[Previous entry: "Oscar Picks 2005"] [Next entry: "The city reacts to two murders in Minneapolis"]

02/28/2005: "Extortion by Casino"

Governor Plenty announced today that he was sick and tired of the unfair profits being made by Sun Country and Northwest Airlines, by Pillsbury, the Carlson companies, and by Cargill.
“It’s simply not fair. Most Minnesotans are not able to start an Airline, a multinational food company, or a billion dollar multi-enterprise company. I get angry when I see children of the Pillsburys, the Daytons and thee owners of Cargill getting fat checks every month just because of an accident of birth. In this time of fiscal difficulty for the state, we need them to share more of their profits with me, oops I mean us.”

In spite of the cries from legislators and economists that these organizations do pay millions of dollars in taxes, provide jobs and have increased the economic viability of their communities, Governor Plenty still insists that they must cough up some money. If they don’t he has a plan to get a piece of their pie.

“I am going to make deals with other people that own airplanes and mills. People that haven’t been as lucky as these rich people. We will give them state business and help them start an enterprise that will make them a lot of money and they will be happy to give the state its fair share.”

It was last decade that the state was helping these companies in order to get jobs in communities noted Northwest Airlines CEO. This is pure extortion. I don’t blame the other companies that are working with the state, but this is going to hurt all of us. There is only so much business to go around.

Ok, I made this up, and as much as we might love to see it, our governor would never do any such thing. At least not to rich white people. This is exactly what he is doing to the Native American Casinos. Pay up, or we will find tribes who will partner with us to start casinos in the Twin Cities area. This is pure extortion to get money that he cannot get legally. Extortion by casino.

Do you take issue with the analogy? Do you say that it’s not the same thing as the Casino monopoly that Indian Tribes have. Do you cry “It’s not fair, only Indians can start a Casino?”. Well first of all, it’s not true that only Indians can start casinos. In fact, Indians cannot start Casinos, only Indian governments can. An important distinction.

Anyway we are not free to start a lot of businesses without government permission. Government permission that is not often given. Try to open a liquor store, a hair salon. A gas station, or drive a taxi. You will find that you need a permit, a license, a medallion, and these things are scarce, often unavailable. The government has lots of rules that govern who can and cannot start what businesses.

But this is discrimination by race you wimper. Again I have to answer you are wrong. Minnesota Indian tribes are much more similar to extended families than they are to racial groups. The Dayton, or the Rockefeller or Pillsbury families are almost as large as the Prairie Island or Mystic Lake communities, only much less racially diverse, not more. The point is that the Indian communities in Minnesota are large extended families which have become very diverse over the years.

The real reason our Governor doesn’t like the casinos is because he has no control over them, and they do not fit his white bread image of who successful business owners should be. He is upset that they rely on laws that supersede the state. I am of course talking about treaties (which the constitution calls “The Supreme Law of the Land”).

For those that don’t remember history, the US government (and Minnesotans) signed peace treaties with the Dakota, and Ojibwa people in order to achieve peace. Peace was an extremely valuable result in those days. Custer had lost at Big Horn mountain, The army in Minnesota had just had the largest mass hanging in Minnesota history, and settlement and investment required peace.

The peaceful climate following the treaties allowed the great cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis to grow up at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. It allowed the economy to grow and thrive. What did the US government promise in exchange for this peace? My government promised sovereign land, hunting and fishing rights, health care, education and other essentials. The peace was not won by force of arms. We treated for it, and now we want to renig on our part of the deal.

The Minnesota government and people have spent most of the last century and a half trying to minimize or get out of our part of the agreement. Bud Grant led a movement to take away the hunting and fishing rights and was defeated. Now Governor Pawlenty wants to take away their livelihood, by using one Indian government against the other. Well I for one am ashamed of our governor, and our state.