Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, a strong Republican presidential contender in 2012, spoke yesterday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). He had this to say:
"Patriots in this room and patriots across this country are rising up. And we have a message for liberals: We're planting the flag on common ground, and if you try to take our freedoms, we will fight back!"
Tim Pawlenty has almost single-handedly brought his home state to the brink of ruin. He has sacrificed the future welfare of an entire state on the altar of his personal political ambitions.
Minnesota's state government, once a model for the nation, is now completely dysfunctional. Minnesota used to lead the nation in almost every important category: health care, education, recreation, job creation, investment in infrastructure, overall quality of life.
Now Minnesota is a mess and sinking fast.
Since Pawlenty took office in 2002, Minnesota's ranking in every measurable category of quality of life has gone down. These trends accelerated during his second term, when he no longer had to fool people into believing he was a moderate and took a sharp turn to the right.
Ron Paul said yesterday at CPAC that "government is the enemy of liberty." If the government is run by Tim Pawlenty, it sure as hell is.
Under Tim Pawlenty's leadership, government has been the enemy of anyone who wants affordable health care, clean water and air, quality education, public libraries, public recreation facilities, decent roads, arts programs, fire and police protection - in short, a decent life.
An even more shocking reality is this: people will literally - not figuratively - literally die as a result of Tim Pawlenty's political ambitions.
His budget cuts, if they are passed, will cause the poorest and the sickest among us to lose access to health care and health insurance. His cuts in aid to local governments will result in cuts to services for the elderly, nursing homes, psychiatric facilities, police and fire departments, medical emergency teams, and more.
People - likely hundreds of them, if not thousands - will literally die so Tim Pawlenty can claim he never raised taxes.
Yet he has the unbelievable gall to stand up in front of a crowd and call himself a patriot? He has the bloody nerve to declare that "liberals" are trying to take our freedoms?
In stark contrast to Pawlenty's crazed and overheated rhetoric stands this comment from a woman at a town hall meeting yesterday with President Obama:
A disabled flight attendant described the despair that has come with having no insurance.
"This whole problem has drove my life really to almost not having a life at all," the woman said. "I don't know where else to turn. I don't know who else to talk to about the problem."
Is this the type of "freedom" Tim Pawlenty is talking about? Freedom to live in despair because you have the misfortune to be disabled? Freedom to have your life ruined because an insurance company needs to show a larger profit margin?
Thanks, Tim, for saving us. We want to keep our freedoms. You're a true patriot.
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