Dear Neighbor,
Before we get into this week’s notes, I want to share with you a column I authored regarding the “gender jihad” that is taking place in Minnesota and throughout our nation. It follows up on “gender-affirming care” legislation House Democrats approved last week. Here is a link to the column, which reads, in part:
“The dominant trans culture has successfully employed a repressive cultural strategy of social censure and unearned indignation to enforce a code of conduct that “affirms” their beliefs. Of course, it amounts to gaslighting. No one believes that the man cosmetically altered to appear as a woman has become a woman. But you’re expected to “affirm” that lie with every use of a “preferred pronoun” as an act of fealty and submission. It’s enforced with severe social censure for violations of trans decorum, which typically involves being treated as beneath contempt. ...”
As for this week from the House:
Dems seek 40% spending hike
Legislative Democrats and Gov. Tim Walz have agreed to the framework of a new state budget that blows through the entire $17.5 billion surplus and also increases state spending by 40 percent with little tax relief to show for it.
They refuse to commit to fully eliminating the state tax on Social Security and, in fact, propose numerous tax increases. For example, the House Democrat transportation bill raises taxes and fees by at least $4 billion – $1.71 billion in 2024-25, and by more than $2.2 billion in 2026-27. Here is a snapshot of what they propose:
- ¾-cent metro area sales tax increase (for transit)
- 75-cent delivery tax (everything from Amazon packages to pizza delivery)
- License tab fee increases
- $10 surcharge on license tabs
- Motor vehicle sales tax increase
- Uber/Lyft vehicle tax
Democrats often frame their tax increases as a way to “make the rich pay their fair share,” but these increases are as regressive as regressive gets. These tax increases will do far more damage to everyday Minnesotans, especially those with lower incomes, than anyone else. Taking the Democrats at their word, they’re looking squarely at you and saying, “Hey, Richie Rich, are you paying your fair share yet?”
SAFER ACT
The gun debate highlights the gap in sophistication between how each side contends with issues.
On one side, you have the simplistic notion that inanimate objects are the problem, and if we just write a magic spell saying they should go away, bad things will no longer happen. Gov. Tim Walz and others even hosted a press conference this week to again push for unserious, unsophisticated and ridiculous gun-control measures.
It’s exhausting to hear the tiresome refrain from the liberal left where they reach into a drawer, pull out a script and performatively repeat three times: “It’s the guns. It’s the guns. It’s the guns.”
To them, it’s as if my law-abiding neighbor who has had his firearm locked in a safe the last 30 years is the problem. He’s not. And neither is the gun.
The Democrats’ "red flag" bill demonstrates this disparity in sophistication plainly. It imagines a scenario where someone presents such an imminent danger to themselves and others that we must forgo due process and seize their guns. To do so, we'll walk right past them, take their firearms, and then leave them agitated in deeper crisis with no further intervention.
Take the evil talisman, and everything will be fine. That's the level of thinking informing such policy, barely more sophisticated than superstition.
On the other side, you have a serious consideration of culture and its effect upon human behavior. You have probing questions about motive and mental health. And you get a much deeper and nuanced prescription for solving the problem which recognizes the heart, mind, and soul as the wellspring of behavior.
I am co-sponsoring a package of bills House Republicans have assembled that addresses the true, underlying issues related to mental health and more. The bills are H.F. 3133, 3134, 3135, and 3136 Together, they are called the SAFER Act:
- Supporting Law Enforcement
- Accountability Resources for County Attorneys
- Facilities for Mental Health Care
- Education for Responsible Gun Ownership and Respect for Life
- Responsibility
It's a powerful and revealing contrast, and it should be a litmus test for determining who gets to wield political power. Who would you rather have writing, enforcing, and interpreting laws? People who point to guns as evil talismans that make people do things? Or those who recognize that we have a broader crisis in both culture and policy?
To take this issue seriously, we must recognize the cultural/societal roots of this issue so we can better understand how we can come alongside people, protect them and empower them to protect themselves.
Watch for more from the Capitol soon and, as always, your input is appreciated.
Sincerely,
Walter