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04/10/2006: "Our new 5th District Congressperson"

With the retirement of long time 5th district congress member Martin Sabo, the scramble to replace him has begun. The district, which encompasses all of Minneapolis, and parts of Hopkins, St. Louis Park, and some other suburbs, is considered a “safe” district. A safe district is one in which the incumbent always wins. In other words, whomever we elect this fall, we will be stuck with for a long time.

As we are all members of this club called the United States of America, and this club is the most powerful organization on the face of the earth, we should do what we can to effect what is done in our name and with our money. The structured role that we have in this governance is to elect a congressperson and a couple of Senators and the President. What I am saying is that whatever you think of electoral politics, in addition to everything else you might do, your member of congress is the person who is responsible for your input in the governance of this country.

I am of the opinion that my government is not being run well. It is doing a lot of things it should not be doing, and the things it should be doing, it is doing poorly or wrongly. This is not an entirely new situation, but the US is so powerful, and so arrogant that what we (and I say we, because we are all members—citizens—of this organization) are doing is destroying opportunities for peace, survival, healthy living for the rest of the people and other living things on this planet.

The person I want to represent me needs to be willing to fight this. I do not want an insider bureaucrat who will try to incrementally improve things. The time has passed for soft words and budget tinkering. I want to send a warrior to Washington. If there was ever a district with the opportunity to make a difference, we are in it, and if there was ever a time to do something dramatic, this is it.

The kind of things I would want our representative to do is:

Demand that we close down the torture and concentration camps. Every person held by our government should be either charged with a crime, and given the opportunity to defend him/herself in a court of law, or released. For the entire history of our country, this has been what we have called due process. The current administration is defying the law by hiding prisoners around the world. There is no doubt that they are being tortured and killed. I want a representative that will never stop talking about this, and do everything that can be done to put an end to it.

Stop the occupation and killing in Iraq. The stories of Mai Lai type massacres are coming in almost daily. It is clear that the US forces are a cause of the internal strife not a solution. If UN peace-keeping forces are necessary, then let’s make that happen, but I want MY representative to speak out and MAKE IT STOP!

Reward courage and punish incompetence. The architects of this failed strategy in Iraq have been given medals by our president, and promoted to more important positions. Whistleblowers and truth tellers have been fired; had their family members targeted with sanctions, and sometimes jailed or worse. This is no way to run a railroad, much less the most powerful government on earth. The governors of this country should be speaking out about that. The people who were responsible for the excessive deaths after Katrina should face consequences.

Stop the graft, corruption and patronage. This administration, more than any previous has served as a conduit from my pocketbook to the Swiss bank accounts of Republican cronies. The budgets of anti-abortion groups have tripled with government largess, the coffers of the Halliburtons, Exxons, and Saudi Princes that are long time business associates of the people in power, overflow with unprecedented and obscene profits. At the same time the poor in this country and around the world suffer with poor or non existent health care, terrible working conditions and inadequate nutrition. This is being done with our money and in our name. At the very I least want my representative to fight it.

Stop global warming and the destruction of the environment. I don’t actually believe that the earth is in danger, just our ability to live on it. There is no reputable scientist who does not insist that the climate is changing, the ice caps are melting and that it is caused by the continued burning of fossil fuels. As the producer of over 40% of all the industrial pollutants in the world, the US should be taking the leadership in solving this problem, not pulling up the rear and dragging its feet.

The question becomes, how do we evaluate the candidates to determine who is most likely to be the kind of congressperson we want? We have been disappointed before. We have elected people who talked a good game, but have seen them burn out and quit. or become the enemy or become behind the scenes manipulators, doing good things, but ineffectual in making large changes or stopping major evil.

We have had few good role models, John Bernard a representative from Northern Minnesota who cast a lone vote against the Spanish Arms Embargo, Paul Wellstone, who filibustered the energy bill because of its giveaways to big oil, and a few others.

We need to look closely at the records of the current candidates, not just listen to their current rhetoric. This is difficult. There is a lot of difference between the kinds of issues that a congressional representative has to deal with compared to a city council member, legislator or county commissioner. All we can do is look at the issues that they have confronted and seek indications of how they might behave when put into the pressure cooker and corrupt environment in Washington DC. Off the top of my head, some questions I might look at are:

1. How did candidates who were elected officials respond when the Police Federation gave awards to officers that killed or beat up children and residents?
2. How did they respond to the unprecedented and excessive use of force at Camp Clearwater?
3. What have been their priorities for how they spend their time and the public resources?
4. Do they support arresting homeless people for camping out when there is no other place for them to sleep?
5. Has public health been a priority?

Let’s make the best decision we can.