March 31, No Kings!
No Kings!
250 years after the founding of America, the No Kings Protests are becoming one of the most beautiful expressions of our country's commitment to democracy. I was fortunate to join my neighbors at Moberg Park in Chisago City on March 28th. The local Singing Resistance group led songs while people held signs up to drivers on Highway 8 who mostly honked in support of the messages. Reports are saying that 8 million people joined in No Kings protests this weekend, which is an incredible 2.3% of the population of the United States. Some political scientists have suggested that nonviolent protest movements with 3.5% of a country's population engaged are almost always successful.
I am eager to attend the next No Kings rally with neighbors, but for now I am looking forward to the strike planned for May 1: No Work, No School, No Shopping. When we work together, we make peace, liberty and justice possible.
Last week in MN Government
Last week, we witnessed a strange debacle at the Legislature: almost half of Minnesota's Representatives, including my opponent, Max Rymer, staged a failed protest vote to try to end the session two months early. They argued that session should be closed because of a disagreement with Governor Tim Walz. Whether these legislators were right or wrong, it was deeply irresponsible and immature to pull away from all of the important issues that are facing Minnesotans.
I have one thing to say: When things get difficult, I don't give up.
There is business at hand and unresolved problems to fix, including fraud prevention, allocating funds for infrastructure projects across our state, and allocating funding to install security systems for our public schools, to name just a few.
I can't begin to imagine why my opponent thought it was a good idea to end the session early, but in retrospect, I hope he can understand why it is an inadequate answer to the real problems facing Minnesotans. I am ready and excited to work across the entire political spectrum to make real progress towards improving our government services to you.
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Recommendations
There is nothing more important than grounding ourselves in culture, and arming ourselves with knowledge. Here's a small selection of what I found enjoyable and thought-provoking this past week:
La Haine - Movie: This movie stuck with me after I watched it. It shows the difficulty of working class conditions and the impossible decisions that people have to make when pitted against one another.
C-SPAN: University of Kansas political communication professor Robert Rowland discussing 2002 George W. Bush Speech Making the Case for Military Action in Iraq: In light of the widening war in Iran and across the region, this lecture gives good perspective on how to discern truth in a world full of mis and disinformation.