The 2023 legislative session started with the passage of MNWOTC and ended with a vainglorious press conference.[1] Party leaders boasted about their historic accomplishments.
Did the trifecta majority party show any type of common-sense by increasing taxes and increasing government spending by 38%?[2] Congressional Republicans were astonished:
In just five months, the unchecked Democrat Party has wreaked unprecedented havoc on Minnesotans and our future. For weeks, fellow Members of Congress from across the country have been asking us what is wrong with the lawmakers in St. Paul. Like us, they are shocked at how the Democrat-controlled legislature in a few short months recklessly blew an $18 billion surplus on a partisan, special-interest spending spree[3]
Even with a historic surplus, the majority party didn’t use the surplus to make adoption easier or even remove sales tax on baby products.[4] Why not use the surplus to support young families instead of adding additional taxes that will likely bring about an unsustainable government bureaucracy?
During the historic pro-abortion session, money that had been given to positive alternatives to abortion now require access to sexual and reproductive health services.[5] While abortion is wreaking havoc in women’s lives, the positive abortion alternatives for women were defunded. Prioritizing abortion over the education and safety (abortion clinics are not regulated) of women is not pro-women.
It is doubtful that any politician campaigned for increased abortion tax funding. Yet, this was part of the historic session: “Effective for services provided on or after January 1, 2024, payment rates for family planning and abortion services shall be increased by 20 percent.”[6]
Shortly after the 2023 legislative session ended, I went to an inspiring talk by Robin Sertell, abortion survivor. When I looked at Robin, according to the Minnesota legislature, I should have seen “reproductive healthcare” but to me Robin was a human being. There was no way I could even come close to thinking that she was some type of “healthcare.” Robin’s talk garnered a standing ovation, and she always was and is a human being just like you and me.
While I strongly disagree with the laws passed in 2023, I do not hate the humans who passed them. Human beings are not the Enemy. The Enemy is the Enemy.
The assault on traditional values and parental rights[7] made the claim of historic accomplishments true. There will be needless pain and suffering. Those who endure the trauma will, over time, be a catalyst to undo the damage.
Thankfully we live in a country where people can get engaged and vote against government steeped in vainglory[DF1] .
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYgPAIfTrSo&t=1283s
[2] https://alphanews.org/dfl-trifecta-celebrates-at-capitol-as-walz-signs-38-percent-increase-in-state-budget/
[3] https://www.kare11.com/article/news/politics/republicans-warn-of-tax-increases-governor-signs-one-minnesota-budget-into-law/89-f2898c47-813e-46ae-92f6-3f8809a4f307
[4] https://alphanews.org/democrats-remove-sales-tax-exemption-for-baby-products-from-tax-bill/
[5] https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/text.php?number=SF2995&version=2&session=ls93&session_year=2023&session_number=0&type=ue
[6] https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/text.php?number=SF2995&version=2&session=ls93&session_year=2023&session_number=0&type=ue
[7] https://americanprinciplesproject.org/media/app-issues-travel-advisory-california-minnesota-anti-family-laws/
[DF1]I think the ending needs a statement to the effect that it will take a lot of work to undo all the damage done by the Minnesota legislature in 2023.