Government is not the solution to our problem

These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, human misery and personal indignity.

Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity. But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.

You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why then should we think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?

We are a nation that has a government -- not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the earth. Our Government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.

All of us — all of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the states; the states created the Federal Government.

Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it. If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before.

It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of Government.

—excerpts from Ronald Reagan's First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981

Top political stories of 2008

2008 was a big year in politics in the North Star State. Please log your reactions to my list in the comments section or via Twitter (@mattabe).

• John McCain Picks Sarah Palin For Vice President - What were McCain's real motives? Did the pick hurt McCain more than it helped? Who knows, but judging by the huge rally crowds and the cast of characters who are still attacking Palin with slander, hammer, and tong, Palin is a conservative who can make it morning in America again.
• Minnesota U.S. Senate Election Recount - R.I.P. Clean Elections In Minnesota.
• Minnesota's Congressional Republicans Keep All Three Of Their Seats As Ramstad Retires - The bright side in 2008 for Republicans was that Republican Erik Paulsen was elected to succeed Jim Ramstad in the Third, and conservatives Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN6) and Rep. John Kline (R-MN2) kept their seats on the Republican side of the aisle.
• Third District DFL Endorses Ashwin Madia For Congress - Third CD Dems boldly showed the courage of their convictions by bypassing (in a hotly contested endorsing convention) the well-funded, seasoned pol, and Minnesota State Senator Terri Bonoff for political newcomer Ashwin Madia. Madia's youthful campaign workers in the general election made extensive use of Internet technologies to spread the word. Madia raised more money outside Minnesota than in-state.
• Republican National Convention Held In Twin Cities - the hotels, bars, and restaurants were booked; the anarkids wreaked havoc; and Sarah Palin made her national debut as the eyes of the world gazed upon the Twin Cities for an unforgettable week in August.
• "Override Six" Targeted By Conservatives - conservatives flexed their political muscle in the most visible way since the No New Taxes Pledge. Here's to another encore in 2009.
• Precinct Caucuses Attract Record Turnout - the MNGOP got an infusion of new blood in 2008. Will the party keep them engaged for the run-up to 2010?
• Conservatives Find Selves Out-Tweeted by Democrats - it goes beyond social networking, it's a generational shift (see: Millenial Makeover). Conservatives, led in part by Hugh Hewitt, spent much of December signing up for Twitter accounts and creating Facebook pages, at least to see what all the fuss is about. Time will tell if they are able to exploit this new paradigm in political communications to win elections.
• An American Carol - now available on DVD, it was not the funniest political satire ever (see: Team America), but it was welcome comic relief in a year that needed it.

Light rail: unsustainable

As reported in the Star Tribune ("Flush with riders, transit is short on money and options" by Jim Foti, January 4, 2009), the unsustainable source of funding for the misfit transportation boondoggle called light rail is proving, well, unsustainable.

The economic reality that whatever you tax, eventually gets less abundant is being exacerbated by the downturn in the economy. Forty percent or more of the motor vehicle sales tax was supposed to be the golden goose for metro area mass transit (read: light rail transit) — but then the economy turned south and Denny Hecker closed or sold nine dealerships in 2008. Meanwhile, in spite of increased ridership, the Met Council is being forced to choose between unpleasant options like increasing fares or cutting back service — or both.

The dark joke in transit circles is that if you don't want fares to go up again, you should buy a car and then keep riding the bus...

The motor vehicle sales tax has "virtually collapsed," said state Sen. Scott Dibble, a Minneapolis DFLer who is on the Senate Transportation Committee. Recurring funding shortfalls have him concerned about the system's viability, and he noted that raising fares by a total of 75 cents in less than a year would amount to a 50 percent increase in non-rush-hour fares.

Legislation that robs Peter to pay for Paul's light rail ride will always have the full support of Paul, but that doesn't make it good transportation policy. Yet light rail proponents won't let reality, common sense, Minnesota Public Radio or the University of Minnesota derail their utopian plans.

Get Tweeting!

Here is part 3 of my series on how movement conservatives are using Twitter today.

In part 1 of my series, I introduced Twitter, a relatively new text messaging service that combines features of many previously-existing Internet messaging technologies into one new way of connecting and communicating.

In part 2 of my series, I went into more detail about Twitter features, and gave some examples of how Twitter is being used by Hugh Hewitt and other activists.

Conservatives on Twitter

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3 (This post)

So how do you get started on Twitter? There are nearly as many ways to use Twitter as there are Twitter users. That's what makes it so powerful, but it also makes it difficult to explain to Twitter novices.

First, go to www.twitter.com and create a Twitter account. You can use just about anything for a user name. Use your real name, a brand like a web site or blog, or something completely obscure, depending on how easily you want to be found, and how you will be using Twitter. Learn how to use hashtags (like #hhrs) on search.twitter.com.

Second, use Twitter for a week or two to figure out the basic Twitter commands and functions, and to understand how others are using Twitter. Check out this Twitter 101 Guide by David All Group.

One of the mysterious Twitter-related things you should learn about is TinyURL. TinyURL is one of several URL redirection-abbreviator services that shortens URLs so you can more easily include hyperlinks in your 140-character Tweets. To use TinyURL, visit the site, enter a long URL, and almost immediately you get a TinyURL to copy-paste into your Tweet. This technique is also useful for including hyperlinks in e-mails, which sometimes renders long URLs nonfunctional with line breaks.

Last, find the people with Twitter accounts whom you know and care about, and Follow them. Notice who they are Following. Here is a list to get you started:

• Top Conservatives on Twitter - required reading of the moment, don't miss the "10 Things You Can Do." Here's my TCOT stats profile
• Tweet Congress - find out who's Tweeting in the people's house
• GovTwit - an updated listing of bureaucrats, reporters, and politicos on Twitter, very interesting list that runs from the famous to the esoteric, state and local (R.T. Rybak) to the international (UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon).


• Hugh Hewitt (hughhewitt)
• Michelle Malkin (michellemalkin)
• True North (looktruenorth)
• Rebuild The Party (rebuildtheparty)
• Minnesota Free Market Institute (MNFreeMktInst)
• Ed Morrissey (EdMorrissey)
• Politics in Minnesota (PoliticsMN)
• Matt Abe (mattabe) - in addition to standard Tweets, I have used TwitterFeed to post the title of my North Star Liberty blog posts as Tweets. Many media outlets are also doing this with their RSS feeds.

Before long, you'll "get" Twitter, and gradually tailor your use of the service to inform, connect, and communicate as you like it. Welcome to the Twitterverse.

Putting Twitter to work

Here is part 2 of my series on how movement conservatives are using Twitter today.

Twitter is basically a text messaging service, but with several refinements that make it more powerful for social networking and as a tool for, pardon the expression, change. I'll explain what makes Twitter different from, and similar to, other online communication tools you've used. Then I'll cite some interesting applications that Hugh Hewitt and others are using right now to connect with others and strengthen the conservative movement.

Conservatives on Twitter

• Part 1
• Part 2 (this post)
• Part 3

First, with Twitter you can send messages in three different modes:

• Broadcast, to all Twitter users (the least useful for our purposes)
• Public chat (Reply), again visible to all subscribers, but also sent directly to a user identified by his or her user name in the format "@username"
• Direct, one-to-one, sent privately to the user in the format "D username;" just like instant messaging (IM) or SMS text messaging

Second, with Twitter you receive messages as you like them:

• Every Tweet sent by every user (again, the least useful for our purposes)
• Friends only, so you only see Tweets from users you are Following
• Search by hashtag (#tag); see examples below
• Browse on a user's homepage (http://www.twitter.com/username)
• Direct one-to-one, exchanging D messages (see above)

And last, you can use Twitter on any combination of mobile and PC platforms:

• The Twitter.com web site
• Internet browser plug-in
• Desktop app
• IM plug-in (AOL, Yahoo, MSN, etc.)
• Cell phone SMS (text message)
• iPhone
• Blackberry

With this unique combination of features, imaginative Twitter users have cooked up some interesting applications:

Hugh Hewitt has defined a hashtag #hhrs for the Hugh Hewitt Radio Show. Tweets that include #hhrs will show up when users search for it at search.twitter.com. This enables listeners to get lists of show guests before each show, communicate with Hewitt and his producers, discuss the show's topics, and read all of the Tweets posted after the show is over.

This can be easily repeated by other talk radio shows, and has been by Hewitt's protégés on AM 1280 The Patriot: David Strom and Margaret Martin (#davidstrom), John Hinderaker, Chad the Elder, and Brian Ward (#narn), and King Banaian and Michael Brodkorb (#narn2). This practice broadens the participation and interaction in these shows way beyond those who get past the call screeners.

Conservative activists across the country are finding (and Following) each other on the new web site Top Conservatives on Twitter. This idea should spawn regional or local lists like True North Conservatives on Twitter (does not exist yet).

Activists on both sides are following the ballot recount in the U.S. Senate race by seaching on #mnrecount. Attendees and onlookers kept up with the recent Republican National Convention by searching on #rnc08.

News outlets (foxnewspolitics) and web sites (looktruenorth) are publishing their RSS feeds in Twitter.

MPR to LRT: not in our front yard

MPR reports that a fascinating showdown is brewing between the Central Corridor light rail transit (LRT) line, the Met Council, and the City of Saint Paul on one side, versus a group of longtime downtown Saint Paul residents on Cedar Street: two churches and Minnesota Public Radio.

MPR is understandably concerned about the location of the proposed light rail line: twelve feet away from the front door of its broadcast center, where the rolling boondoggle would generate considerable noise and vibration, electromagnetic interference (EMI), and access issues. Central Presbyterian Church and the Church of St. Louis, as well as several concert venues, would also feel the effects of the light rail tracks and its unsightly accoutrements. As MPR reported, lines in the sand are being drawn:

Metropolitan Council Chairman Peter Bell said a study to look at a different route is, in his words, a "Herculean task," that could delay the project by two years. He says MPR's memo to the project office last week has already raised red flags with the Federal Transit Administration.

[Saint Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said:] "Quite frankly, they're threatening the future of downtown St. Paul and the entire city."

In a position statement, MPR says, "MPR continues to support the Central Corridor LRT project." It is asking that an alternate route just one block to the east be considered. This story is developing.

Why Twitter matters to us now

Twitter is a multi-platform, Internet-based social networking/microblogging service that combines features of instant messaging, chat, blogs, and RSS.

The preceding sentence was provided as a public service to web-savvy individuals unfamiliar with Twitter, who were waiting impatiently for a technically concise definition of this trendy new technology. For the rest of you wanting to know why conservatives are all atwitter, read on.

Conservatives on Twitter

• Part 1 (this post)
• Part 2
• Part 3

The conservative Twitter train is leaving the station, and Hugh Hewitt is driving it. The self-described "center right" radio talk show host introduced many to the political applications of blogs. He is the godfather of the local Northern Alliance of Blogs, helping to make national media figures out of James Lileks, Power Line, "Captain" Ed Morrissey, and a Saturday radio/Internet stream lineup with other Northern Alliance bloggers on AM 1280 The Patriot and UStream.tv.

Shortly after Election Day, Hewitt joined numerous conservative activists within and outside the Republican party in a postmortem analysis that quickly turned technological. Since then, Hewitt created a Facebook account and began experimenting with various applications of Twitter, while documenting his findings and interviewing new media consultants almost daily on his radio show (tune in today, and catch up with Hugh's podcasts on TownHall.com).

Especially since Thanksgiving, conservatives have started to flock to Twitter, led by Hewitt and web sites like Top Conservatives on Twitter and Rebuild the Party. Conservative commentator and blogger Michelle Malkin reactivated her largely dormant Twitter account, now "Tweeting" (posting in Twitter parlance) several times daily. Some of us (myself included) created our Twitter accounts because Hewitt told us to, and proceeded to experiment and learn right along with him.

Why does Twitter matter to political activists, on a desktop or smart phone already crowded with web sites, blogs, RSS feeds, e-mail accounts, IMs and text messages? The answer is in the unique applications made possible by Twitter's deceptively simple format, open architecture, and the creative minds of its users.

Neighbors help neighbors in trouble with Sleep-Out

On a day like today, when the high temperature in the Twin Cities of Minne-so-cold won't climb above 0 degrees F, I am grateful to be blessed with a warm house, a warm car, and a warm office. I also cannot help but think about those who lack one or more of the these.

According to federal government sources, most of the "poor" in the United States have a higher standard of living than the middle class did just a few generations ago, and than much of the rest of the world today. Yet times are indeed tough. Many are truly struggling with finding housing, child care, transportation, or employment, even in the affluent Twin Cities west metro area.

Interfaith Outreach and Community Partners (ICOP) helps 1500 families and individuals every year to move from tough times to better days. They turn away many others. Their clients aren't looking for a "bailout:" according to IOCP, 58% of the families to which they provide housing services need help for only one or two months to stabilize their situation.

For the thirteenth year in a row, folks in the west metro from churches, Boy Scout troops, and other groups (and employees from companies like General Mills and Wells Fargo) have been sleeping outside in subfreezing temperatures in November and December and beyond to raise money for and awareness about the homeless. This year their goal is $2 million, which would prevent 939 families from becoming homeless (and participating in an involuntary Sleep-Out). If you live in the west metro, please join me in supporting this year's Sleep-Out.

A kinder, gentler House Republican caucus?

HometownSource.com has reported that the Minnesota House Republican Caucus may be practicing a kinder, gentler brand of caucus discipline for the session that will be called to order on January 6. ("House Republicans talk about proposal-driven comeback," by T.W. Budig, December 3, 2008):

"I made it very clear when I was re-elected leader that the marginalization of members based on how they voted on an override or anything else was over." —Rep. Marty Seifert (R-Marshall), newly re-elected House Minority Leader

"We now have proven beyond any reasonable doubt that if you marginalize the moderates, there’s not of a whole heck of a lot of legislative seats you can win. On the other hand if you ignore the conservative base you’re going to lose a lot of seats like we did in 2006. The key is for both the very conservative and moderate wings of our party to work together." —Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington)

"I don’t even like the term ‘conservative.’ You’re either a Republican or you’re not." —Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano), unsuccessful (conservative) candidate for House Minority Leader

"For our party to prevail we have to ally with people which whom we agree with on five things out of ten — constituents and fellow [caucus] members." —Rep. Jim Abeler (R-Anoka) one of two returning "Override Six" members

We in the blogosphere and in our partisan and ideological circles can afford to be pure in our beliefs. But House members have also explained to me over the years that, whether you're casting a vote from your desk in the Capitol, or meeting with two diametrically opposed constituent groups from your desk in the State Office Building, as a legislator you are still expected by the voters to solve all kinds of fiscal and policy problems of the state of Minnesota. I just hope that the Republican caucuses in both the House and Senate, along with Governor Pawlenty, can agree on, and advance, a core set of center-right Republican principles during the 2009-2010 biennium.

There's a reason their baseball team is called the "Brewers"

"Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!"
—from the opening credits to Laverne & Shirley

On Saturday, the menfolk in our family took advantage of a little free time during a visit to the in-laws in Milwaukee to experience one of the reasons why the locals named their baseball team the Milwaukee Brewers.

We arrived early to reserve a spot in the tour at Lakefront Brewery. It was a good thing we did, because by the time the tour started, the line was out the door waiting for the next tour.

There are a number of reasons why this tour is so popular. One reason may be that the product sampling begins during the wait for the tour to begin (amazing how drinking beer seems to make the time go by faster). Or maybe it's that they refill your sample glass halfway through the tour. Or maybe it's because the sassy tour guide is also sampling their products during the tour!

The $6 price of admission includes four 6 ounce Lakefront Brewery pours of your choice and a real, branded, souvenir pint glass. There are also a few unique sights along the way, including three tanks named Larry, Moe, and Curly, and the chalet and Fiberglas beer mug formerly located in Milwaukee County Stadium.

Lakefront has won dozens of beer festival awards for its unique recipes, including the first beer brewed without malted barley or gluten-containing products, an ale called New Grist; and a 100% certified organic British-style extra special bitter called Organic E.S.B.

On previous visits to Milwaukee, we took in the tour at Sprecher Brewery, Milwaukee's original microbrewery, located in a residential neighborhood of Glendale. This time we just stopped by the gift shop and enjoyed Sprecher's unique mini-museum of local beer memorabilia.

A totally different experience can be had at the Miller Brewery and gift shop, which unfortunately was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. Miller's marketing budget provides a more packaged experience (with a lot more walking across the sprawling facility), complete with multimedia presentation and mammoth gift shop, but the tour of the old caves and stories of Miller's Milwaukee roots should be required for any beer lover's trip to the home of Laverne and Shirley. Even at a corporate "macrobrewery" like Miller, it all boils down to the water, barley, hops, and yeast (gluten-free beers notwithstanding).

Reservations recommended for all tours.

Lakefront Brewery, Inc.
1872 N. Commerce St.
Milwaukee, WI 53212
Tel: 414-372-8800

Sprecher Brewing Co. Inc.
701 W. Glendale Ave.
Glendale, WI 53209
Tel: 414-964-2739

Miller Brewery Tour and Girl-In-The-Moon Gift Shop
4251 West State Street
Milwaukee, WI 53208
Tel: 414-931-BEER

UPDATE: More reviews of the Lakefront Brewery tour can be found on BeerAdvocate.com.