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Not a good time to be Minnesotan

To the editor:
Several months ago the comment was made that it was not a good time to be a Democrat. I would add, that it is not a good time to be a Minnesotan either. The point being made several months ago was that the recession was over, the war in Iraq was over, and that things were getting better. Of course, that depends on where you are economically. Actually, it speaks to the difference between a Democratic economic recovery and a Republican one. The wealthy are better off today than they were three years ago. However, the rest of us are worse off. Under Democratic leadership an economic recovery benefits everyone and the gap between the rich and the rest of us decreases. Todayís recovery has been accomplished on the backs of the poor and on credit.

Here are just a few facts. Unemployment in Minnesota has doubled under the Pawlenty administration; it is 4.7 percent, rather than closer to 2 percent as it was under Clinton. For the unemployed, there is no recovery. The gap between those making above the median income and below it has grown, as has child poverty and the number of those without health coverage, while incomes and health coverage increased for all and child poverty decreased prior to Pawlenty. And I know most people want to believe our intervention in Iraq was motivated by something other than greed and revenge, but the facts are that over 500 American soldiers have died in a war that could have been avoided.

Our government lied to us about weapons of mass destruction, but the real tragedy is that the $80 billion spent on this war could have eliminated hunger in the world and made the world a much safer place. Also there is that problem of the huge national debt created in less than 2 years. Think about it, Minnesota and our nation enjoyed huge surpluses just three years ago, prior to Bush and Pawlenty. Yes I will concede that the Republican recovery has benefited the oil industries and the military-industrial complex, but it has been a disaster for non-profits, education and even churches. Almost every non-profit has been down-sized and I think we all know that this ìeducationî and ìenvironmentî president has been friendly to neither.

Besides the military, the only other branch of government to grow is prisons. The real tragedy is how this recovery has been on the backs of the poor, particularly, the working poor.
In Minnesota benefit levels were decreased and eligibility cut, forcing many into homelessness. The homeless shelter operated by the Saint Paul Area Council of Churches, for example, has experienced a 40 percent increase in utilization since July. So, it is not only a bad time to be a Democrat, it is a bad time to be old, young, disabled, poor, an educator, a non-profit or a worker. This is the price of the Republican recovery, the Republican foreign policy of Bush-Pawlenty decisions. However, it is as several former Republican governors have said, not progressive Republicans, but an aberration, conservative Republicans that have gone off the deep end. I pray for a return to the progressive Republican politics of Elmer Anderson.

Robert G. Walz
North Branch

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