TO THE EDITOR:

While the baby boomers have controlled our political dialogue, we've re-lived the culture wars of the 60s over again. And like any war that wages on for 40 years, it becomes embedded in our psyche and leads to a stalemate where no one wins and everyone loses.

This is where we find ourselves in 2007. And it's time to move on.

It's a simple idea. What if we begin to bury the hatchet? Move beyond the disrespect that brings out our worst and towards opportunity that brings out our best? Offer not just criticism - but ideas; tear down walls and replace them with bridges.

There has been a lot of heated rhetoric on the opinion page of our papers regarding Chisago County business. And it distracts from some really big issues and challenges we face. If you don't have any original ideas to solving a problem, save your energy for when you do!

One original idea and policy success has gotten lost in the morass that masquerades as public discourse.

Two groups with historic antagonisms, land owners and the conservation movement, worked to forge a new relationship. This work resulted in the recent approval of the most progressive and innovative County Comprehensive Land Use Plan in the state of Minnesota; proving that it can be done.

We as residents need to support cooperative dialogue from the world of ideas and opportunity and leave vitriolic rhetoric in the trash heap of history where it belongs.

Wade Vitalis
Shafer