Minnesota- Not Quite A Blue Paradise, But At Least It's Nowhere Near Being Texas
Turns out that "Minnesota Nice" means something when it comes to politics
Photo (cropped): Joel Kramer, Creative Commons License 2.0
I grew up in Minnesota and everyone is so nice there. It is like Fargo. Everyone’s so chipper and you make friends just grocery shopping. We kill each other with kindness.
Sean William Scott
Minnesota is a state of public-spirited and polite people, where you can get a good cappucino and eat Thai food and find any book you want and yet live on a quiet tree-lined street with a backyard and send your kids to public school. When a state this good hits the jackpot, it can only be an inspiration to everybody.
Garrison Keillor
Though I’ve lived in Oregon off and on for 40 years now, there are two other states where I’ve spent a good deal of time. There’s Minnesota, where I grew up and went to college, and Texas, where I learned WAY more than I needed to about Republicans and gratuitous cruelty.
One of the things I love and miss about Minnesota is its reputation for kindness. It has a name- “Minnesota Nice.” You know what I'm referring to if you’re from or have ever spent time there. There’s something different in how Minnesotans treat people, in the way they speak and relate to people. Yes, they're nice, but it’s more than that. They have a way of putting you at ease and making you feel welcome. Part of it’s a Midwestern thing; you’ll find that Midwesterners generally have a reputation for being friendly and taking life a bit slower than the rest of the country. A “New York Minute” means nothing in Minnesota.
Still, Minnesotans take it a step further, and it shows not only in the way they relate to each other and people from out-of-state but also in the type of government they elect. Sure, you have your Trump-humping MAGA rednecks in rural parts of the state; some can be as ignorant and objectionable as they are elsewhere. Minnesota’s not immune to lunacy, after all. I grew up around more than a few in the north woods near the Canadian border.
It might be the water.
That said, when you look at the trends throughout my lifetime, Minnesota has, by and large, been a place amenable to caring for one another. The North Star State has historically had one of the most robust safety nets in the country. It makes Wisconsin, its Republican neighbor to the east, look like Simon Legree’s wet dream.
Now Minnesota, with Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and the DFL (Democrat-Farmer-Labor, what the Democratic Party is called in Minnesota) controlling both houses of the legislature, kindness and compassion are becoming official policy.
And it’s nice to realize that government can work for the benefit of the people who put it in place.
In last year’s midterms, the great state of Minnesota (Motto: “Not Quite Canada, Sorry”) was among several states that picked up Democratic trifectas when the state Senate flipped to the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, giving Dems, Farms, and Labs their first unified control of state government since 2013.
And just like Michigan has gone full socialist woke wonderland under Democratic leadership, so has the Land of 10,000 Knudsons (and many Hmong and Somali last names too), with Gov. Tim Walz signing into law a passel of progressive measures passed by the new Lege. Let us count the ways in which just this year, Minnesota is becoming a veritable Belgium On Lake Superior. (Maybe Norway or the Netherlands is more leftish. But “Belgium” is definitely funnier.)
Garrison Keillor used to joke that you could fire a shotgun in any direction on Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis and be guaranteed to hit a few Swedes, but I should probably leave that joke for another time.
Still, there are more Norwegians and Swedes than Belgians in Minnesota.
And downtown St. Paul? Well, the less said about that, the better.
The fun part is that Gov. Walz has been busy pissing off Republicans with his work to care for Minnesotans instead of denying them reproductive and gender-affirming care. You know, like Jesus would do. If you believe in Him, that is.
In May, Walz signed into law a bill creating paid leave for family and medical needs regardless of where someone works. It can be used for a wide range of situations, like the birth or adoption of a child (as long as it’s used within 12 months of the event, blessed or not), or to care for an ill family member, or for one’s own illness, as well as a number of others. No, not for vacation time.
Maximum leave is up to 12 weeks per event, and no more than 20 weeks per calendar year, and since illnesses don’t necessarily fit into neat boxes, the leave time doesn’t have to be consecutive, like if someone needs several days off at multiple times for treatment. People using their leave will be able to return to their prior job or an equivalent one when they come back. Mon dieu, is this France? [Minnesota Public Radio]
No, it’s Minnesota…as in, give them paid family and medical leave, and families won’t go bankrupt. What a novel concept, eh? Taking care of families when they have medical problems they must deal with…’cuz that’s essential.
Illnesses often DON’T fit into nice, neat boxes. When an illness hits a family, it can throw everything into a tailspin. With the bill that Gov. Walz signed, families are guaranteed at least some paid time to deal with family medical emergencies, which seems like it should be a thing, right?
That should be the baseline. But, this is America we’re talking about, where you’re every bit as likely to be set adrift on an ice floe with a box of Captain America comic books as receive needed medical care.
There’s something strangely and soundly compassionate about putting people first if they’re ill and seeking treatment. One shouldn’t worry about losing their job because they’re sick and must take time off to get treatment- as if their illness doesn’t already place enough stress on them.
Minnesota passed its version of the refundable tax credit in June, funding it with $900 million over the next two years to provide up to $1,750 per child for families making up to $35,000 and filing jointly (or $29,500) single). After that, the credit tapers off with higher income, so the benefits will mostly go to the lowest-income families who need it most. And as with the Biden version, it’s fully refundable, so folks who owe less in taxes than the amount of the credit still get the full amount.
The credit will be a one-time payment at first, starting when people file their 2023 state taxes, but the state Department of Revenue is authorized to split it into installments once it has the administrative capacity — which may take a year or more to put in place. [MPR]
So helping lower-income families seems like it’s a sensible and compassionate thing to do, right? This means it’s PRECISELY the sort of thing that sends Republicans into paroxysms of moral outrage.
SOMETHING FOR NOTHING?? WHY, THAT WILL ONLY BREED DEPENDENCE!!!
Actually, no, it doesn’t. No one wants to be sucking at the government teat. Most people want to be self-sufficient, but some need a hand-up to get there. Minnesota’s at least trying to help them get there.
On party-line votes, the state Lege approved county tax increases that will raise $1 billion over five years for affordable housing. It’s the first time the state has ever dedicated a tax hike for housing, so go ahead and call that historic. Among other things, the package boosts funding for emergency rental assistance to keep people in their homes; provides help for low-income home buyers; creates a state housing voucher program similar to the federal Section Eight program; retrofits older public housing with sprinkler systems; and includes funding to help people in mobile homes buy land if they’re threatened with eviction for redevelopment. [Minnesota Post]
I don’t know about you, but I think it’s reasonable to believe no one should end a day without a roof over their head. This is especially true in Minnesota, where things can and do freeze solid during the winter. Shelter in Minnesota can literally be a life-and-death issue, so affordable housing is essential.
That doesn’t mean that poor folks should be shunted off into warehouses or hovels unfit for human habitation. But Minnesota is open to some creative solutions if they’re cost-effective and put a roof over someone’s head.
Sleeping on the streets here in Portland in December is one thing. Doing it in downtown Minneapolis or St. Paul in December can be a death sentence. So, affordable housing takes on new meaning in the Great White North.
And then there’s taking care of kids so they can learn….
Minnesota is yet another state to jump on the hot new trend of requiring schools to provide free meals to all students in public and charter schools, regardless of income. That’s expected to improve student performance, cut down on bureaucracy, and give rightwing dipshits the opportunity to write snippy letters to the editor pointing out as pedantically as possible that it’s not free, it’s paid for by the taxpayer, and if that makes those pinched souls feel better, hooray for them. As of June, there were six states providing taxpayer-funded school meals to all kids, and more are likely in the works. [Star-Tribune / Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center]
OMIGOD!! FREE STUFF!! SOCIALISM!!
If we give kids free meals, they’ll expect the government to meet all their needs- clothing, rent, utilities…you name it! Before you know it, they’ll be utterly dependent on the government for their basic needs!! How will they Make America Great Again??!?!!
Well, Sparky…that’s a bit alarmist, don’tchathink? Studies have shown that it’s more difficult for students to learn when their stomachs are growling, so ensuring that students are well-fed during the school day makes sense. If the taxpayers of Minnesota are to invest in their children’s education, it makes sense that they’d do whatever’s in their power to maximize that investment.
And if providing meals to students isn’t a good investment, I don’t know what would be.
As I’ve already mentioned, in Minnesota, the state’s Democratic Party is called the Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), and Democrats take the “L”- labor- very seriously. Earlier this year, a big ol’ steaming batch of labor reforms became law, including:
A prohibition on non-compete clauses (but existing agreements will remain in place)
Mandated paid sick days for workers (one hour per 30 hours worked, up to 48 hours of sick time a year)
A ban on captive-audience meetings where workers have to listen to anti-union propaganda. The law also bans required attendance at religious or political meetings
Protections for meat packers — none of whom can be children, unlike some other states — and Amazon warehouse workers, who will have to be informed of work quotas and how their performance is measured
Allowing teachers’ unions to negotiate teacher-to-student ratios
Creation of a new panel to set labor standards for workers in nursing homes
Provisions to prevent wage theft by construction contractors
Gov. Walz and the Democratic-majority legislature also passed a law restoring voting rights for felons once they’ve completed their sentence. This restored voting rights for 50,000 Minnesotans and confirmed the DFL’s belief that they should be restored to full citizenship once they’ve paid their debt to society.
But wait; there’s more….
In March, Gov. Walz signed one of the country’s most robust executive orders guaranteeing transgender rights and access to gender-affirming care. He decided that, unlike so many red states, Minnesota would be a welcoming and affirming environment for transgender people. Given the anti-transgender sentiment prevalent among legislatures and Governors in so many red states, his executive order is astonishingly broad.
In a huge move to protect its residents — and future residents — from the wave of rightwing laws criminalizing healthcare and other rights for transgender people, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz…signed an executive order to protect the rights of LGBTQ+ people in Minnesota. As independent journalist Erin Reed explains, once the order is fully in effect, Minnesota will rank with California and the District of Columbia among "the safest states in the U.S. for transgender individuals in terms of state policy and legislation." As executive orders protecting LGBTQ+ rights go, you could even call it "sweeping."
Noting that other states have been taking steps not just to criminalize gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth, but that some, like Texas, are even trying to penalize parents of trans kids or to take children away from trans parents, Walz's order explicitly calls for Minnesota to be a "refuge for those who seek and provide gender affirming healthcare services."
Among the protections the order will ensure, it instructs all state agencies to coordinate efforts to protect people seeking gender-affirming care. That includes prohibitions on cooperating with other states' attempts to investigate trans people, their families, or their medical providers, as well as a ban on state agencies cooperating with other states' subpoenas for information on gender-affirming care.
Minnesota will also not enforce any judgments from other states that terminate parental rights because of providing gender-affirming care, which is huge in keeping families of trans kids with supportive parents. Walz himself also pledged to "exercise his discretion to refuse requests for the arrest or surrender of people charged with violation of the law in another state due to gender-affirming care."
Gov. Walz’s order also expands guarantees for individuals seeking gender-affirming care:
Health insurance companies can no longer deny coverage for gender-affirming care.
State agencies are ordered to require modern standards of care.
Those modern standards of care must include “facial feminization surgery, hair removal, prosthetics, and more…considered medically necessary and supported by evidence in the modern standards of care spelled out in WPATH 8.”
Medicaid user manuals must also be updated to ensure the program and providers comply with modern standards of care.
There’s more to Gov. Walz’s order, though, as it also contains sweeping prohibitions against discrimination in healthcare companies and educational institutions statewide.
Beyond healthcare, Walz's order bans discrimination in healthcare companies and educational institutions statewide, giving the state's department of human rights the power to investigate such discrimination. Hell of a big move toward prohibiting school districts from restricting trans students from restrooms or locker rooms matching their gender identity.
In a political and ideological atmosphere in which some red states seem to be about five minutes away from lynching transgender people (or worse), Minnesota stands out for its compassionate approach. This makes sense, considering that the transgender population nationwide is less than 1%- hardly a threat to America’s moral fiber.
Of course, the transgender community’s small numbers are part of why they’re so easy to bully and legislate into nothingness. They have no prominent voice to speak for them, so in red states, the transgender community has become a convenient and easy punching bag.
It’s what bullies do.
Of course, one of the problems with executive orders is that they can be undone with a change of administration, so Minnesota state Rep. Leigh Finke, who's trans herself, has introduced a bill that would enact similar protections in state law; so far, it's made it through committee. Now that Minnesota has Democratic majorities in both houses of the state Legislature, it seems like a good bet it'll pass and be signed by Walz.
So that's now two states and the District of Columbia that will serve as sanctuaries for people fleeing the new oppressive laws red states are busily passing. Sounds like a call for a lot more blue states to expand their own protections for trans people and their families, too. We don't need a national divorce, but as long as bigots are passing these laws — and we have little reason to think the Supreme Court will stop them — there need to be as many sanctuaries as possible. Let's hope it never comes to a need for an actual "underground railroad," but being ready can't hurt.
Like many states, Minnesota has a large Conservative (and very Trumpy) voting bloc in rural areas. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that a change in Administration and a Republican takeover of the legislature could sweep away Gov. Walz’s executive order and set the transgender community back.
So, yes, enshrining the executive order into statute law will be critical in the next legislative session. With Democratic majorities in both houses and the Governor’s mansion, the likelihood of it happening are pretty good. It’s possible, then, that at least one blue state will continue to stand as a safe haven for the trans community.
None of what I’ve mentioned should be taken as a pie-in-the-sky belief that Minnesota is a blue paradise. The North Star State has its issues like anywhere else, but with Democrats in the majority, things are getting done, and the social safety net remains robust and well-set for the future. That’s a helluva lot more than Republicans were willing to do when they were in power.
Whether it’s “Minnesota Nice” or just common sense governance, Minnesota’s state government gets far more right than it gets wrong. This is especially true when you compare it to its neighbor to the east, Wisconsin, where Republicans have spent years dismantling the good things its state government did. But that’s what Wisconsin voters cast their ballots for, and they have precisely the government they deserve.
I’m proud of the state I grew up in, and I like to think I’m the person I am because I absorbed the values I learned there- compassion, selflessness, and being nice to others. None of those things are difficult, and they’re certainly not exclusive to Minnesota, but whenever I visit my family there, it feels like a breath of fresh air.
But yeah, the winters still suck….