Mr. Garofalo Goes To South Korea

Farmington Representative Pat Garofalo (36B) spent some time during June in South Korea as part of a tour with the American Council of Young Political Leaders.  In a story in ThisWeek Newspaper, he said, “The amazing thing is when you see South Korea’s success, you see benefits of capitalism, and when you look at the suffering in North Korea, you see the failure of socialism and communism.”

Wait a minute.

Is the socialist system in North Korea really the reason for the suffering, or is it a malicious dictator who thinks the people of North Korea are his pawns?  There are not many truly socialist countries, but Portugal is one.  Do we consider Portugal and North Korea equivalent in failure and suffering?

Perhaps I’m jumping to conclusions with Garofalo, but it seems that so many Republicans blame everything bad in government on government.  All they have to do is whisper the “S” word – socialist – to rile up their base.  Those same politicians don’t look in the mirror to see the real problem.  It’s often not the political/economic theory we use to describe the government system that makes it unworkable.  Rather, it is the people running the government.

Garofalo didn’t mention that the South Korean school system he praised as “a better 21st-century educational system” than we have, is a socialist entity.  Public education in general is socialist, at least by the Republican scare-tactic definition of what socialism is.

He praised a transit system process that uses strips on the road to charge electric cars and buses while they drive.  He didn’t mention that it was developed at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, which is a government-funded institution.  That sounds socialist in every sense of the Republican definition.

The word “socialist” is thrown out by people like Garofalo to scare people.  When did public funding within a democracy become equivalent to socialism?

Here in our own community of Farmington, we have a socialist fire department, a socialist police department, and socialist garbage pick-up.  The clean water comes from a government-run facility, and my son plays hockey at a socialist hockey arena.    If you want to go way out on a limb, you can say our co-op gas company is even communist.

We can define a word based on a political agenda and use it any way we want.  However, we still want all of these “socialist” services, and we don’t want to pay more than we have to.

It is time to get rid of manipulative politicians like Pat Garofalo, with their self-serving political agendas and buzz words.  In 2010, we need to elect representatives from 36 who have the interest of the community, state and country in mind.

Crossposted at www.MNDem.com

July Senate District 36 Meeting – Potluck, Paul Thissen and the Wellstone Dinner with Senator Franken

For those of you that missed the Senate District 36 Potluck, Speaker and Central/Executive Committee Meeting, you really missed out. 

We started the evening off with conversation and a potluck.  Fried chicken, sandwiches with all the fixings, a few salads, some hummus and pitas and some really good chocolate chip cookies in a container labeled “Thissen”, made for a delicious dinner.  The conversations, and meeting new progressives, and reacquainting with old friends was even better.

We had a few speakers.  Aaron Olson from the Minnesota Young DFL spoke about how successful the organization was in 2008,and how they plan to build on that success in 2010.  A challenge was put forth from one listener in the audience that if somebody else donated $100 to the Minnesota Young DFL, she would match it, and it was immediately met.  In fact Mr. Olson left with a few donations for MYDFL.

Dan Powers, challenger to John Kline for the MN Congressional District 2 seat, spoke next.  He introduced himself, and talked a little about his experience.

The main speaker, Representative Paul Thissen spoke next.  So that is where those cookies came from… Actually, the cookies came from Paul’s family.  Several members of Paul’s family live in SD36, it was great to have his family with us, and even better that his father asked him a campaign question.  Paul did a great job, and SD36 is appreciative that he came to speak to our little group.  He introduced himself, and did a nice job of summarizing why he is running and what his main agenda will be.  Rep. Thissen then spent a lot of time, more time than Chair Nichols had planned, answering a lot of great questions.  Chair Nichols had to stop the questions and go on with the business of the meeting, but it was a very good introduction for most of us to gubernatorial candidate Paul Thissen.

Before we started the meeting, Colin Lee, was given a couple minutes to announce his plans to challenge Mary Liz Holberg.  Some people will remember Colin Lee from 2008 when he challenged Representative Holberg as a Green Party candidate.

The meeting began by filling some open seats on the executive committee.  The election to fill the vacant Associate Chair position was won by Lisa Backer.  Three female Directors positions and one male Director position were filled.  That left one open female Director position open still.  That open position will be filled at the next meeting, which is scheduled for October 15th.  Please contact Chair Nichols if you are interested in the Director position.  Finally, open male and female State Central Committee Alternate positions were filled by a couple of DFL veterans.

Dakota County Fair volunteer time are available.  Senate District 36 is responsible for filling spots two days.  Contact Tony Olson if you are interested in helping out at the booth.

The Wellstone Dinner will be scheduled for October 24th, 2009.  Site and times are to be determined.  But the big news is that Senator Franken has accepted an invitation to speak to our group the day before the seventh anniversary of the death of his good friends Senator and Sheila Wellstone.  Save the date, and when tickets become available, get your tickets early, these will be in high demand.

Important Announcement from the CD2 Executive Committee Meeting held July 14, 2009

With the loss of DFL CD2 Associate Chair Ken Beck who passed away the previous week, an announcement was made that his position, Associate Chair (Male Position), will need to be filled, as well as the position of State Constitution Alternate (Female Position).  Elections will be held at the September CD2 Central Committee meeting. 

The September meeting was originally scheduled to be an Executive Committee Meeting, however, because of the election, the September meeting will now be a Central Committee Meeting, and the October meeting will be changed to be an Executive Committee Meeting.

Please contact Minnesota DFL Congressional District 2 Chair Jeanne Thomas if you wish to throw your hat into the ring for one of the two open positions.  It will be an election, and you will be scheduled to give a brief speech prior to the election at the meeting.

With the 2010 election coming up, it is imperative that a DFL governor be elected.  Hard working, committed people need to be elected to fill these positions.  It will take every district organization to work hard to ensure we have a representative in the governor’s mansion who will look out for the future of the people of Minnesota, rather than live by a pledge to a single special interest tax group, or worry about how the national media or national base sees him or her, at the expense of Minnesota.

Since I am talking about meetings…  Don’t forget in two days, DFL Senate District 36 will be holding a potluck, 6:00 pm Thursday July 16th, at the Rambling River Center in downtown Farmington.  Rep. Paul Thissen is scheduled to speak during the potluck.  Feel free to come and share in the potluck, get some questions answered by Representative Thissen, and based on the size of our group, I’m guessing you will even have a chance to talk one-on-one with him.  The potluck starts at 6:00, and following Paul’s presentation, the SD36 Central Committee meeting will begin.  People are welcome to come for the potluck, to hear Paul Thissen, just to participate in the meeting, or any combination of the three.  I look forward to seeing you there.