State of the State: Time for Plan C

I’ll say upfront that I am no fan of the State of the City/State/Union genre.  I’m with Thomas Jefferson on this one, the whole exercise comes across as a low-wattage version of the Speech from the Throne.

As much as I enjoy the spectacle of the Queen borne about in the Irish State Coach, seeing the Cap of Maintenance paraded around, and watching as Black Rod has the door slammed in his face, I had hoped that such ceremony became passé circa 1776.  Even when the show is done well on this side of the ocean, regardless of party, the speech makes for dull theater.

Domestic duties kept me from seeing or hearing Governor Mark Dayton deliver Minnesota’s State of the State speech this evening.  So my remarks are based on the pre-written version posted on his website.

When the Governor introduced his budget last month, I used the term “Post-Modern” to describe how detached it feels from the reality of today’s 21^st-century Minnesota.  I borrowed the phrase from British politician Daniel Hannan, who used the term to describe how European Union lawmakers pass laws—not to solve problems, but to feel better about themselves.

Hannan wrote in 2007 this fictionalized script,

Hannan: "EU policies are putting people out of work".

Eurocrat: "Nonsense. We've just agreed a position paper that lists the fight against unemployment as one of our top three priorities".

Hannan: "But the things you're actually doing make it less attractive for firms to hire people…"

Eurocrat: "Didn't you hear what I just said? One of our top three priorities!"

Hannan concludes that, “Europe has reached a form of post-modern law-making, in which legal acts are designed to indicate disapproval rather than to produce effect.”

Themeless Pudding
And so it was with Gov. Dayton’s speech tonight.  I counted 21 top priorities in Dayton’s State of the State, plus two high priorities (the U’s medical school and ag research) and one urgent priority (stop the violence).

We got the feel good policies (climate change), the gimmicks (the Unsession), the hobby horses (tax the rich), all-in-all a themeless pudding.

We got the obligatory dog's breakfast of directives and a few howlers (My two favorites high taxes mean low crime—Chicago will be surprised to find that out—and that after-school programs prevent teen pregnancy). 

Plan C

I continue to believe that Gov. Dayton could have earned a national reputation if he’d chosen the untaken path of the “Blue State” reform governor.  Instead he settles for a few local compliments on an “audacious” rearrangement of the tax deck chairs.

On taxes, Gov. Dayton says he is looking for “a good Plan C.”  Here it is:  imagine the national buzz if Gov. Dayton had announced tonight that Minnesota was joining Blue State Washington as another no-income-tax locale.

Instead, we are cautioned against “failed ideologies of the past,” “political stalemates,” the rock throwers and blame casters who stand between us and Gov. Dayton’s broad, sunlit uplands.

To that I say, “Good night, and good luck!”