Most Minnesotans like their kids’ teachers, but not the overall K-12 system.
They like their doctor, but not the overall health care system.
They like the individual they can connect with personally in their immediate sphere, but have disdain for the individual’s institution. Once we have looked someone in the eye, pressed their flesh, and heard their life stories, we form human connections that drown out our critical thinking.
Nowhere is this phenomenon more prevalent than in politics. In politics, people often express emphatic disapproval for legislative bodies, yet they keep returning their own representative to that body.
And then they wonder why nothing changes in the legislative body. What’s that old definition of insanity?
Take the Minnesota’s current Republican-controlled Legislature. Please. According to one public opinion poll, fewer than one in five Minnesotans (17%) approve of it. At the same time, embattled DFL Governor Dayton’s approval rating is over thirty points higher than the Republicans. To be clear, a majority of Minnesotans are not saying “a pox on both their houses.” According to several polls, the public is aiming it’s pox squarely at Republicans.
This verdict is easy to understand when you consider Republican Legislature major “achievements”:
- Using local schools as their own personal ATMs
- Wasting all their time on constitutional amendments to limit Minnesotans’ freedoms to marry and vote
- Killing job-creating capital investments in Minnesota’s future
- Shutting down government to keep the wealthiest 1% of taxpayers from paying the same proportion of their income in taxes as the average taxpayer
With an outrageous record like that, and the lowest approval rating in recorded history, could Minnesotans possibly send the same Republicans back to control the Legislature for a repeat performance? Are Minnesota voters really capable of simultaneously saying “you are the worst Legislature ever” and “we rehire you?”
You bet. Again, many people are naturally inclined to return their local gal or guy, which would give us the same cast of characters, which would guarantee more gimmicks, buck-passing, divisive defacing of the Constitution, and shutdowns.
“Dance with the one who brung ya,” as they say. Even if the record they’re spinning has been a death dirge?
– Loveland
Photo by CNN
Note: This post was also featured in Politics in Minnesota’s “Best of the Blogs” and Minnpost’s Blog Cabin.
Great commentary.
My review of the 2010 results indicated that a number of seats that changed from DFL to MN-GOP were the result of voter turnout … the MN-GOP generally got the same number of votes as in 2008, but the DFL candidate dropped … thus the winner was Voter Apathy.
For me, my vote won’t change anything … my district will again be represented by Republican Tony Cornish since there is no other candidate on the ballot.
Polls tell us opinion … the ballot box tells us who is interested in voicing their opinion … the two are different.
IF you want to counter voter apathy, enact “No Excuse” absentee voting or early voting.
The problem is voters don’t seem to realize that when they vote for Republicans their voting for a party, not individuals. The Republican party no longer tolerates dissension in the ranks and requires strict fidelity to party extremism. No matter what you individual candidate is saying, and all the Republicans are promising a bi-partisan effort, they will not compromise on anything, and they will focus on divisive and irrelevant legislation dictated by an extremist agenda.
Great comment, Paul.
I was just talking to someone who is on a trip now and had to vote absentee. She proudly told me how she voted for Obama (she’s a retired teacher) and then I asked, who got her vote for Congress. The Democrat got the vote for Senate but she said the Republican for House as she felt he seemed like “a nice guy”.
WOW …
Let’s look at John Kline … who may be a “nice guy” and look at his “achievements” as Chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee …. (if you know of any let me know)
President Obama asked for reforms … Chairman Kline has failed to get a House vote on the Workforce Improvement Act which would close the existing skills gap that workers face who were trained for yesterday’s jobs in today’s world … yet you will hear Mitt Romney complain about the number of duplicated programs which President Obama has asked be closed.
Chairman Kline’s NoChildLeftBehind legislation has also not gotten a vote by the full House … the US Chamber of Commerce has called his Student Success Act “bad for students, bad for taxpayers” … so either the reforms do not go far enough for the Conservatives that want to eliminate the Department of Education or it is so weak that it does not appeal to other Republicans and might become a campaign issue … regardless, Chairman Kline has failed to get a bill through the Republican-controlled House.
Considering a recent SurveyUSA poll that reported President Obama leading the Second District and Chairman Kline having a 8% lead, that indicates a “education failure” … the voters do not know the failings of Chairman Kline … worst yet, the poll indicated that 10% of the DFLers surveyed support Chairman Kline.
Independent voters often boast “I vote for the person, not the party.” I used to admire that. But I’m done with nice people who have policy positions that have mean implications. I’d rather vote for a dick who isn’t screwing over the non-powerful than a “nice guy” who is.