Who said: "We're gonna punish our enemies, and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us"? - (Barack Obama)
(This is a discussion of the recent Voters Guide published October 26 by the Minnesota Daily. The 4th CD guide was prepared by JESSIE VAN BERKEL. You can read my position, then an accurate discussion of the positions of my opponents.)
Please note that the truncated format of the Daily guide omitted some of my important explanations, and I have added those below in brackets [].
How would you work with members of the other party to reduce the gridlock in Congress?
My Position: [Basically I'm running with the Independence Party, and I'm also appealing for Tea Party votes. And also if you look at my rap video that I just put out there and also I've melded it in with a music video, I'm talking about the Unity Party, and the American Community Party. And what that means is that we're all part of the American community, so I'm basically trying to save our future. and I know that the Democrats want to do that, and I also know that Obama wants to do that, and I know that the Republicans will do that too.] I’ve got a lot of experience at the University of Minnesota, in politics there, and I also work with people from all sides. I am Mr. Inclusive. I listen to what everybody has to say, I find out what we need to do, what the problem is and how we have to solve it and move things forward [and break the gridlock. It isn't that I'm just going to symbolically work across the aisle, now basically there are no aisles. You know there's two independents out there already, and they have a lot of pull, people you know like Liebermann, and so what that let's you do is work with both sides. So there would be no problem. Actually, we need more Independence Party people out there to work across the aisle with both Democrats and Republicans.]"
DISCUSSION
As I also said on MPR Midday, the two parties are denying the American people parliamentary procedures intended to break this gridlock. The media and the two parties derive a perverse benefit out of rocking this country. We want it to stop, and THAT's what the Tea Party is about, not the way these good-hearted Americans are painted by the media, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
One thing I am going to do in Washington is to get this Tea Party agenda done, for the good of the country. The reason Larry Pogemiller and the others sit around the State Capitol not addressing issues is because the federal government is doing all their work, and they just wait for money and orders to come from Obama in Washington. We have to stop this right now, return power and revenue to Minnesota, so Pogemiller or his successor will have something to do besides go after Republicans. And vice-versa. I'm not trying to antagonize Democrats, but we need a governor and legislators who are going to fashion a coherent growth strategy for Minnesota, and the Congress needs to give us back some of the tools we need to govern ourselves and prosper.
There is no evidence for McCollum's position that all the Democrats have simply said "I'm not going to participate." Look at what Pelosi said, if she couldn't go through the gate to ObamaCare she'd go over it, or else pole-vault in. Who was blocking the gate? Republicans? No, at best Blue Dog Democrats hoping to serve at least one more term. Obama is no transcendent figure, he has been partisan from day one in order to get the support of his misguided coalition to get in power. He governs through stridency and unreasonableness and he has to back off, and do his best for the remainder of his time. He needs some ideas, and the Contract from America provides those.
Collett lacks the leadership skills necessary to get things done in Congress. For instance, she just gave up any hope of repealing ObamaCare, although she told Gary Eichten she would shut down the government to repeal it, because she's afraid Obama will veto it. But as I have said, if we selectively defund those new ObamaCare programs which don't save lives (for example, targeted programs to reduce racial health disparities would save lives) in exchange for a promise not to repeal, this can be accomplished as the Tea Party wants (it's not all about taxes). You need to negotiate. Getting to know people helps to negotiate. It's not all just about being polite and civil, that too, helps in negotiating. But you've got to get results.
McCollum position: "This is not about Democrats and Republicans, this is about moving the American people forward ... This whole attitude of ‘If you’re not going to do it exactly my way I’m not going to participate,’ is wrong. We don’t do that in our families, we don’t do that in business, we don’t do that at our places of worship when we’re discussing how to move an agenda forward and we cannot afford to do that at a national level."
Collett: "As a freshman I’ll have no history with these people, which is both good and bad. So we’ll be starting on a fresh slate, and I think part of it is just getting to know them as people."
