Tag: writing

Things that we Value

We all know that the world is imperfect. The theological answers leave us thirsty for more. I won’t get into that – yet, anyway. Maybe someday.

But one thing about imperfections is that they expose what we truly are and what we truly value. You can’t have everything, and anything you have will have flaws. But what you choose shows the world what you are.

We all know that there are no perfect humans. And yet, each election cycle, we are called to make a choice between imperfect humans.

I remember years back speaking with a man who was hardcore MAGA. When he showed up to church he wore an “All Lives Matter” cap, which told me everything I needed to know.

He told me one afternoon that he was a “one issue voter”. Abortion. That was all he cared about. He voted on that issue alone.

That was the rhetoric, but it wasn’t true. As he continued the conversation, he exposed himself as a racist, a homophobe, a sexist. He repeated every vulgar lie about democrats that was repeated daily on Fox News. He followed every Q Anon blog. In all of my discussions with him, he never actually ever mentioned abortion at all.

And he voted for a president who flip-flops on abortion faster that a Waffle House Cook flips pancakes.

What he valued came out in every discussion, and it wasn’t the lives of children. It was grievance, contempt and sticking it to the libs.

I’m bringing this up because there is something very concerning to me about the culture were are living in, that shows us how much work we have to do.

The president said in 2016 that he could shoot someone dead on Madison Avenue and his followers would still vote for him.

When joked with a reporter about walking into a room of teenage children and “grabbing em by the …”, or walking in on them undressed, because he “owned them”, half the country shrugged.

When he mocked the disabled, half the country shrugged.

When he refused to pay any of his bills and left contractors bankrupt, half the country shrugged.

When he sold the name of Jesus next to his own name on a bible, half the country bought it.

When he incited an insurrection, filmed on live television, half the country blamed the democrats and didn’t care.

When he pardoned the criminals who were convicted of trafficking, insurrection, assault, rape, incest, narcotics dealing, arms trading, fraud – half the country shrugged.

When he blatantly practices insider trading, enriching himself by the billions through his own half-baked policies, half the country shrugs.

When he built concentration camps and let loose masked thugs to terrorize immigrants, half the country cheered.

When these thugs shot bystanders, half the country cheered. When they kidnapped children, locked them up apart from their parents, they cheered him on.

When men, women and children are suffering in his cages with unimaginable and appalling conditions, the country shrugs.

Every single day is a new atrocity. A new degradation that removes us further and further from anything decent or beautiful.

Since 2015, I’ve been watching it unfold: horror after horror, exactly as I said it would unfold back then. I hoped that I was wrong back then, but I was not.

One horror after another. Quiet piggy. Lie after lie after lie. So easily proven. But half the country loves to be lied to.

But now, the GOP appears to be separating themselves from their Dear Leader. Why?

Not his racism, not his raping children, not his assault of women, not his grifting and theft, not his cruelty, not his lies, not his cursing, or false witness, or ignoring the constitution…

But because gas is too expensive and groceries are too expensive. “It’s the economy”.

The problem right now isn’t Trump. He’s just the symbol of fat, cancerous pride and greed. He has shown us who we are. And it isn’t pretty.

And allow me to wear a former hat for a moment – it is never too late to repent. But it isn’t about turning on Trump. It is about re-examining every single value you hold, and examining it deeply. Why was it that you were OK with every atrocity possible, until it affected your wallet?

The answer to that question might be the first step towards wisdom.

Delays in Healthcare?

“If we do universal healthcare, we’ll have to wait MONTHS to get an appointment!”

Have you heard that one?
I have a few answers.

First, we wait months NOW. By taking away the power of the mega corporations who now control access, we will actually shorten wait times and travel distance.

When a corporation makes a decision about opening a clinic or hospital, or whether to keep on open, they make the decision based on the bottom line. What decision will put the most money into the pockets of the share-holders.

The wait times and quality of care don’t enter into their discussion unless it affects the bottom line. If massive layoffs of nurses, closing rural clinics, and cutting staff makes sense to the bottom line, that is what they will do.

If they decide to put one RN on the whole floor and staff the rest with CNAs, that is what they will do.

Imagine taking that power away from the corporation, and putting it in the hands of elected boards and experts who make decisions based upon quality care?

Second, The assumption is that when healthcare doesn’t cost the people, but is universal – then the masses will want healthcare and that will bog down the system.

You can see the minds of people working. A white man has to wait for care, and he sees the brown people and the black people in the waiting room. His mind will go to blame, but he puts the blame in the wrong place.
Rather than blame the system of healthcare that we have in this country, he resorts to his racism. “If it weren’t for THESE people clogging up the system, I’d be in and out.”

Yes, I’ve actually heard that. The assumption is that POC of indigenous people, or Mexican people don’t deserve quality healthcare. Their children aren’t as important as mine. They’re all freeloaders.

Or perhaps the poor mother, whose kid is sick and she has to go to the ER or clinic because she can’t afford anywhere else. Will we just call her a freeloader, or a “welfare queen”?

Inherent in all these ideas is that there are some people more deserving of healthcare than other people.
Whether it is white people, male people, employed people, healthy people, people with money – however you want to divide the country up. One group deserves healthcare. The other does not.

I reject the idea that some people do not deserve healthcare. This is why I support universal, free healthcare. Whether a child lives or dies should not be based upon whether that child is in the “in” group or the “out group”.

The fact that a person is human and worthy of inherent dignity is enough for them to deserve access to healthcare.

“All humans are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

This ideal has not been realized, either in 1776, or today. But throughout our history there have been “progressives” who believe in making “progress” towards that goal.

They have almost always been mistakenly called socialists. Lies travel faster than truth.

But I am honored to count myself as among them.

The myth of the “lazy liberal”

“Why don’t liberals just get jobs”

This lie has been spread since Reagan’s racist “Welfare queens” comment.

It has about as much truth as Haitians eating pets.

Six months after 1-6, a man told me that it couldn’t have been conservatives rioting. “They all have jobs. It’s the liberals that don’t have jobs.”

But lies aren’t harmless. They cause untold suffering and pain.

It was the lies about immigrants that inflicted brutal, untrained thugs with military weapons on our civilians.
And it was the lies about “welfare queens” and “lazy libs” that is causing our economic collapse.

We fight the lies, then we build a better Minnesota.

I’ve been in human resources and management for most of my life. I have never met these “lazy liberals”. Almost everyone I meet is desperate to work, eager to earn enough to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.

No one ever wants to spend a day in the unemployment office. They aren’t there because they are lazy. They are there because they are desperate.

And it is also true that people get discouraged – they have to work two or three jobs to keep healthcare, or get the medicine they need, or afford gasoline or daycare. And they watch as the companies they slave for get richer and richer.

The solution is NOT to starve people into compliance. The solution is to create healthy environments where humans thrive, have time to take a weekend off, can afford to go out for dinner every once in a while, and keep a roof over their heads without fear.

I propose:
Universal healthcare. If billions aren’t lining the pockets of the insurance companies and health conglomerates, it can go back into labor, saving money for everyone.

Free childcare for working families. The biggest hindrance I see, especially for women, is the cost of childcare. We can fix that and both business and workers can focus on other things knowing that the children are cared for.

Mandatory paid days to care for sick children. You shouldn’t have to lose your job when your child gets sick.

We can create a far better Minnesota for everyone, but it will take courage to go up against the billionaires who won’t give up without a fight.

Unregulated Business and Death

In the study of economics, there is a concept called “neoliberalism”, not to be confused with left wing politics, also sometimes called “liberalism”.

Neoliberalism is the economic system that we have been operating under for decades. It was theorized by Friedman and Hayek, and others, and championed by Reagan.

The idea is that if the markets are completely free from regulation and government interference (liberal=free), then corporations will thrive and the effects of that will “trickle down” to consumers.

The problem is that they didn’t take into account corporate greed. Corporations are made up of people, and people who run them and make decisions are answerable to shareholders who demand more and more, even if it is counter-intuitive.

Look at the history of industrialism. A corporation will NEVER do what is in the best interest of its employees unless they are forced to.
They had to be forced by law and by unions to pay overtime, to provide days off, to make the workplaces safe, to pay a minimum wage – and more recently, to provide healthcare, paid leave, family leave and so on.

In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in Manhattan caught fire. It was on the top floor of a large building. It employed mostly immigrant women.

To keep the women from “escaping”, the owners locked the door.
146 people, mostly women and girls, burned to death or jumped out the window and plummeted to their death. People stood in shock on the sidewalks and watched their neighbors die brutal and agonizing deaths. It marked a change in the awareness of the public, similar to watching ICE thugs terrorize neighborhoods.

As we remember 9/11, let’s also remember the results of unregulated capitalism. The women that died didn’t affect the owners at all. Immigrant labor was cheap and replaceable.

But one woman who watched in horror from the sidewalk later became the Secretary of Labor for FDR and brought about the changes in the workforce that the current capitalists are now trying to dismantle. Her name was Francis Perkins.

In our own day, the deregulation of corporations is leading to bankrupt cancer patients, poisoned food supply, massive poverty and unemployment and record high prices.

I believe in and support business. But I also know that unscrupulous men generally move up the ladder to places of power and use that power to consolidate power and wealth into the hands of the few.

Business MUST be regulated to thrive. If employees are healthy, paid a living wage, have access to healthcare and are safe, the company will prosper.

But the unscrupulous men who hold the power would rather have the extra billions.

So they cut wages, cut labor, cut equipment costs, lock the fire escapes, and do whatever they can get away with.

Until the people say “ENOUGH.”

I’m saying “enough”. If the Federal Government refuses to regulate the safety and equity of our businesses, the state MUST do it or we are right back to 1911.

Study history. It might help.

Health care concerns

I have a concern about healthcare in rural areas. All I can do is speak from my own experience.
As many of you know, I came from Northern California, north of Sacramento in the Central Valley. The dominating health network was Sutter Health.

A family member had a very rare virus that destroyed much of her brain tissue. The emergency services she received at UC Davis was wonderful and lifesaving. But she needed continuous care AFTER she was released.

Because of her disability, the only possible insurance available was MediCal, the California equivalent of MNSURE.

In all of Northern California, there was only ONE neurologist who worked for a system that accepted MediCal. He was two hours away.

There were no physical therapists, no occupational therapists, and only one clinic for MediCal patients, and they only did primary care.

This was one of the many reasons we moved to Minnesota.

And now that same health network just purchased the Allina system in Faribault.

Yes, I heard that they are “pouring 2 billion dollars” into Minnesota health. But who will benefit? I’m pretty sure it won’t be those who need it the most. We lived it in California.

Recently, I needed blood work done for a wellness program offered through my employer. They contracted with a company that only offers blood draws in the cities. An hour away. They would not allow me to go one mile and get blood work done, because they weren’t contracted with them.

This is a harbinger of things to come.

Corporates contracting with each other is good – for manufacturing, building, retail goods and services, etc. But NOT for healthcare. The corporate contracts are NEVER beneficial for the patients or the professionals who work so hard for so little.

Please listen to me. We are just one board decision away from excluding all MNSURE patients from ongoing care at Allina. And they’ve done it before.

What protections for patients are in place with this merger?

They will certainly continue to take emergency patients, because the current laws force them to. But there is already talk in the GOP about forced institutionalization of disabled persons. They really aren’t going to ensure that occupational health, physical therapy, mental health and counseling are available for those who need it the most.

The party the brought us screwworm, measles, diarrhea lettuce, and COVID certainly is NOT going to protect patients’ rights to care.

Neither will the huge corporations that are moving in.
It is part of the strategy. Bankrupt the systems, then swoop in and buy them out at pennies on the dollar.
Family farms, health clinics, what will be next?

It isn’t too late to stop this.

Why am I doing this?

Douglas Adams famously said, “anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”

Of course, you could substitute “senator” and the sentiment is the same

So why am I doing this? Certainly not after any great ambition to be in the public eye. 

But because every single day we see new atrocities. Any one of the atrocities that we have seen daily since January of 2025 would have been sufficient to end any career, but those who are elected to be checks and balances have abdicated their responsibility to the people.

And now it is time for the people to stand up and say enough.

We have spent too much of our time in fear:

Racism, greed, hatred, contempt, are all driven by fear.

First they caused us to fear black people and brown people, and immigrants, then gay and trans and women… if they can keep the fear going, they can continue to amass power to themselves.

They fill our news feeds and our social media with fabricated fears designed to increase their power and wealth:

“Who will keep Haitians from eating your pets? Who will keep trans people from entering your daughter’s bathroom? Who will protect you from brown people taking over the country? Who will stop people from speaking Spanish or Somali…”

I remember when they made us fear socialism, communism, humanism…

And this is the biggest fear of all: the fear that something must change. Drinking and driving, seat belts, helmets, the new deal, the civil rights act, the voters rights act: every single advance made by humans have been met with anger, rage and accusations of insanity.

Ignatz Semmelweitz was concerned about the high infection and death rates in his hospital. He noticed that when doctors finished the autopsies in one part of the hospital they immediately delivered infants in the other part of the hospital. He set up handwashing procedures for the doctors. Immediately the death rate plummeted, and at the same time, Dr. Semmelweitz was ridiculed, cast out, accused of insanity and died forgotten.

Why is there always such resistance for trying anything new? 

I think it is because if it can be shown that the way our fathers did things was wrong, then perhaps they weren’t as wise as we thought they were. Or worse, maybe WE aren’t as wise as we think we are.

Maybe instead of trying to bring America back to an imagined past, we should be focusing on leading America to a thriving future.

And suddenly the old ways are coming into question. Women can vote, women can buy homes, black citizens can vote, Gay men can marry – 

Everything is changing and we have to wonder if maybe there were some things that weren’t so great. Maybe slavery and genocide aren’t really a great way to build a nation. Maybe the way that women were treated wasn’t the best way to treat the nation.

And all of the sudden people started being afraid that they might have to do some soul searching. And then “Make America Great Again” came and justified every racist, misogynistic, hate-filled rant we ever had. 

But this is now falling apart. There isn’t any way to go back. The maga crowd took a sledgehammer and tried to beat all of us back to 1850. But we can’t go backwards. We’ve tasted hope.

We’ve looked at how things could be and said, “We can do better”

Progress always involves saying “Maybe the way we have been doing things isn’t the right way of doing things.”

But then you have to admit that maybe you weren’t as wise as you thought you were, and maybe it is time to do it differently.

Maybe your ancestors were wrong. Maybe your church was wrong. Maybe the puritans were wrong.

Maybe we didn’t all turn out just fine.

We can hope for better days for Minnesotans. We can hope for medical care for all, it can be done. The plans are written. It is within reach.

We can hope for beautiful days to come, fishing on the lakes and walking along the waterfalls and hiking the trails. We don’t need AI. We need to breathe, and fish, and hike.

We can hope for days when ALL of us can learn about each other without fear. 

Why do we insist on seeing the world in black and white, when there are so many beautiful colors and breathtaking ways of being so wonderfully different.

We can fund the MPCA and pass laws to keep outsider billionaires from raping and pillaging our land to add more and more and more to their obscene portfolios.

Let’s finally admit that there is no one – NO ONE – who is a self made man. Everyone needs all of us. 

That isn’t Marxism. That’s just every religion on earth. This is wisdom that requires humility – that I need my immigrant neighbors as much as they need me, because we are all part of the same community.

When we think that we are self-sufficient and don’t need anyone else, life has a way of reminding us of our social contracts:

That I need healthcare, because I don’t know when my heart will stop.

That I need SNAP programs, because wealth is fleeting and comes and goes.

That everything I have can also be lost – so I will live generously without blaming and shaming another in need.

We must protect our most vulnerable. The woman who must flee her home because of abuse. The child who isn’t safe at home

The indigenous women who still disappear without a trace.

A society that doesn’t protect its weakest members must change or die.

We need shelters and protections. We need reform in our family courts. These are my passions.

And to do that, we need to strive for justice – that the same laws are applied the same way to everyone, whether foreign born or native, undocumented or documented, rich or poor

And we need to keep our covenant. Our treaties, our word, our contracts.

And we need the humility to listen. And if we need to change, let’s face that head on.