Minnesota cage match

In the mighty storm of the 2010 elections, Republicans won control of the Minnesota House and Senate. How long has it been since this happened? Time whereof the Memory of Man runneth not to the contrary.
At the same time, Minnesota’s three-way gubernatorial election vomited forth disgraced Democrat Mark Dayton. Mark Dayton inherited great wealth from the family business that he shunned. As I recall, Dayton met his first wife (a Rockefeller) in something like group therapy for guilty millionaires. Now Dayton has the whole state of Minnesota with which to work through his feelings of unworthiness.
Dayton believes in increasing taxes on “millionaires” the way most of us believe in God. It’s an article of faith that is the centerpiece of his creed. Minnesota is a state that features high income taxes, but those damned “millionaires” are somehow always escaping payment of their “fair share.” When will it ever end?
Facing a projected biennial deficit of billions of dollars, Dayton is demanding an increase in income taxes. It’s a demand that is a non-starter for the Republican majorities in the state legislature. Led by House Speaker Kurt Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch the Republicans have, so far, hung tough. Indeed, the legislative session adjourned without a budget. Governor Dayton will have to call a special session to resolve the impasse, apparently after a government shutdown occurs.
On October 24, 2010, in a gubernatorial debate on 5 Eyewitness News Dayton vowed not to allow a government shutdown in order to ram through his proposed tax increases. But in the same response, he also vowed not to compromise on the need for tax increases on the wealthy. So far as I am aware, only 5 Eyewitness News reporter Tom Hauser has recalled this prescient exchange.

We are inundated with propaganda. Every day the Minnesota media feature stories of the hardship that will be created by a government shutdown. A coalition of unions and millionaire state Democratic donors operating through the Alliance for a Better Minnesota has been running a million-dollar ad campaign supporting Dayton’s proposed tax increases and defaming Dayton’s opponents as enemies of humanity (i.e., “the middle class”). The forces supporting Dayton are spending so much money on advertisements that the advertisements show up via automated feeds targeting Minnesota readers on conservative sites such as NRO, the American Thinker and Power Line.
The ad campaign is a complete and utter crock. Indeed, it reminds me of the vulgar Fugs’ song from the waning days of the Johnson administration.
Understanding the nature of the struggle in which we are immersed is virtually impossible via the Minnesota media. The single most enlightening piece on the budget struggle — perhaps the only enlightening piece — is Katherine Kersten’s Star Tribune op-ed column “Republicans are the ones with a sensible budget plan.”

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