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!”

The Shape of the Playing Field, Part 1

In the wake of last November’s election, both major political parties in Minnesota are trying to figure out what comes next.  The Democrats (DFL, Democrat-Farmer-Labor as they are styled in Minnesota) are enjoying a moment of triumphalism.  Republicans are turning introspective.

Democrats:  Never Been More Powerful

Still fresh from last November’s victory, DFL Chair Ken Martin was re-elected over the weekend to a second two-year term.  He is reported to have said “the party has never been more powerful.”

The DFL Chair is more worried about underperforming than overreaching.

Blue State Blues

We are now one month into Minnesota’s latest experiment with one-party (Democrat) rule.  Judging by the liberal tweets in my Twitter feed, Minnesota’s current 5.5 percent unemployment rate is proof—both that the experiment is working and the Minnesota “Blue” model is vastly superior to the one employed by newly red-state Wisconsin.  (Like Minnesota, Wisconsin had a split government prior to the November 2012 election.)

Included in today’s Wall Street Journal (p. A12) is an interesting color map showing which states have an all-Republican government (GOP governor and a GOP-majority legislature), which are split between the parties, and which state governments have an all-Democrat makeup.

Curious as to how the all-Blue (Democrat) states fare on the jobs front, I looked up the unemployment rates at the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the 12 other states identified as one-party Blue states by the Journal.

Column Icon: Nelson's Column

To better identify posts that include the weekly Column, I am adding the icon on the left.

It depicts the top of Nelson's Column, which is located in London's Trafalgar Square and honors Lord Horatio Nelson, the British Admiral who defeated Napolean's French fleet in the famous 1805 battle fought off the Spanish coast.

My favorite bit of the story is when Nelson sends the pre-battle message to his fleet, "England expects that every man will do his duty."

Political Charity Gets a Pass

Minnesota State Representative Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley)—a member of the House Elections Committee—has introduced a bill (HF 287) to ban political contributions and related activities by for-profit corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies.

Earlier this session, Rep. Winkler introduced a bill (HF 121) aimed at curbing the activities of ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, long the bête noire of the left.  Winkler’s bill would require additional disclosures by any organization promoting “model legislation.”

As I have documented in my Political Charity series of posts, non-profit corporations have been collectively contributing multi-millions of dollars—in cash and in-kind resources—to left-leaning election campaign efforts in each of the past few election cycles.

I have also documented in that same series some of the legislation-based activity engaged in by out-of-state political charities, through local non-profit entities. 

Curiously, none of that non-profit campaign or lobbying activity would be affected by Rep. Winkler’s bills.

If the effort is either directed at bringing more transparency to state politics or reducing the influence of money in our elections, then the rules need to be set the same for each side of the aisle.

Joel Kotkin's Advice for California

From the Orange County Register last week.  Kotkin writes,

"Government can play a critical, even determinative, role here. But it needs to shift priorities from redistribution and wealth suppression to providing the basic infrastructure essential for a growth economy."

The Nordic Model

The current issue of The Economist magazine includes a special report looking at the success of the Nordic countries in introducing some market discipline into their social welfare states.  Perhaps a model for our Nordic state of Minnesota?

On the Radio Saturday

I'll be on the radio Saturday, Feb. 2.  Sue Jeffers has a weekend roundtable show that goes from 1 to 4 pm on AM1130 News Talk Radio.  I'm joining in at 2 pm.

Follow the Money and TakeAction! Part 6

[This post is the sixth in a series examining the activity of the St. Paul-based political charity TakeAction Minnesota.  Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the series provide some necessary background to those new to the story.]

Part 5 of this series introduced the pivotal role that TakeAction played in defeating the Minnesota’s Voter ID amendment in the November 2012 election.  With the final 2012 filings now available at Minnesota’s Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board, we can fill in a few more money details in this Part 6.

California at Twilight

Victor Davis Hanson looks at what keeps propping up the failed state of California.