Category Archives: Politics

Taking My Daughter Voting

Say I took my daughter voting today. Some might think that sounds similar to but not as cool as taking your daughter boating, but I disagree. I think it’s important to instill the value of voting. I’m a firm believer in the idea that if you don’t vote, you have no right to gripe and complain about who’s in office. Recent presidential elections have proven that every vote matters and especially in Minnesota history has proven that third party candidates are viable options.

Of course it’s only the primary in a non-presidential election year, so it’s not worth getting that excited about. But it’s still cool.

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Can a State Secede from the U.S.?

A friend called me rather randomly today to ask if the state of Minnesota could secede from the U.S. It was just an off the cuff example, prompted by the realization that the U.S. has “colonies” like Saipan that some of us never knew existed (until our friend announced she was going to teach there). That prompted some speculation and eventually ended with the secession question.

It’s a fun little question, especially given our preference for freedom. If a state wants to secede, and democratically votes to do so, why shouldn’t they be able to? It seems to go along with our spreading of freedom abroad.

My initial guess was that secession wouldn’t fly. That’s part of what prompted the Civil War (among other things). Wikipedia backs me up, noting that Congress passed a law making it illegal for a state to secede. Which sounds kind of silly, if you think about it.

I realize the reasons for not wanting a state to secede. You want to keep the nation together. But isn’t it somewhat against our national character, our focus on freedom and all that, to not allow a state to jump ship if they want to?

At any rate, it’s fun speculation. The Wikipedia entry includes some details about failed secessions over the years, including states in the northeast, South Carolina, the obvious Civil War, Texas seceding from Mexico (so we’ll take a seceding state, but we won’t let our states secede?) and speculation about the Upper Peninsula of Michigan seceding from Michigan and becoming it’s own state (Ha! They could rival Wyoming for lowest everything [actually, such an act would make the Upper Peninsula the state with the smallest population by quite a margin: 328,000 in the U.P., 509,000 in Wyoming]. Plus I think there’s something in the Constitution about not taking land away from any state. Update: OK, I guess you can do it with approval from both state’s legislatures and Congress.) It’s also fun to note that Michigan traded Toledo for the U.P., which I think was a pretty good deal for my old home state.

More:

  • Read my review of Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War.

Sing the National Anthem Anyway You Want

In the midst of fierce debate over immigration reform, a group of Latino recording artists have recorded their own version of the national anthem as a show of solidarity. “Nuestro Himno” (“Our Anthem”) has a Latin arrangement and mostly Spanish words, but keeps the traditional structure of “The Star Spangled Banner.”

Some people are offended, including President Bush who suggested that Latinos and immigrants should take the time to learn English and then sing the national anthem in English.

Bah. We’re a culturally rich country with no official language. What’s wrong with celebrating the anthem and the freedom that defines America by singing your own cultural version of the song? Jimi Hendrix made his own version and for me it’s as patriotic as the one we sing at the ballpark. I think it’s decidely unpatriotic to say we can’t sing the national anthem with our own respectful flair.

Immigration is a tough issue–I’m not condoning illegal immigrants. We need to come up with a sensible solution. But squashing diversity isn’t the way to do it. We were all immigrants once. We evicted an entire people, co-opted their land and ditched their language. So we should be careful how loud we complain, lest we sound like a bunch of ungrateful hypocrites.

Hunt with Cheney or Ride with Kennedy?

I'd rather hunt with Dick Cheney than ride with Ted Kennedy.Here I am, back in the realm of politics. My dad sent me this bumper sticker yesterday and even commented on my VP shooting post, which I guess shows you the power of the VP shooting somebody to bring people together. (Which brings up a side question–is it incredibly inappropriate to make jokes about somebody getting shot? Apparently some people think it is if you’re anti-gun, which I don’t think I am, therefore I think I’m good.)

Back to the Cheney-Kennedy bumper sticker. My dad thought it was hilarious enough to pass on, which is something I don’t think I ever remember my dad doing. Ever. So I take a look at the bumper sticker–and I don’t get it.

Continue reading Hunt with Cheney or Ride with Kennedy?

Vice President Shoots Some Guy

I don’t usually jump into the political realm with this blog, but this story of Vice President Dick Cheney shooting Austin attorney Harry Whittington during a quail hunting trip is just bizarre. Apparently Whittington came up behind the group unannounced and Cheney turned around and sprayed him with buckshot. Whittington is still in the ICU (at last report) but they say he’s doing fine.

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Voting is Fun

I just exercised my right to vote. Literally.

I walked the four blocks or so to my polling place on a sunny, November afternoon with the temperature in the upper 50s. Not bad. Reminds me of my walks to the bus stop. The best part was crunching through the bright yellow leaves that layered the sidewalk beneath some of the late autumn bloomer trees.

And I also got to participate in democracy, casting my vote in the St. Paul mayoral and school board elections.

The Most Vacationing President in History

Last week U.S. President George W. Bush surpassed former President Ronald Reagan’s record 335 days of vacation for a sitting president. While Reagan took eight years to set that milestone, Bush has beat it in less than five.

Now there’s a lot of ways we can go with this. You could argue that Bush is taking way too much time off when he should be leading the country. That’s a valid argument, though you launch into all sorts of questions about whether or not he works while he’s on vacation (somebody’s got to read those daily security reports) and how if you faced 9/11 and invaded two countries you’d need some time off.

Instead, I’d like to make two simple points:

1) The average American gets 12 days of vacation per year. Granted the president is no average American, but should he really get five times the vacation of the average citizen?

2) While the average American gets 12 days of vacation per year, they only use 9 of them. We’re too busy working to take a vacation. I’ve got to applaud Bush for taking a vacation and modeling for the rest of the country the importance of time off. He might be over-compensating, but he’s got the right idea.

It’s also worth pointing out that France is the most vacationing country in the world. French workers get an average of 39 vacation days per year. Apparently Bush has more in common with the French than we suspect.

Time Calls Bill Frist Anti-Choice

The Verbatim section of the August 8, 2005 issue of Time magazine includes a quote from Senate majority leader Bill Frist defending his decision to change his stance on stem-cell research. In the attribute, Time refers to Frist as an “anti-choice physician”.

Since when did “anti-choice” become an acceptable term to describe someone who opposes abortion? For a while “pro-choice” and “pro-life” seemed to work pretty well, though lately they’ve fallen out of favor for the more direct “pro-abortion” and “anti-abortion”. But “anti-choice”? The logical extension of that would be to call those who support abortion “anti-life”. And I think that would raise a few eyebrows.

C’mon, Time. I’m not the kind of person to jump all over “liberal media,” but this is ridiculous.