Kent Nelson, Sartell resident

Walt Kelly’s Pogo said it best, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Minnesota Republicans have adapted this saying as their guiding or standard bearer in governing the state. As Republicans view their fellow Minnesotans they see the following: bad teachers, eliminate seniority; bad workers and bad unions, pass RTW; bad local governments and municipalities, eliminate LGA; bad government workers, freeze salaries, reduce benefits and eliminate jobs; bad gays, pass constitutional amendment; bad poor, eliminate renters’ credit; bad home health workers, reduce salaries; bad voters, require identification; bad homestead credit, eliminate; bad state taxes, raise local property taxes; bad middle class, protect top two percent; bad welfare people, require waiting period; we know criminals are bad, but if we make them badder, we can shoot first and ask questions later – woe be to the Girl Scout who knocks on the wrong door when delivering her cookies; bad schools, require more testing, but good schools when we can get a nice source of revenue from them after they have passed local referendums, and finally bad Gov. Dayton, don’t negotiate.

This might be a simple explanation to complex issues, but I have purposely kept it simple so my good Republican friends and colleagues can understand.

Maybe the people of Minnesota will finally get the message and say, “bad Republicans” and vote them out of office.

Author: Janelle Von Pinnon

Von Pinnon has been publishing the St. Joseph Newsleader since 1989, the Sartell-St. Stephen Newsleader since 1995 and the Sauk Rapids-Rice Newsleader since 2015. She graduated from Minnesota State University-Moorhead with degrees in mass communications (with an emphasis on print journalism) and biology. She lives in southeast St. Cloud with her husband and two children.