicans who won’t pass a budget, or Democrats who spend every single cent of tax money that comes in during the booms, borrow some more, and then act all surprised when revenues, in a totally unprecedented, inexplicable, and unforeseaable chain of events, fall during a recession<\/strong>.\u00a0 You can blame the initiative process, and the uneducated voters who try to vote themselves rich by picking their own pockets.\u00a0 Whoever is to blame, the state was bound to go broke one day, and hey, today’s that day!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That emphasized bit- does it sound familiar? Like, exactly what the DFL does whenever there’s a “Surplus?”\u00a0 <\/em>Turn windfalls into permanent spending, and then whine about deficits when the windfalls go away?
\n“Messed-up?”\u00a0 No.\u00a0 The fact that we have\u00a0 <\/em>an opposition, that our government’s dominant party has <\/em>to compromise, that the (current) electoral minority in this state is <\/em>protected – is a strength.\u00a0 <\/em>It’s a strength. It is a saving grace<\/em> of this state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The dominant sentiment among Minnesota’s left (expressed in this case by the estimable Bob Collins via Twitter – and I am not lumping Collins in with “Minnesota’s left”, per se, by the way, but he happens to express the sentiment more concisely than most) is that Minnesota is a messed-up state (sometimes with the qualification […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-minnesota-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4807\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}