All it takes is a one-vote majority to do great things


Here’s a Twitter thread worth reading. Minnesota done good.

Pay attention, Democratic parties everywhere:

Among the many things accomplished, some were of personal interest: they increased education spending by 10%, and also made college tuition at our public colleges (like the one I work at!) free to all Minnesota families with income under $80K.

Comments

  1. says

    they increased education spending by 10%, and also made college tuition at our public colleges (like the one I work at!) free to all Minnesota families with income under $80K.

    That’s fantastic!

  2. moarscienceplz says

    That IS fantastic. Any deets on how much they had to backfill, where they got the money from, etc.?

  3. says

    Welcome to the club! NY made tuition at SUNY schools free a couple of years ago (Excelsior Scholarship). Essentially, it covers the gap between tuition and whatever aid the student gets. Household cap is $125k. Student must be a NY state resident. Does not cover fees or room & board.

    Good things can happen when you get the whiny, crabby, deadwood out.

  4. says

    Rather than looking at the November numbers result and imposing some kind of self-limiting narrative about the scope of their mandate

    We know Republicans don’t worry about that shit. I still recall George W. Bush proclaiming a mandate after losing the popular vote and only winning in the Electoral College because Florida couldn’t come up with a sensible ballot and the Supreme Court halted the recount.
    Now they expect to attain and retain power even when they lose every which way possible.
    Congrats to Minnesota.

  5. brucej says

    THIS is how you govern. Republicans govern like they have an insurpmpountable majority, when they hold a legislature by only a seat or two. It’s about time team D started doing the same.

  6. says

    I was just about to re-tweet it to you, but decided to check here first. Good thing I did.

    And good on MN. And, obviously, they managed to find a way to pay for it.

    And meanwhile, here in [ick] Ohio, the gerrymandered General Assembly is sticking it to us as much as possible The latest is looking to enact “American Birthright” history in the schools. (And yes, the name hides an awful lot of awfulness.) https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/2023/05/22/republicans-push-to-rewrite-ohios-social-studies-standards/70235216007/

  7. says

    Reading the Twitter thread, I see the usual GQP talking points, perhaps most prominently “this is COMMUNIOSM!2@@!!!!!”. Curiously, none of the people who spew said talking points seem to be able to identify where, exactly, stuff like voter’s rights can be found in the Communist Manifesto.

  8. StevoR says

    Echoes of the success – largely unheralded & toooften forgotten now – of Julia Gillard’s parliament in Australia which passed a lot of legislation and did some really good things notably the Carbon price (“tax”) despite governing in minority with the help of the Australian Greens. See among other places :

    https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jun/28/australia-productive-prime-minister

    So, yeah, it can & has been done. Quite a number of times.

  9. birgerjohansson says

    The Bill Clinton clones in the US senate and congress will completely ignore this.

  10. moonslicer says

    Congratulations to Minnesota!

    I cannot tell you how much this little story warms my heart: a legislative body that wants to achieve some things for the good of the people. Instead of the usual bile and poison you get from other places, the remorseless desire to hurt as many people as possible as badly as possible, here we have some people who actually want to try to make life better for their constituents.

    Well done!

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