Minnesotans have distinguished themselves in military service since shortly after statehood, when the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry mustered out of Fort Snelling and played the pivotal role, at enormous human cost, in the Union Army’s victory at Gettysburg.
The four major wars of the last century claimed just under 10,000 Minnesota lives. And something close to 250,000 Minnesotans served.
Monuments and memorials all around our state honor the courage and the sacrifice of the men and women who defended our freedoms and our way of life. And for most our lifetimes, we’ve set aside the 11th day of November for a recognition.
But our duty to Minnesota’s veterans is very much part of our present. Over 400,000 veterans and their families now live in Minnesota. and more than 15,000 Minnesotans currently serve in our military. Many will return home only after surviving brutal armed conflict 7000 miles away.
They will come back to Minnesota in need of basic health care and social services, community support, educational opportunities, and above all state and local leadership that values what they have done and what they can do now in their communities.
I’m proud to have played a part in honoring military service. Fighting in the legislature to make sure that homeless veterans get the help that they need. And advocating so that returning vets get rapid job training, building on skills they learned in the service to help serve our communities.
And if you look, there’s something else to see here. As I helped dedicate this site in Richfield on a windy afternoon this past Memorial Day, I was struck by how these enduring symbols of our civic sentiment are not just about the past, but also about our investment in future generations, in the future of our state, and in our country.
We belong to something larger than ourselves: to a family, to a community, and to a country. And that belonging is more than just about identity and privilege but also about responsibility and service.
We must always work to make our communities and our state something worth serving, and something that continues to be worth believing in.
I worked the counter and the drive-thru at this Wendy’s for three years, starting in tenth grade. I still remember my first pay check, with the red and yellow logo in the upper left-hand corner, for $2.35 an hour.
For most of us, from our first job onward, our work is fundamental to who we are. In our adult lives, only crippling illness is as destabilizing as the loss of a job.
All across Minnesota in recent months, I’ve seen faces and heard voices tightened by the strain of economic insecurity. So far this year, tens of thousands more Minnesotans have lost their jobs and known the hardship and sobering self-doubt that comes with unemployment.
And while charts and graphs don’t convey this human story, this one is revealing in a couple of ways. First, it confirms that our fortunes are connected to what happens beyond our borders. That presents a great opportunity, as Minnesota has so much to offer in the global marketplace.
But here’s what should concern us: relative to the rest of the country,Minnesota’s long-held employment advantage in stable periods – a constant for most of our lifetimes – disappeared completely under the Pawlenty administration.
Clearly, something is not working. So what is the answer?
In the short term, we need to harness our state capital investment funds, and other state resources, on projects that will create jobs and serve as long-term investments in a brighter Minnesota future. Transit and transportation. Weatherization and energy conservation. Wastewater treatment plants. That’s a win-win situation for all of us.
It’s also imperative, right now, to loosen up credit for small and new enterprises by redirecting our economic development dollars to stand behind loans that will get businesses investing again. We have to bring Minnesota’s long-established entrepreneurial energy back into play as soon as possible.
But state government can’t do it alone. We have to listen to and partner with businesses, using smartly-crafted tax incentives and other policy tools to get private sector dollars flowing to create more Minnesota jobs.
In the longer term, we need to undo a decade of neglect, of the things that attract the best and the brightest here. We’ve always been known as a high-education, high-innovation state, tolerant of differences, and supportive of new research and development in science and technology. We have to get back there. When people believe in the promise of Minnesota, investment and jobs will follow.
We need a governor who will sell Minnesota, not sell it short.
The aging of our population and how we’re going to address those issues, how we’re going to plan for that, is not something that you’re going to find showing up at the top of public opinion polls, most likely because the media is not even going to be focusing on it and asking the question.
One of the things we need from our next governor, and what people ought to be looking for, is who’s thinking about those issues that are really going to shape Minnesota 5 and 10 years down the road. And this issue, the demographics of us getting older, is absolutely one of those issues.
If we don’t start addressing this now, we’re going to be overwhelmed by what some people are calling the silver tsunami, and we need to be prepared instead of reacting.
The number one goal from my perspective as we think about aging issues needs to be making sure we do everything we can to allow people to stay in their homes as long as possible and stay part of their communities and their neighborhoods as long as possible. That’s good for the people, and it’s good for all of us.
One of the stories that brought me to this issue and highlighted its importance to me is a constituent I have who has been taking care of her husband for about a dozen years now. Her husband became disabled in his early fifties and for the last dozen years or so she’s been working really hard to keep her husband in her home, caring for him every day. The strain that that puts on her and the physical exhaustion that puts on her is really compelling when you listen to it. So she’s doing this great service, something we really expect people to do, but they also need a lot of support.
There is a huge cost of institutionalizing people rather than having people stay at home. It’s so so much more expensive for people to be in a nursing home and have that kind of care. So there’s a real fiscal impact to supporting these informal caregivers. They give us a really great bang for our buck.
The second thing that we really have to get after is making sure we rethink how people in Minnesota plan for long-term care. And with this I’m largely talking about people like me, about my age, I’m 42. We need to start thinking about ‘how much money do I really need to start putting away?’ There are ways that the state can work in partnership with non-profits and with the private sector to get people thinking about that and saving for retirement.
We have to protect and keep robust and strong our public pensions. Because that’s one place where the state has a real direct impact on how people are going to be able to live out their retirement.
To keep our nursing homes alive we are going to need to have people start saving their private dollars. Without those private dollars the capacity of government to continue to fund them at the level we need is going to diminish. It’s a terrible and vicious cycle that we need to break out of and the answer long term to breaking out of it is getting folks like me, folks like a lot of us around the state, to start to think about — ‘OK, what do I need to put aside for my retirement?’
The third thing is designing our communities — helping communities design themselves — to make sure that they work not only for people of younger and middle age but for older Minnesotans. It’s really important that we have nursing homes, because there are people who need the skilled level of care that is available only in that setting. But to the extent that people don’t need that care, we shouldn’t have them in institutions. Our preference should be to keep them in their home. Keeping people in small towns, keeping people connected to their communities helps support the communities. There going to continue to do their shopping, continue to go to the pharmacy, continue to do all those things that keep local small towns alive.
We can’t have a one-size-fits-all mentality from the state government dictating how we’re going to deal with these issues. We have to just give communities some general goals and then the dollars to design their programs to keep seniors in their communities more effectively.
I’ve been excited to be involved in trying to think through how we’re going to tackle this problem. To be a leader in the Legislature. There is more energy around this issue than there ever has been in the past. I think it’s a hugely exciting opportunity for Minnesota and could really distinguish us from so many other states and so many other places around the world. This is going to really change how we think about every aspect of our lives in Minnesota. and it is going to be one of my top priorities as the next governor.
This is Nine Mile Creek in Bloomington. When I was a kid, my neighborhood friends and I spent long summer days exploring these banks all the way down to the Minnesota River.
Those are great memories, and I know every Minnesotan has a similar story. Outdoor experiences like that, and access to tranquil natural places of solitude and reflection, should be every Minnesotan’s birthright.
I believe the overriding goal for Minnesota’s approach to environment policy must be conservation and sustainability. Making sure that we are responsible stewards of the remarkable natural resources we have in our state, so that they remain for my kids and yours.
And we must apply that ideal beyond the traditional environmental issues of air and water and noise and waste. Sustainability is also the goal in our energy and transportation policy, and in the long-term project of creating of creating vibrant, healthy communities in every part of our state.
As in nature itself, these seemingly disparate things are all vitally interconnected. On our website, and in the companion video, I explain more of my thinking on protecting Minnesota’s magnificent natural environment.
I’m Paul Thissen, and I welcome your thoughts and ideas.
Minnesota’s next governor will get a unique chance to convert the growing public awareness of our connection to, and reliance on, a healthy environment into meaningful, leading-edge reforms. It’s important that we get this job done right.
My record of public service reflects both the dedication and the depth of knowledge that we’re going to need to seize the momentum on environment policy.
In my first term in the legislature I became an early, active, and strong advocate for renewable energy. Our subsequent progress on that issue has been personally rewarding.I’ve also been very concerned about our state’s waters. I was the Chief Author of legislation that significantly reduced the sources of phosphorous in lakes and streams. And I’m proud to have earned perfect scores from Conservation Minnesota for several years.
I know from experience that our state can lead by example, both nationally and globally, on how to integrate environmental policy with energy, agriculture, transportation, and the economy.
From the Governor’s office, I’ll prioritize three things:
First we need to meet or beat the targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2015. Of course climate change is a global issue, and Minnesotans can only do their part, but we absolutely have to be part of that change. It will be good for our environment and for our economy.
Second: diligent stewardship of the gift that was last year’s Legacy Amendment to the Minnesota Constitution. As Governor, I’ll make certain that we don’t squander this historic opportunity to preserve and improve water, habitat, and natural places. And I’ll make sure that those dollars are used for nothing less than the full benefit of all Minnesotans.
Third: the next governor needs to understand energy issues in all of their 21st-century complexity. In simplest terms, we need to move aggressively in the direction of distributed energy generation from local renewable sources using smart grid technology and and every other new resource available to us. And we need to shape our policy so that the wealth and ownership remain in our communities.
We have a great opportunity and we can’t afford to mismanage it. Real progress toward protecting our natural world has never been more within our reach. But leadership from the governor’s office will make all the difference.
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