November 5th brought no good news to our country, or the world or the planet.
When MAGA Republicans lose an election, they blame others. “Massive fraud, crooked poll workers, rigged machines!” When Democrats lose, they blame themselves.
They hold a wake to talk about the what the deceased should have done to avoid being run over, and don’t mention that a car was going 65 mph on the sidewalk.
This is not the America I was lucky to be born into, where the belief was instilled in us that together we could use education to overcome ignorance, vaccines to overcome deadly disease, laws to overcome brutal racism, regulations to overcome poisoning our planet, and a Peace Corps to extend an open hand to the world instead of a fist.
We went to the moon to boost our national pride and not a billionaire’s ego.
Starting under Reagan, we’ve seen the belief in FDR’s New Deal and LBJ’s Great Society slowly chipped away and replaced by the right-wing belief that people deserve to fail, that government is the enemy, and that unfettered capitalism is the answer.
Despite getting no credit for it, President Biden did more for workers and for the planet than any president in decades. And now the president-elect and his degenerate cronies are gleefully planning to take a wrecking ball to anything that’s left of those programs.
We know that those with the least will suffer the most. But how will others get through?
Those of us who are buffered by circumstances that may protect our homes from being broken, but not our hearts. Or the youngest among us who will have to pick up the pieces.
I’m contemplating downing a draught of hemlock. But first I’m going spend more time in neighborhood bistros, bookstores and businesses that are the mainstay of community.
And I’m going to pay less attention to the right-wing extremists in Washington and more attention to the left-wing extremists on the Minneapolis City Council. Their daffy out of touch priorities and virtue-signaling policies would be laughable if not so damaging to our city.
We can no longer be told that what we are seeing isn’t real, that encampments are not a dangerous burden on those living near them or safe for those living in them, that concrete bunkered bike lanes and painted red bus lanes save lives, reduce carbon and aren’t harmful to businesses, and that we need to police our businesses but not our streets.
Our schools are facing an $84 million deficit, Hennepin County has a $30 million gap in its proposed 2025 human services budget, and the proposed city budget calls for a tax increase of 8.1% in 2025 and another 9.8% in 2026.
We can be a city with a heart, but also one with a brain. We need healthy businesses to provide livelihoods for people and to pay taxes for the social programs and oversight boards this council is so eager to fund.
We may be the happiest city in America, but we are still a city in crisis.
We need experienced leadership on the council to address the serious issues facing our city and not policies in foreign affairs. People who can collaborate and debate without overwrought oratory.
There is a municipal election in 2025, and precinct caucuses will be held on April 8. Caucuses determine which delegates go on to the ward and city endorsing conventions.
In our one-party city, the candidate who gets the most supporters to show up at a caucus has a very good shot at winning in the general election.
Never been to your precinct caucus? This is a critical year to start and to show up.
Environmental journalist Bill McKibben was once asked where people should live in the coming climate crisis. He replied, “Wherever you have a strong community.”
I believe that. It will be impossible to ignore our national bloodbath for the next four years, but this old bean plans to focus on the issues closer to home with whatever snap I still have left.
That includes working to replace the ideological far-left members of the City Council with reasonable and responsive adults. If we don't, we'll only have ourselves to blame.
