Stephen Jester writes: > I'm starting to think about moving, just because I really can't stand having my money stolen > each year. Legally by the city and the county.
You lost me at the stolen part. I don't mind paying taxes; I do like to understand why, which is why I posted what I did. And I sure don't think of it as theft. I and my neighbors voted for the politicians who passed the bills, and if we didn't like it, we didn't work hard enough to change the equation (until lately). Politicians for sure are responsible but so are we, the public. Personally, I am not too bent out of shape about having to pay $166 a month for everything from schools to sewers to roads, etc. I darn sure want to make sure my money isn't wasted - but I think the whole consent-of-the-governed thing is alive and well in Minneapolis, so praise & blame belong to leaders & citizens. More broadly, on Catherine Leighton's point about the perils of partisanship: exactly. One of the reasons I started this city list was that state & national lists got too bogged down in political/partisan labels, which I think are sloppy and even counterproductive. True, I embrace the DFL brand, but only as a rough draft; for the finished version (i.e., my vote and support) I actually look at what the person is saying, doing and supporting. There are plenty of non-DFLers - who are more conservative and more liberal - that I've voted for or would vote for. The nice thing about local races & politics is that you can meet the folks running, know more about them first hand, know the issues from your own experience, and not have to rely as much on political shorthand (a big reason why partisan labels have more power at the state and national levels; the other is that big money forces a weird sort of brand loyalty). There are DFLers on the council who are probably more conservative than many list Republicans (ask Lisa Goodman about city regulations sometime) and DFLers who are more liberal than some Greens (such as Robert Lilligren being more out-front against the 35W Access Project than his Green colleagues). Of course, I don't want to say that all local parties are alike, or that the DFL doesn't deserve credit/blame for whatever you like/don't like in city governance. What I do think is that getting hung up on party at the Minneapolis level is far too inexact and superficial to be of great use; we're all smart people; let's talk about what people do & support, not what they call themselves for electoral purposes. David Brauer King Field _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
