Seeing the Truth by Turning the Spyglass Around

Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka is grandstanding about how OUTRAGED he is with the unrest which occurred in Minneapolis after the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police.  He's doing so for two primary reasons.  First is to hide the fact the Senate Republicans have vowed to never pass any meaningful police reform laws.  The second is he's desperate to find an issue which he can use against he Democrats in this upcoming election cycle.

Of course one thing Paul is not mentioning; as outraged as he is about the looting, arson and vandalism which occurred in Minneapolis, he's stunningly silent that one of the people arrested CAME FROM HIS SENATE DISTRICT.  A second man arrested came from the district right next door to his.  Maybe Gazelka should police his own district before he tries to act 'holier than thou' to anyone else.

The insulting nature of the Senate Republicans failure at Police Reform in light of the out of control police force in the city of Minneapolis is inexcusable.  I said on my radio show 'they'd NEVER tolerate being treated this poorly by the Democrats.'  Then a light bulb came on.  To understand how horrible the Senate Republicans are on Police Reform, and their treatment of the minority Democrats, let me reverse the spyglass and give you a similar scenario, but from a different perspective.

Let's create a hypothetical scenario where the Minnesota Senate is under DFL control, with all leadership positions held by Senators from Minneapolis or St. Paul proper.

One day, the farmers of Pope, Stevens, Swift, Big Stone, Chippewa and Lac qui Parle Counties in western Minnesota notice something very strange.  All of their crops (soybeans, wheat, corn, sugar beets, etc.) are dying.  No one can figure out why.  The University of Minnesota Extension office sends emergency people there to try to figure out what is going on.  Even the family gardens in those counties are all dying.  This for the region is an economic meteor strike; a disaster no one will be left unscathed by.

Republican Senators representing the area rush to St. Paul to talk with DFL leaders.  They are told the Minneapolis/St. Paul DFL'ers don't think this is a big problem, and the DFL abruptly leaves.  Two days later, with every Minnesota Republican screaming for the DFL Senate leadership to help, a senator from Minneapolis comes out and insists "I've talked with a few farmers from the area (but he won't say whom) and they've all told me this is no big deal." The pleas for help from the Republican Senators goes unheeded once again.

Due to a quirk, the Minnesota Senate will have to be called back into special session,  The pressure on the DFL to do something becomes too much to ignore.  For three days leading up to the special session, the Democratic Senate Majority leader insists the DFL Senators want to do something, but they need to take it slow.  "Let's not rush this.  Let's take this issue slowly to make sure we get it right."

Then the day the special session begins, the metro area DFL Senator in charge of Agricultural issues throws five bills at the Senate Republicans, screaming "These are the ONLY bills we will consider for the crop crisis in western Minnesota.  We will not amend them.  We will not consider any other bills.  We will give these five bills a yes or no vote, and then gavel the Senate closed, NEVER to revisit this issue again."

The Senate Republicans fume! Not only was no senator from the affected areas consulted on the five bills, the bills the DFL proposed are going to do nothing to address the problem.  Background checks on grain elevator administration employees?  A law to report when crops have died, but no other requirements or assistance?  Emotional counseling for any seed distributer having a rough time?  Rules about what type of trailer hitches are now legal and illegal?  Nothing being proposed will help the affected counties; legislation doing absolutely nothing to address the problem.

As the Senate Republicans point out how unfairly they are being treated in this situation, the Senator from St. Paul who wrote the bills comes out with a straight face and tells the Republicans "YOU haven't done enough to reach out to US."

That last line is a near direct quote that Republican Senator Warren Limmer said to Senate Democrats when they asked why they weren't consulted in regards to the Republicans police reform bills.  If this above scenario would've happened, Republican Senators themselves would've brought guns to the State Capitol and forced the DFL, at gunpoint, to write the bills they wanted.  

To paraphrase a poignant video running around today, in regards to police reform and Republican actions, it's a good thing that the DFL is looking for justice and equality from the Minnesota Republicans, instead of revenge.

The Senate GOP is terrified of losing the Twin Cities Suburban seats they hold so they're hoping they can convince voters they have done enough on police reform while talking about police reform as little as possible.

The level of disrespect the Minneapolis and St. Paul DFL Senators have received from the mostly rural, white, male Republican Senators with ZERO personal knowledge of the situation in the Twin Cities is disgusting.  

Let's vote all of them out of office in 2020!