NOTE FROM NORM: The Consequences of Governing As Socialists

Minneapolis is down 200 police officers, and its City Council continues forward with efforts to defund its police department.  Its Mayor and City Council demand Minnesota taxpayers’ foot the bill to provide security in the City to prepare for the impending trial of four police officers accused of murdering George Floyd.

St. Paul’s Mayor refuses to support ShotSpotter technology as gun violence rages in the City, digs in his feet against hiring more police officers as members of its own City Council call for their version of defunding its police department.  Last year’s homicide rate in the City, matching the record high in 1992, is on track to be overtaken this year as six homicides have already taken place in 2021.

The state’s Governor, Tim Walz, has proposed a whopping $52.4 billion budget filled with tax increases and demands that taxpayer’s foot the bill to cover the repairs from riots in the Twin Cities to the tune of $150 million.

This, in addition to the $35 million he wants from taxpayers, to cover costs of security in anticipation of civil unrest associated with the trial of the previously mentioned former Minneapolis cops.

As for the proposed budget to help thousands of businesses impacted by his ill-advised “Emergency Powers” and the hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans whose paychecks disappeared because of his heavy hand to cover the repairs from his misdirected policies?

Nowhere to be seen.

In Washington, D.C. President Biden has a massive $1.9 “stimulus” bill he says is intended to help America get back on its feet and further fight the ravages of COVID-19.

Yet, it is being pushed through with no genuine willingness to work with Republicans to address concerns that stimulus checks be directed to those who truly need them, tie requirements that school districts getting money for educating children actually reopen to provide that education and lumps non-emergency policy like increasing the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour in the bill.

Elections do have consequences.

And we are seeing in Washington the consequence of one-party Democrat rule- even when the Senate is a virtual tie, and Democrats lost seats in the House.

In the White House, a newly elected President talks about unity but sets in motion a series of Executive Orders that fuel the partisan divide.

There is no mandate to kill fossil fuel jobs, yet on Day One President Biden wiped out over 10,000 jobs by killing the Keystone Pipeline.

The far Left seeks to do the same in Minnesota by trying to kill the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline, despite its $2.6 billion investment in Minnesota which creates good paying jobs, an economic boost for local communities and in spite of the fact it passed every environmental and regulatory test.

There is no mandate for taxpayer funded abortions.

There is no mandate for open borders and free health care for those in this country illegally.

There is no mandate for a new $1.9 trillion-dollar COVID-19 relief bill that denies any Republican input and does not have even a whiff of bipartisanship.

Yet on each of these issues the President is being driven further left and has yet to show any resolve standing up to the Far Left in his party.

And the actions of elected officials at local and state levels only underscore a continuing radicalization of the Democratic Party.

I have written in the past that leftist Democrats – Socialists, actually–like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, do not have to hold positions of leadership in the Democratic Party to be the leaders of the Democratic Party.

Just look at the policies being implemented and promoted across the country in cities and states across America.

And the hypocrisy that comes with it.

While deconstructing their police department, the Minneapolis City Council bills taxpayers for their own personal security.  Meanwhile, city residents are forced to fend for themselves as violent carjacking’s, robberies, and murder climb to record levels.

In St. Paul, city councilmembers are now spending limited resources proposing local taxpayers cover “reparations” while predominantly minority neighborhoods are under assault from record violent crime rates.

While the one-party media laments the collapse of the Republican Party, it does little to point out that Democrats nearly lost control of the U.S. House and barely won control of the U.S. Senate because millions of Americans are alarmed at their embrace of policies that are extreme, socialistic and the antithesis of supporting the hopes and dreams of the American people.

Proposing tax increases, cutting back on public safety, and massive spending bills to benefit their political allies are becoming the trademark of Democrats across America.

Meanwhile, more and more Americans find their voice and participation shut-out and shut-off if they pushback or object to policies they believe threaten their opportunity to achieve the American Dream.

At every level, America needs government to focus on keeping our communities, state, and nation safe, clean, and affordable.

It is the primary responsibility and obligation of the government. Yet, Democrats are committed to proposals that do little to support any of them and, in fact, undermine all of them.

It is not Republicans who are to blame for Democrats embracing socialism’s tenets in their politics and policy.

It is Democrats who have permitted and allowed it to become their core governing philosophy.