More Kiffmeyer

The Star Tribune has a long article today about the secretary of state. Not a whole lot is new; it reiterates the fact that many people, including some Republicans, see her as too partisan (her notion that she is "fighting bullies" is laughable). One story that was particularly interesting, one that I did not know, was that she fired her Republican elections director because he invited Democrats as well as Republicans to a presentation on new voting machines (at least that's his claim). Shocking? Unfortunately, no.

Once upon a time, Republicans were interested in actually governing the state. Although they were certainly partisan, and they had specific ideological goals, they were fair. They understood that democracy was a back-and-forth, that they would try their ideas and Democrats would try theirs and voters would decide who they like best. Those were good Republicans. Nowadays, however, Republicans don't govern, they want to rule. Not only do they want to implement their ideas, they want to make it impossible for Democrats to try theirs, or even for voters to get a glimpse of what that may mean. In short, they want to change the rules to ensure that Republicans will be in power forever, no matter what the results of their policies.

DeLay's gerrymandering in Texas is an example of that. So is refusing to allow Democrats on conference committees. So is focusing on hot-button social issues instead of real problems. And Republicans wonder why people are so polarized? I'm sorry, we are just trying to secure the future of our democracy, so that one party doesn't have a monopoly. So get used to is, because Democrats aren't going to play the doormat any more.