So Long….
Last Saturday the Northfield News reported that I do not plan to mount a campaign to reclaim a seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives. It noted that while I enjoyed the many years of public service that I’ve given this community, I have grown weary of the spirit of politics that has developed in Northfield. If you have paid attention to the things happening in this city in the past year, I trust you can understand my feelings.
In the recent Senate Special election I was honored to receive the endorsement of the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper. That meant a lot to me. The editors and writers there conducted a thorough review of my voting record. They conducted a comprehensive interview about current issues. While they were careful to keep partisan politics out of their discussion, the editors are well aware of the environment that the legislature must conduct its work. They noted my ability to work in a bipartisan manner on state issues in an attempt to resolve some of the more pressing concerns. But the ink was barely dry on that endorsement when people started in with nasty emails and comments in area papers. And they couldn’t leave my construction company out of the melee either. When serving as a public official starts impacting the lives of my 30 employees and their families it becomes a significant concern.
The Northfield News also ran an editorial commenting on the political scene. In part, it reads…
The local political conversation should be diverse and constructive and at times, perhaps even heated. That’s how consensus is reached and good decisions are made.
This is a critical time not only in local politics, but also at the state level. Serious issues need to be discussed and the discussion needs to happen now. We need people who have ideas to step up and lead.
And if you decide to step up you can expect criticism and scrutiny.
But who’s going to do that if they are needlessly bashed? The price the rest of us pay on behalf of a rude minority is an ever-shrinking pool of quality candidates.
I concur with their comments. Just exactly who is going to step forward and run for city council seats, Mayor, and legislative offices if the focus of elections boils down to a rather pathetic negative process…..sort of ‘I’ll win, not by promoting my ideas and thoughts, but by attacking my opponent through misstatements and half-truths.’ It is very important to discuss issues with the voters in an open and honest manner. I enjoy doing that and have always tried hard to accommodate reasonable requests to do so. While elected to the Northfield school board and the Minnesota House I made every effort to meet with my constituents on a regular basis. I believe I was honest at all times, never promising them things that I knew I could not deliver on. That is not always a message that is well received….but it is an honest one. Nakita Khrushchev was probably noting this when he said “Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.” I wouldn’t promise the bridge if I couldn’t see the river— and I also wanted to see a clear need for the bridge over the river. Others are happy to make wheelbarrows full of promises to voters, never thinking about policy or how to pay for the promises.
Minnesota has some very tough issues ahead. Our economy is struggling. Workers in Minnesota are going to be asked to support a growing number of retirees that are demanding more and more services. I believe we have created a dependency in our society that is going to be incredibly difficult to deal with. Alexander Tyler, a Scottish historian at the University of Edinburgh put forth a comment in the 1780’s about America and its democracy. Among other things, Tyler said…
“A democracy is always temporary in nature: it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to a loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”
In looking at the various promises our state makes to individuals, either in a collective manner or as individual promises, it seems Professor Tyler may have been onto something. Then when you look at some of the actions the United States Congress has taken in the past 25 years….as well as the actions they have failed to take…it seems Professor Tyler is spot on with his assessment of a democracy.
I do hope our elected leaders at state, county and local levels will understand that Minnesota is changing. We cannot create protectionist policies that simply preserve the status quo. If that is the result of their work Minnesota will be heading down a dark path that will create significant problems in the near future. With vigorous dialog and sound fiscal policies we should be able to create an environment where individuals are successful in life and take care of their own and their family needs. I do hope that is what happens. I do not care to see an even larger dependency culture created as I agree with Professor Tyler that such a culture is not sustainable.
This will be my last raycox web site posting for a bit…or maybe forever. I started this site in 2002 after I was first elected to the Minnesota House. It proved to be a powerful tool to solicit and receive comments from my constituents. I thank my blog coach, Griff Wigley, for introducing me to weblogs and for helping me get the most out of the site. I’ll continue to post things to my construction company website. Feel free to contact me at any time. I set up this website to get feedback and I always enjoy getting it.
And to all those that supported me during my 19 years of elected public office….a big Thank You.
