I have posted on this site at length describing to people in the past that my great homestate of Minnesota is not a conservative place and that it is about as likely to go red as California next year. That being said, the Republicans do have control of the state government, except for the Senate, and are ramming through changes in our education standards, and, as some charge and I believe, are putting a conservative slant on the history curriculumn. From the October 30 Star Tribune, page A1:
One criticism of the new standards is that a conservative bias is seen in the decision to include certain names and events and exclude others. For example, President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society plan for social change is not mentioned. [However] students must understand the connection between President Ronald Reagan and "the collapse of Communism and the end of the Cold War.
How can you understand the Reagan Revolution and his impact on our foreign policy without knowing about the Great Society and the worldview of the Cold War liberals, starting with Truman? This is the most asinine and blatant partisanship imaginable, and it is being forced on our kids.
Education Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke is a fierce Republican partisan appointed by Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty, who came to office winning only a simple plurality (43%) of the votes in a tough four way race. The other candidates, who all represented the left or center left, recieved the other 57%, yet the Governor is governing as if he received a Johnsonesque mandate.
Although Minnesota remains a very liberal state by national standards, our left of center vote splits three ways, which always leaves the Republicans winning statewide elected office. Despite the obvious lack of a mandate, they are attempting to rewrite the history books to aid their narrow right wing agenda and impress upon our children a false understanding of how the world we live in came to be.