A few nights ago, I watched Bernie Sanders’ interview with Steven Colbert. It was a re-run from a few weeks prior, but a friend, who almost certainly was not a Bernie supporter, saw the original broadcast and told me it was a great interview, so I tuned in.
Bernie has a way of stating things that you can’t ignore. He pointed out the extreme obscenity of the world’s richest person deciding it is now his mission in life to spend his time, talent and fortune aggressively taking things away from poor people. And isn’t Bernie entirely right about this; what could anyone do that would be more despicable?
Cornelius Vanderbilt, J.D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Bill Gates all amassed huge fortunes and some of them held the richest man in the world title for a while. You might not admire all of them, but none of them, after accumulating untold wealth, decided it had become their duty to make life miserable for people who have less than they do, which is to say, everyone.
Only Elon Musk did that. Of the uber-rich, only Musk wakes up each morning thinking about how he can screw over poor people. That alone must put him in the Top Ten of all-time evil historical figures.
Towards the end of the interview Bernie repeated what we heard him say often after unsuccessfully seeking the presidency himself in 2016. He exhorted his supporters to swallow their disappointment, and to go back home, run for their city councils, their school boards, their park boards. And they did, with special zeal in places like Seattle, Portland, San Francisco….and Minneapolis.
A lot of commentary in Minneapolis Times, my own often included, is critical of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and their destructive impact on local governance. But it is likely that any of “us,” and any of “them,” would find complete agreement with Bernie’s assessment of the Musk legacy. On the fundamental questions of human decency, and the “rent” we should all be paying for our time on this planet, we’re not very far apart.
Reflecting on Bernie’s exhortation to his followers to go home, and advance the ideals of the 2016 presidential campaign but in local communities, I came to realize there are two reasons, not just one, that DSA majorities such as we have on the Minneapolis City Council don’t govern very well. (Nor have they worked well in Portland or Seattle; voters there have noticed and voted accordingly.)
The obvious and primary reason is because they don’t know how. None of them – none – have any life or work experience that would equip them to oversee and be accountable for a $1.9 billion enterprise with more than 4,000 employees. Knocking on doors and handing out literature in New Hampshire and Iowa does not even slightly qualify one to make large, complex decisions about public works, public safety or public health in a large city.
The second, and less obvious reason they don’t govern well is they aren’t especially interested in doing so. Many see themselves as part of a generation that is within 10 years or so of becoming the dominant force in institutions of all sorts. Now they are just practicing. Their presence on city councils and park boards amounts to just training wheels, just today’s toy, for the influence they expect to be wielding a decade from now and beyond. Truly mastering the intricacies of street design or land-use zoning or bond ratings is not their priority. To their minds, street design isn’t very interesting, renaming streets a lot more so. Or signaling virtue by throwing their pronouns around.
These people are simply not serious. Well, they are, but they are serious about ushering in the ideals of a socialist society, not about getting local government done right.
There is no denying that those of us who would prefer much more experience, judgment and maturity in who governs our city skew older than those who are now doing the governing. Many of us who came of age in the anti-war, civil rights, environmental and feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s, should understand perfectly well that those we criticize will indeed begin to be running just about everything not that long from now. Our generations have had our turn and theirs will have their turn. This is right and natural. Even carrying forward the idealism of the DSA agenda is something we should welcome more than fear.
It would be preferable, though, if they would do their practicing, and make their mistakes, in arenas outside of elective office, where those mistakes do less harm to fewer people.
The Bernie Sanders interview on Colbert helped me better see how similar is our vision, and theirs, for a good society. But come November, I’ll still be using my vote and my influence to help nudge a majority of our council members towards another line of work where they can still strive for a better society, but where their lack of judgment and experience will cause less damage to our great city.
We can welcome them back in 2035 or so, and with confidence they will have some more seasoning and some time spent gaining the judgment and wisdom that come with experience. They might even get my vote then.
David Therkelsen has been a homeowner in Minneapolis for 50 years, and attentive to city and school affairs for all of that time. Professionally, he headed two American Red Cross field units, and at one time was co-chief of staff to the President of American Red Cross in Washington, DC. Later he was executive director of Crisis Connection, a state-wide mental health counseling agency. Dave held faculty appointments at the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and recently co-authored a book about the history of transfusion medicine and blood banking.
I’m sure we agree on some things. But I do believe the city has a role in correcting income inequality locally and providing examples of good policy for the rest of the nation. If we believe that city govt only exists to, say, “make the trains run on time,” what is the point of saying we are for affordable housing for all or fixing climate change? Everything starts locally no? I would also push back on the idea that moving towards more public transit, less of a reliance on cars, and higher density housing doesn’t have a positive impact on the environment. Those are all things that local govt affects.
Also have you had conversations with these supposedly inexperienced councilmembers? I’ve had conversations with CM Chughtai and her campaign staff and the knowledge they have of how the city functions is impressive. Saying they have the experience of “bernie door knockers” is honestly pretty condescending. Maybe step out of the Minneapolis times bubble and speak to real people?
Wade, you are up early and writing with clarity and passion as usual.
I’ll start by noting that my transit/environment credentials are likely at least equal to yours and those of the city council majority. I’ve been at it since 1969, as an analyst, policy professional, and advocate. I played a meaningful part in getting LRT brought to Twin Cities; among many other roles I was vice-chair (to former Minneapolis City Council president Glenn Olson ) of the 1980 regional leadership conference which, after many years of debate, produced a policy consensus that fixed transit needed to be a key part of the mix. Personally, I spend at least as many days a year on my bike and on transit as I do in my car, which is electric. I’ve made relatively high-density residential choices.
But the fact is, 90% of passenger miles in Minneapolis are by car, and you cannot wish that away, nor should you. Just as much of our population is transit-dependent, many more are auto-dependent. Mature public policy making will address all modes, and will take into account the effect of policy on the environment, on business, and on the ability of our city to attract and keep residents. Mature public policy making will recognize that slowing auto traffic itself has adverse environmental consequences. (The 2040 plan, astonishingly, was developed with no EIS!)
While I’ve chosen Minneapolis Times as a platform for advocating for more maturity, judgment and experience in our city leadership, I am in no bubble. I’ve indeed spoken with several of the current council majority, including many times with my own CM, Ms. Chowdhury. (While I often disagree with Aurin, I respect her intelligence, and her sincere aim to use her talents to make things better.) And I don’t doubt your assertion that many of the current majority are knowledgeable, not surprising since several were council aides before they were council members. But knowledge is not the same as judgment and experience. A council with judgment and experience would, for example, assure that major street projects like Hennepin Avenue are done with sensitivity to owners and customers of businesses. It would have a strategy to mitigate the effects on residential homeowners of the declining value of commercial properties. It would bring back the Third Precinct in much less time than it took Paris to rebuild the Notre Dame Cathedral.
If insufficient judgment and experience were the only barrier to effective city governance, over time, of course, that would be self-curing. Unfortunately, we also have a council majority affiliated with a political party – yes, DSA is a political party – that explicitly opposes police, and business. I don’t aim to deny DSA a voice; they exist in numbers where they deserve to be at the table. But a majority of the city voters would not subscribe to zero police and abolition of capitalism. That’s why it’s vital that in November we respect the DSA’s presence in city affairs, but reduce its numbers to well below a majority.
Appreciate your well thought out replies and your experience. As a DSA member though, I will be actively looking to increase our presence and influence in the Twin cities. Our current system of governance and fealty to wealthy people and big businesses have given us an incredibly unequal society and if we reverse that decline for the sake of the next generations and our planet.
I hope your side has enough passion and people to decrease DSAs influence but I fear that all they have is money. And that doesn’t always translate to the most dedicated canvassers (speaking as a former All of Mpls doorknocker.)
Wade, I think “our side” has passion and people. Money can be argued either way, but at least most of ours comes from Minnesota. What our side clearly does not have is the superb organizing skills of the DSA folks; I wish we did; but it will take years to catch up, if ever.
I share your belief that the great maldistribution of income and wealth is a terrible thing for our society. The gap is greater than it’s been in a century and a quarter. And whereas CEOs, pre-1980, were paid on average 20 times that of their average employee, today it’s running around 300 times.
It hasn’t always been this way. In fact, I have a chart showing that “labor” and “capital” shared about equally in productivity gains, from end of WWII until 1980. From then until the present, virtually all of the gains have benefited the wealthy, not regular people. Reagan, trickle-down economics and Citizens United have all contributed to this.
I think it’s a tremendously important and explanatory chart and I tried to insert it here but can’t. So in the near future I’m going to try to work it into a MplsTimes article.
To me, the chart’s message is to fix capitalism (as we did pretty well post-WWII), not replace it. You probably feel differently, which is fine.
I’ve appreciated our exchanges. Watch for my next article. I probably won’t get it in for next Sunday but will shoot for the Sunday after that.
It used to be there was a mix of experience on the city council. Some were lawyers. Some were servers in restaurants. For the latter, Lisa McDonald and Sandra Hillary were both servers. If that doesn’t hone one’s skills at understanding humans I don’t know what would.
Now not all of them were in leadership positions. Unfortunately, I think today”s crop has almost no experience in leading a workforce or maybe being part of a workforce. You know, the whole continuum: recruiting, selecting, training, directing, supervising, motivating, rewarding, developing, mentoring, correcting, disciplining, and sometimes terminating. They also like to assert they are for the workers. What is their personal experience as a worker? My Swedish immigrant grandfather was a worker. He got a steamfitting certificate from Dunwoody and went to work for the MInneapolis and St. Louis Railroad at their Cedar Lake shops from 1919 to 1962. I saw a documentary about AOC that impressed me. She was a bartender, schlepping buckets of ice, and dealing with the public. OK, I was a cop for 40 years, from patrol to police chief. But, my first (unpaid) job before that was helping my mom and dad with their 3.2 bar at 2301 North Washington. They were the only two employees and worked 7 days a week. My volunteer service included plucking cigarette butts from the men’s urinal. They did provide me massive rubber gloves for my 10 year old hands. Then, at 12 I got a job delivering meat on my bicycle and doing general clean up at the Sunlight Meat Market at 3417 Chicago Avenue South. One day I was a police chief, but I knew what being an actual worker was.
David, if you wait until 2035 to “include” the next generation the planet will be toast and billionaires will have entrenched their hold on society. Can we agree that a vicious attack on billionaires and wealth inequality need to be our north star to fund the programs that you and me agree with while also saving our planet?
Wade3690, I appreciate your reply. Indeed, I think if we had coffee at Caribou or somewhere we would agree on many things.
But my critique has been limited to the city sphere. I’ve been insistent that to be ultimately in charge of a $1.9 billion, 4,000+ employee enterprise, you need to have experience beyond knocking on doors for Bernie.
The city enterprise has no impact on the outrageous – we agree on this – maldistribution of wealth and income. It has almost zero impact on “saving our planet.” Its mission is to provide public safety, necessary infrastructure, attract people to live in the city and stay in the city, and to keep the city affordable to people at all income levels..
The majority of our city council is comprised of people with no background, no qualifications, no experience to fulfill this mission. In the main, they are good and decent people who want a better world, as I do and as you do. But their current responsibility is to govern a city well. They are simply way over their heads in trying to do this. And, as I argued in my article, they are not particularly interested in the blocking and tackling of governing a large city.
That was my main point. I don’t want elected officials using the city as training wheels, while they wait for the time they, and of course their whole generation, will be in charge. They are making the city worse while the training wheels wobble. Get your experience in other sectors, where your inevitable mistakes of inexperience do less damage.
Thanks for the reply. I’m for inclusivity, but, as I have discussed in other MinneapolisTimes articles, where i draw the line is including people of another party – yes, DSA is a party, walks like a duck and all that – that actually says in its own charter that it opposes both the Democratic and Republican parties and offers itself as an alternative. It’s an indication of the Minneapolis DFL’s gullibility and the TCDSA’s dishonesty that this can happen.
Pronouns? Sure, okay. But the problem of Democrats, liberals, progressives, whatever label you choose, is that we have been losing elections, including the last Presidential election, because ordinary voters see us as the.champions of performative politics – renaming things, pronouns, all manner of virtue signalling. They don’t see us as having, let alone carrying out, policies that help ordinary people have a better life. Let’s get our policy act together, communicate it well, and then attend to renaming and to pronouns.
One of the reasons I’m proud to be a DSA member is that there are a huge number of trans, non-binary, and other queer folks in the organization and in elected leadership.
The Republican Party wants them dead, and a big section of the Democratic Party, like yourself, call it “virtue signaling” to take some pretty basic steps to include them.
What I like about the folks who write for the Minneapolis Times is that the writers claim to be Democrats and progressives, but then they do things like complain about people “throwing their pronouns around”. DFL meetings strive for inclusivity too – do you oppose those?