Last weekend, I was startled by a phone call from an old friend of mine. This isn’t just any friend, either. She is the last person from high school I know that I still see regularly. We play kickball in an intramural league together. I still remember the time she and the sister of one of my other friends managed to flip a car into a ditch off an icy road outside of the rural Minnesota town where we went to high school. She called us before anyone else and we beat the ambulance there. We go way back.
But she is also a Republican. And not one of those normal neither-party-is-addressing-my-economic concerns-so-I’m-going-to-vote-on-social-issues Republicans. She is a serious movement conservative, a global warming denier, a tax protester, scarily religious (a creationist-you know, the type that believes in the talking devil snake) and a hyper-individualist. We agree on pretty much nothing politically, and her and another mutual friend mock my politics constantly (like the time I made an offhand reference to global warming and they decided in unison to start breathing as fast as possible so as to release more carbon into the air). Of course, I’m used to this; I get the same thing only less dismissive from my family, which aside from my brother and I, is chock full of Republicans.
(Fun aside: The last time I saw my cousin Tiffany she actually asked me, referring to my politics, "How did you get like that?" Not kidding.)
What my friend was calling me about, and the video posted below, made me think a lot about the direction of Minnesota and the country as a whole. I thought it was a good opportunity to put words to paper and maybe post it.
She was calling me from the annual tax protest at the Minnesota Capitol, which is right down the street from my home. Every year the Minnesota Taxpayers League has a rally at the Capitol, where elected Republicans, local anti-tax "leaders" and other assorted people speak, yell and have tantrums about state and local taxes. Normally, this event isn’t really noteworthy. Even this year, with the legislature passing tax increases for transit over the governor’s veto, they could only attract about 1,000 people. It amazes me how bad the conservatives are at organizing and getting their message out at a grassroots level. For instance, they always have their tax rally on a Saturday, which ensures that they get no larger publicity (hell, I live right down the street and I didn’t know what was going on until she called me). Really? So no legislators that you’re trying to influence will see your presence in person, eh? And you miss the news cycle completely and no one hears about your protest. But this year they had a lot to bitch about, given the legislature’s transportation bill veto override. The woman in this video declaring the era of supporting people with tax money "over" is hysterical and the overall message about the dangers of the me vs. we mentality is well organized, clear and persuasive: http://www.mncampaignreport.com/...
I think that video really crystallizes something that Democrats have been experiencing in Minnesota and nationwide for a long time. Namely, that for whatever reason, there is now a sizable and loud minority that thinks there really should be no public priorities that don’t encourage hyper-individualism, wealth concentration and a head-in-the-sand attitude about sustainability and the well-being of society overall. Of course, they don’t see it like that. From what I can divine, their view of humanity starts with the individual. The individual is "free" to make economic "choices". Society is, in their view as far as I can tell, the byproduct of "free" economic "choices". Notice how the government plays no role whatsoever in that worldview and the idea of a group of people coming together to accomplish something other than pursuing monetary profit or religious devotion is completely absent.
(Note: I’m vaguely intellectual in that I have a bachelor’s from a liberal arts college in Political Science, but I am by no means an expert in political behavior, ideological frames or group political structures. However, I am well educated and well read about these things even if my expertise may leave something to be desired. If some of my terminology or interpretation is off in this piece it was certainly not deliberate. Alert me in the comments if you see something you don’t like.)
When you take this worldview and then inject government and community responsibility into the equation, we get the equivalent of an "error message". That worldview cannot support, or really even fully comprehend, the idea of government or responsibility to anyone outside of the immediate family because it does not have a group component that is greater than the individual’s immediate circumstances. This leads to hilarious arguments against community responsibility, taxes and government that manage to convey a palpable political message without addressing the point.
For instance, the Star Tribune had a short article about the tax protest. In it, there was this gem of a quote:
"Why should I pay for something I'm not going to use?" asked Ed Hanson, of Mendota Heights, referring to the light-rail line. "I want the government out of my life."
Ok, so in the view of this tax protestor, he shouldn’t have to chip in for the light rail because it is "something I’m not going to use". Interesting. On one hand, it’s easy to understand how someone could look at that quote and think he’s making a good point. And, of course, Ed Hanson is right about one thing; he probably won’t use the light rail, at least not anytime soon. But that’s not the point of the light rail, and it certainly is not a valid concern about whether this or that individual taxpayer uses the light rail system once we get it built.
For starters, Mr. Hanson doesn’t address any of the reasons that we are building the light rail. There are more reasons for his portion of the tax revenue to go towards light rail than just whether or not he will use it. I don’t know how closely these people follow this type of thing, but we have a transportation problem in the Twin Cities. We have some of the worst traffic in the country. There are more cars than people in this metro. Public transportation that was convenient, fast and easy to use would certainly reduce a lot of that congestion, making it easier for Mr. Hanson to drive. He’s going to spend less time in traffic and less money on gas because it doesn’t get wasted idling. He’s going to be able to accomplish more because it won’t take him so long to get from place to place. Also, if we had a workable public transit system, don’t you think that would create some downward pressure on prices associated with car ownership? If there are fewer cars on the road consuming gas, might that lead to lower gas prices or at least gas prices that aren’t rising so fast? Unfortunately, the frame through which people like Mr. Hanson see the world isn’t suitable for understanding these nuances, as indirect societal benefit is tough to see from inside of the hyper-individual box.
Even more important than the positive effects of light rail on Mr. Hanson’s personal transportation situation, is the effect on our communities and the environment. Cars are problematic, and when you look at a metro area like ours that has embraced the car to the exclusion of everything else you can really see the detrimental effects. The sheer amount of paved surfaces is staggering. When you make the world safe for cars you’re building roads, parking lots, freeways, alleys, driveways, parking garages, dealerships, service centers and other businesses that are set up exclusively for car access and surrounded by acres of blacktop. This kind of development bespoils our communities, destroys open spaces and kills plant life, which is crucial in the fight against global warming.
So the overall point is that even though he doesn’t realize it, Mr. Hanson would be much, much better off paying the nickel increase in the gas tax and the half-cent sales tax increase to fund these initiatives. But at least I think I’m starting to get to the bottom of why he thinks that. Sometimes it feels like I'm listening to a child. Conservatives, it's not about you and your precious, if illusory, "freedom". It is about what is best for everybody. As Al Franken might say, this is the difference between loving America (and by extension Minnesota) like a grown up and loving it like a four year old. The adult realizes that it's best for everyone in the house if they all work together to keep the family sustainable and that everyone plays a role in the family's social order that transcends purely economic considerations. But the four year old just wants a cookie and avoid his bath.