Dillon would be new sheriff in town

Norann Dillon is running for the Republican endorsement for State Senate in SD44 (relatively unchanged from its SD43 boundaries prior to this year's redistricting court ruling).

"My priorities are to pass a truly balanced budget without borrowing, shifts or other accounting gimmicks," said Dillon in an e-mail to SD44 delegates. "We also need to reduce the tax and regulatory burdens on employers. Together, these changes will signal certainty to the marketplace and should restore the confidence needed for investment and expansion.

"Additionally," added Dillon, "let's simplify the funding and mandates on local school boards to return more control to the people best placed to judge the values and needs of the children in their communities."

The eventual Republican candidate for Senate will face Sen. Terri Bonoff (DFL-Minnetonka).

The SD44 BPOU will have to get past some contentious intramural battles if it hopes to turn its full attention and energy to defeating Bonoff and Rep. John Benson (DFL-Minnetonka), who represents the southern "B side" of the district. A campaign lit miscue by Dillon in 2010 involving former Governor Al Quie and the resignation in 2011 of Brian Grogan as BPOU chair left party regulars split and newcomers bewildered.

SD44 convenes its 2012 BPOU convention at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 24 at Wayzata High School in Plymouth.

Grassroots cultivated at caucus

Some folks showed up over an hour before our precinct caucus was called to order Tuesday night. Either they were excited to vote in the presidential straw poll, or they relied on a postcard they received with the incorrect time shown! By 7:00 pm, when state law dictates the caucus is to be called to order, our convener had misplaced his agenda which specifies several items that must be addressed, also per state law. The room where we met had no American flag, but fortunately our convener brought a desk-sized flag for just that contingency.

The rest of the caucus went much more smoothly!

Our voting in the presidential straw poll reflected the statewide totals: Rick Santorum, 23 votes; Ron Paul, 15; Mitt Romney, 10; Newt Gingrich, 4. If anyone wondered whether the Tea Party is still relevant in Minnesota (or Missouri or Colorado), there's your answer.

We had over fifty persons sign in, plus one observer. In non-presidential election year caucuses, attendance is sometimes so low that we can't elect our allotted number of delegates. No such problem this year: we elected a full roster of delegates and alternates, who will represent our precinct at the first post-redistricting BPOU (Senate district) convention in March.

The youngest attendee will turn 18 in time to vote in November. Several Vietnam veterans were there, as was a Russian immigrant who fled Communism—only to encounter, to his chagrin, ever-growing statism from both American political parties. I recognized many from previous years, but as always there were also many first-time caucus goers.

Judging by the conversations, the top issues that brought folks out on Tuesday night seemed to be election integrity, the national economy, the right to life, and right-to-work. We had so many sign up to be election judges that we had to use a couple of pages from a yellow legal pad when the printed sign-up sheets were full.

In addition to the presidential candidates, several local candidates had letters, literature, or signs at our caucus: Congressman Erik Paulsen, Rep. Sarah Anderson, state Senate candidate Norann Dillon, and Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek.

Resolutions to the party platform were mercifully few this year. My resolution to greatly streamline the platform failed on a close vote that required a division of the house. A resolution calling for a constitutional amendment to make Minnesota a right-to-work state also failed on a close voice vote. While I recognize the need for a party platform, I find the current platform too long and detailed, and the resolutions part of the convention agenda a marathon exercise in contentious hair-splitting.

Our biggest challenges will be, as always, fundraising and volunteer recruiting, and forming a new BPOU after the redistricting maps are released (by February 21). It seemed on Tuesday that there is enough dissatisfaction with President Obama and the economy, and positive energy from the Tea Party, to keep the grassroots fed and energized through the next nine months of conventions and campaigns.

Precinct caucus survival guide

The 2012 campaign season officially begins in Minnesota next Tuesday, February 7, at ground level with the grassroots of the political parties: the precinct caucuses.

I love senate district-level politics, but few people actually want to go to their precinct caucus. Judging by the plethora of YouTube videos on how to attend a precinct caucus for Democrat candidates going back for years, the Democrats and unions seem to be doing their best to get their folks out of the house every election cycle. That's because the caucuses are a prime opportunity to identify campaign volunteers, get their cell phone numbers and Twitter handles, and mobilize them for the long ground game to Election Day.

Plato once said that one of the penalties for not getting involved in politics is that you become governed by your inferiors; or as many have said, in a democracy, the people get the government they deserve. If you are a conservative or libertarian who sat out the 2008 presidential election because you couldn't bear to vote for John McCain, or the 2010 election because you couldn't stomach Tom Emmer, how is that working out for you?

Since clearly the world is run by those who show up to the meetings, what do you need to know to influence the 2012 elections on caucus night? I thought you'd never ask!

1. Figure out where to go. The Minnesota Secretary of State's office has an interactive precinct caucus page that helps you locate your caucus location, probably a school or church in your neighborhood. It's a good idea to bring this page with you in a printout or on your mobile device, because it will list your precinct number.
2. Show up early. Caucuses for all parties in Minnesota will begin at 7:00 pm, but registration will begin around an hour before that to allow everyone to get registered. Aside from my earlier comment about people not wanting to attend their caucus, 2008 was a record-breaker, straining parking lots, site capacities, and volunteers. My senate district's precincts will be split among three sites on caucus night to accommodate the anticipated attendance.
3. Get engaged. Meet your neighbors. Help party volunteers get your name and contact information updated.Volunteer for something.

The main events for the evening will be a Presidential straw poll (which, unlike a primary election, will have no bearing on how delegates are allocated to the candidates), electing delegates to the senate district convention, and debating changes to the party platform. See the always informative Senate District 42 website for more on what to expect on caucus night.

By getting involved in the 2012 campaigns, you'll help influence and elect the candidates you believe in, meet some very interesting and informed people, and have a lot of fun. It all starts on Tuesday.

Bread and circuses II

Business is a slave to profit, but politicians are slaves to politics. Why compete in a free market when, as StarTribune reporter Eric Weiffering says in his excellent analysis of public ownership of pro sports stadiums, businesses can "privatize their gains while socializing losses ("Go long to measure the true cost of a stadium," StarTribune, January 29, 2012). Pro sports teams and their cronies in the government are literally laughing all the way to the bank. In too many public-private "partnerships," the private owners get the profit, the politicians get the photo op, and the taxpayers get a perpetual liability.

No one has summed up the irresistible lure of bread and circuses better than this oft-misquoted yet cogent mash-up:

The release of initiative and enterprise made possible by self-government ultimately generates disintegrating forces from within. Again and again, after freedom brings opportunity and some degree of plenty, the competent become selfish, luxury-loving and complacent; the incompetent and unfortunate grow envious and covetous; and all three groups turn aside from the hard road of freedom to worship the golden calf of economic security. The historical cycle seems to be: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to apathy; from apathy to dependency; and from dependency back to bondage once more.^[1]

Today we as a society are somewhere between apathy and dependency. If the cycle of bondage can be prevented from descending from abundance, or brought back to abundance, the 2012 electorate needs to send representatives to the state legislatures, the Congress, and elect a President with the collective will to put aside bread and circuses, and let free enterprise work so the people can put bread back on their own tables.

1. "The Truth about Tytler," by Loren Collins, http://www.lorencollins.net/tytler.html, January 2009.

Not a politician

"And while a congressman by title, a politician I never have been, nor will I ever hope to be, because I am not motivated in this quest by vainglory or the promise of political power. I have served one singular purpose in Washington, D.C., to lead an effort that was begun by the people of this country. I ran as the next stepping stone of passing on and protecting that torch of liberty..." —Remarks by U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (MN-6), January 4, 2012, suspending her campaign for the Republican endorsement for President of the United States

Although it was odd to hear her say it, those close to her would agree: Michele Bachmann is not a politician.

Bachmann was not a politician back in 1999, she was just one of a growing group of parents concerned over threats to educational freedom, primarily the state of Minnesota's controversial new Profile of Learning K-12 graduation standards, which were passed without legislative oversight as "administrative rules" by the then-Department of Children, Families and Learning. (The Profile was repealed in 2003 with Bachmann's vote, 64-3 in the Senate, 125-9 in the House, and signed by Governor Tim Pawlenty.)

Even after winning her first term in the Minnesota Senate in 2000, Bachmann was more of an accidental candidate than a politician. The freshman minority-party Senator had a wonderful office with a window on the first floor of the State Office Building — facing the parking garage. A new medium, blogs, elevated Alinsky-style ad hominem attacks against Bachmann to a new low. But her supporters were thrilled that they had helped to elect a true conservative, un-politician, a non-RINO, to the Minnesota Senate.

Even after winning the post-redistricting election in 2002 and her third term in 2004, Bachmann was not enough of a politician for some in her own caucus. "My constituents are my first priority, and they’ve consistently supported me fighting tax increases," said Bachmann in a 2005 press release. "It became especially clear on the final day of session when I offered an amendment to remove the cigarette tax from the Health and Human Services budget bill that my philosophical differences with the minority leader were just too deep for him to allow me to continue in a leadership position [as assistant minority leader]...

"Though my advocacy has cost me my leadership position," she continued, "I will continue to fight against tax increases and for the well-being of those who cannot speak for themselves [referring to her pro-life position]. The upside of today’s event is that I can be completely committed to thinking about my constituents’ concerns."

Through three successful campaigns for U.S. Congress in the Minnesota Sixth District, Bachmann was steadfast in her advocacy for lower taxes, smaller government, and greater adherence to the Constitution, making her a natural founder in 2010 of the Tea Party Caucus in the House of Representatives. At sixty members, it may not be one of the more politically-correct House caucuses, but it serves to further highlight the core principles that she and many Americans hold dear.

Perhaps Bachmann was not enough of a politician to get elected President, and even her election to a fourth term in the House is uncertain. "Who am I? I'm nobody from nowhere," she often said of herself. Eleven years from the Minnesota state Senate to the Iowa Caucuses, that is one thing that Michele Bachmann will never be again.

First day of session, Minnesota Senate, January 2003

Merry Christmas My Friend

Merry Christmas to our Armed Forces and Semper Fi to all United States Marines serving around the world to keep us free.

Merry Christmas My Friend

by Marine Lance Corporal James M. Schmidt (1986)

Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone,
In a one bedroom house made of plaster and stone.

I had come down the chimney, with presents to give
and to see just who in this home did live.

As I looked all about, a strange sight I did see,
no tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.
No stocking by the fire, just boots filled with sand.
On the wall hung pictures of a far distant land.

With medals and badges, awards of all kind,
a sobering thought soon came to my mind.
For this house was different, unlike any I'd seen.
This was the home of a U.S. Marine.

I'd heard stories about them, I had to see more,
so I walked down the hall and pushed open the door.
And there he lay sleeping, silent, alone,
Curled up on the floor in his one-bedroom home.

He seemed so gentle, his face so serene,
Not how I pictured a U.S. Marine.
Was this the hero, of whom I’d just read?
Curled up in his poncho, a floor for his bed?

His head was clean-shaven, his weathered face tan.
I soon understood, this was more than a man.
For I realized the families that I saw that night,
owed their lives to these men, who were willing to fight.

Soon around the Nation, the children would play,
And grown-ups would celebrate on a bright Christmas day.
They all enjoyed freedom, each month and all year,
because of Marines like this one lying here.

I couldn’t help wonder how many lay alone,
on a cold Christmas Eve, in a land far from home.
Just the very thought brought a tear to my eye.
I dropped to my knees and I started to cry.

He must have awoken, for I heard a rough voice,
"Santa, don't cry, this life is my choice
I fight for freedom, I don't ask for more.
My life is my God, my country, my Corps."

With that he rolled over, drifted off into sleep,
I couldn't control it, I continued to weep.

I watched him for hours, so silent and still.
I noticed he shivered from the cold night's chill.
So I took off my jacket, the one made of red,
and covered this Marine from his toes to his head.
Then I put on his T-shirt of scarlet and gold,
with an eagle, globe and anchor emblazoned so bold.
And although it barely fit me, I began to swell with pride,
and for one shining moment, I was Marine Corps deep inside.

I didn't want to leave him so quiet in the night,
this guardian of honor so willing to fight.
But half asleep he rolled over, and in a voice clean and pure,
said "Carry on, Santa, it's Christmas Day, all secure."
One look at my watch and I knew he was right,
Merry Christmas my friend, Semper Fi and goodnight.

Face time

Wednesday evening I had the pleasure of tipping a pint of Schell's Snowstorm with thirty or so of some of my closest friends — closest to me politically, anyway — over at O'Gara's Bar and Grill in Saint Paul. Activist Laura Gatz had convened a Christmas party of the conservative social group Red, Right and Brew, providing a great excuse to belly up to the bar and hobnob with my fellow politicos for a few hours.

As I entered the crowded bar area, I greeted fellow blogger Bridget Sutton (Another Everyday Wonderwoman). Blogger (Shot in the Dark) and talk radio host Mitch Berg held court at the "fun table," which is pretty much at whichever table Mitch is currently seated. At one point I was the only one in our little corner of O'Garas who had never hosted a radio show. We opined with former gubernatorial endorsement candidate and current talk radio host Sue Jeffers about the Republican Party of Minnesota's State Central Committee meeting (December 31) to select its next chairman. Mara from the SW Metro Tea Party told us about her group's regular meetings, which include independents, people new to politics, and some Ron Paul supporters.

Dan McGrath of Minnesota Majority discussed with me the recent temporary restraining order blocking the vote ordered by Governor Mark Dayton to unionize the state's home-based childcare providers. Just getting this far has been very expensive, and it will take a lot more to pursue a permanent injunction to stop unionization of and government intrusion into home daycare businesses, which Childcare Freedom says have increased what parents pay for childcare an average of 35% in other states that have unionized independent childcare providers. Please consider a donation of any amount to help. If a only small minority of providers is allowed to vote and it passes, union dues and "fair share" fees (forced union dues from union non-members) will create a war chest that could push union activity to childcare centers next, and parents will be wondering, "How did this happen?"

Anthony Hernandez, who hopes to win the Minnesota Republican endorsement for U.S. Senate and unseat Sen. Amy Klobuchar, stopped by the "fun table" to introduce himself and his fiancée, and discuss his campaign. Hernandez ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate in SD64 (Saint Paul) last year, against an entrenched incumbent and strong DFL presence, but he is convinced that conservatives can find common ground with independents and even some Democrats by communicating in non-ideological, practical terms.

I wish that I had more time to hear Minneapolis-born Lynne Torgerson talk about her bid to unseat Fifth District Congressman Keith Ellison, but fortunately she left a few campaign business cards behind.

Online communication is a wonderful networking tool, but activists need to get face time with each other and do some old fashioned socializing and networking on a regular basis, not just at precinct caucuses and conventions.

The SD45 Republicans do a great job of meeting one Saturday morning every month at a local bagel shop for informal conversation and networking (and make effective use of their website and social media). The Red, Right, and Brew happy hours do a great job of bringing together Republicans and like-minded non-Republicans and independents, and sometimes candidates and elected officials. Tea Party groups across Minnesota are also meeting to discuss politics. Find a group that suits you, and get some face time on a regular basis. Doing so will move you off the bench and into the game, and the entire team will benefit.

Occupy Wall Street is only a prelude to 2012

The future of American political discourse, particularly the 2012 elections, is Occupy Wall Street and the tactics of Saul Alinsky's 1971 book, Rules for Radicals. For example, at a recent campaign appearance, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) was a victim of Alinsky's tactic #13:

Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

Bachmann, her campaign, and even her staff and supporters going back to her first campaign for the Minnesota state Senate are by now also very familiar with these Alinsky tactics:

• Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.
• Keep the pressure on with different tactics, and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose.
• The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.

The recent "mic check," the "glitter bomb," "penny dump," and the old cream-pie-in-the-face are all examples of these tactics. So are the attack blogs against Bachmann and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Remember, the Republican Party hasn't even endorsed a candidate yet. These recent actions are just warm-ups. We ain't seen nothin' yet.

For more on how the left and the Obama campaign uses Alinsky's tactics, follow the Alinsky Defeater's Blog.

Go For Broke!

November 2 was a proud day for me as an American of Japanese ancestry, and as an American period. On that historic day, the Congress of the United States awarded its highest honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, collectively to three World War II-era units of the U.S. military: the Army's 100th Batallion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and the Military Intelligence Service. The valor in combat of the 100th/442nd has already made them the most decorated units in Army history, but these awards are significant for another reason.

As Speaker of the House John Boehner put it, the Japanese Americans of my dad's generation fought "a two-fronted battle of discrimination at home and fascism abroad" with an enthusiasm reflected in their motto, "Go For Broke." They met the virulent racism of the day with an unshakable patriotism and a heroic defense of the very country that forcibly interned them and their families for years, without due process, presumption of innocence, and other protections of the Constitution.

The 100th/442nd/MIS stand with other segregated military units like the Tuskegee Airmen and the Montford Point Marines as shining examples of what it means to be an American, even when some of their fellow Americans considered them unworthy of the title. Over sixty years later, we still live in an imperfect country, but it is still the last best hope on Earth.

Conservatively speaking

Speaking at the Center of the American Experiment Fall Briefing at Orchestra Hall on October 26, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush outlined four major policy areas that he feels must be advanced in order to turn around this country's economic crisis:

• Strong, two-parent families that provide stability and enable success for our children
• Streamlined, common-sense business regulation that achieves results, not simply grows the bureaucracy
• Domestic and Canadian sources of energy that free our economy from control by unfriendly nations
• Education that enables our workers to compete globally, instead of producing the same results at higher and higher costs

One attendee commented before Bush's speech that he didn't know there were enough conservatives in all of Minnesota to fill the Orchestra Hall lobby (this event proved that there are). The evening's discussions were emphatic without being partisan or even overly ideological. It helped that Bush is not running for office, and that the Center calls itself conservative and non-partisan.

Attendees picked up printed copies of Senior Fellow Katherine Kersten's white paper "Preparing All Minnesota Children to Read by Third Grade," which was one of Florida's recent education reforms and was stated as a "goal" by the Minnesota state education omnibus finance bill that was passed this past session. Learning to read by third grade has been called critical by education experts, who say that after third grade, pupils begin to read to learn. Many pupils who don't learn to read by third grade struggle for the rest of their academic careers. Since 2003, when Florida began to require third-graders to read before being promoted to fourth grade, the number of third-graders scoring below this standard has fallen 41 percent. Middle school reading scores there have also risen significantly since 2006, when this cohort entered middle school.

The Center's president, Mitch Pearlstein, introduced his new book, From Family Collapse to America's Decline: The Educational, Economic, and Social Costs of Family Fragmentation. The book echoes Jeb Bush's first policy priority. Education scholar Chester Finn said, "Parents are the first and most influential teachers that any child has and the family the first and most influential school. When those are in good shape and to their part, kids tend to fare well in education and in life. When those falter, great schools (and other key institutions) can help a lot—but never really substitute. Understanding—and trying to reverse—America's 'nuclear meltdown' is this thoughtful book's peerless contribution."

Public policy events like this are good venues for discussing the issues of the day outside the context of legislative strategy or election-year politics. Minnesota's Center of the American Experiment is a national bastion of conservative solutions.