Forum Lurker, I'm from Minnesota too. I didn't vote for Jesse, and believe he was a poor governor. But to suggest that he is responsible for Minnesota's budget mess, and the new right wing Republican who has replaced him is better, is something I would vociferously disagree with, particularly because the new governor, Pawlenty's right wing extremist wing of the Republican party, were the architects of the surplus that Ventura rubber stamped and tried to take credit for.

Ventura's rule was doomed from the start because he had no allies in the legislature with whom he could do business. The only reason why Pawlenty got into office was the Republican dirty tricks campaign in the wake of Wellstone's death, which resulted in a few too many morons (like the morons who voted for Ventura in 1998) being inspired to kick the Democrats when they were down.

Of course, some would say the status quo Democrats (though not the Wellstone camp) deserved to be kicked for putting Roger Moe, the most hated politician in the state, on the ballot for governor.

I would also disagree with your claim that extremist right wing Republicans have principles. It is precisely that sort of thinking that keeps getting these fascists elected. It is positively frightening that fascist talk show radio propagandists can get their troops marching, literally, by holding "demonstrations" in support of their holy wars, and marching to the polls by exploiting the deep emotions of grief and the memory of the just deceased. Pawlenty was at the front of that pack of dogs. I don't call that principled. Not by a long shot.

Even the suggestion that extremist Republicans sticking to a "no new taxes" promise is, under current budget circumstances, disingenuous. This is a budget crisis of THEIR making. The so-called "tax rebates" were voter bribes, extortionist, and mercenary. How so? Well, the fact that Pawlenty promises to balance the budget without raising taxes by eliminating all after school child care programs (but not the Republican sports sacred cow, of course), and throwing everyone in the state off Medical Assistance, isn't "spreading the pain" fairly, but an out and out attack on the poorest, most vulnerable people of the state. The extremist Republicans, from the state houses to the White House, are hell bent on destroying the social contracts we have developed over the past 50 or so years, to raise the standard of living in the US, and Minnesota in particular, to some of the highest standards of living in the world.

Just like the extremist Republican wing of the Republican party currently in power in many places throughout the US doesn't give a damn about anything but their own "strategic self-interests" be they individual and local, or multinational corporate and global, they also don't care if they lower the standard of living of the majority by acting in their own narrow self-interests at our and the rest of the world's expense.

I agree with whomever it was here who said that the US is evil not because we created the monster Saddam Hussein, but because we created the monster George W. Bush. And the monster Dick Cheney. And the monster Donald Rumsfeld. And the monster Tim Pawlenty. These men are evil. They know they are evil, but also know there is no one with the power to stop them right now. So they will do their damage, until enough decent people stand up not just for themselves, but for the good of society, and truly confront the evil and start beating it back. We never rid ourselves of it totally, of course. But historically, this is a pattern that does repeat.

We are living in an unprecedented era of political and business corruption, graft, and naked exploitation and aggression. There are enough Americans benefiting from it though, and they are the ones who vote to maintain the status quo, by voting for their brand (be it Democratic or Republican) of evil over the other guys' brand of evil. The predictable effect is exactly what Bobert and others have described. The new boss is same as the old boss, only a little more to the right politically. This rightward movement in the US has been going on ever since Kennedy beat Nixon in 1960 in the post-war era, in a blatant, desperate attempt to turn back the clock on the progessive democratic agenda that FDR ushered in. There has been absolutely nothing principled about that fascistic movement to regain power for America's ruling elite. Nothing whatsoever. Unless you think the actions of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, the Ashcroft Justice Department, and the reactionary passage of the US Patriot Act were principled, of course.