Democracy died a little last night in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The new Democrat majority in the Minnesota House of Representatives passed new rules tonight to limit the ability of the Republican minority to offer amendments to bills under consideration.  It seems that the Democrats are not content to merely impose utopia on an ungrateful populace:  they insist on doing so as unimpeded as possible.

 

Meanwhile, the concerted effort continues apace between Minnesota's Democrat party (styled DFL--Democrat-Farmer-Labor), the political charity Alliance for a Better Minnesota, lefty bloggers, and local media to "Clear the Playing Field" in advance of the 2014 elections.  Apparently, the idea is to insure the 2014 re-election of Governor Mark Dayton and U.S. Senator Al Franken by pre-destroying any and all plausible Republican candidates in early 2013.  That way, resources can be fully devoted over the next 20 months to preserving the DFL majority in the Minnesota House of Representatives (the state Senate is not up for re-election until 2016).

 

Earlier in the day, in the state Senate, a bill was introduced (SF356) that would allow a local school board to simply extend an expiring voter referendum, without going to the trouble of putting the question to the voters.  After all, there is some chance that the voters, given another go at the question, may provide the "wrong" answer.  Proposals like this are ten a penny--but during times of one-party rule, you can't discount this bill's chances of becoming law, especially with two Education Committee members as co-sponsors.  (A committee Vice Chair is a co-sponsor of the House version, HF234.)

 

The theme for the day is the state Democrat party and its progressive allies pressing home a temporary political advantage in a manner that would make Machiavelli proud.  The DFL knows that the TMZ voter will never hear of what went on today.  As the saying goes, our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.

 

Small "d" democracy is often messy, and it does not always produce the outcome the ruling cabal would prefer.  But it is still our system, and I believe it is still worth preserving, protecting, and defending.

 

Cross-posted at Bill Glahn's blog