Minnesota Lawyer

We are divided and faltering in Minnesota and the United States, staggering through a state government shutdown over a legislative refusal to raise more revenue, and teetering on the brink of a disastrous and unprecedented default on our national debt for essentially the same reason.

Is the following set of facts just a coincidence, or a sign of subtle racial antipathy by Minnesota’s white-majority political establishment toward nonwhites and immigrants?

Almost 150 years ago, in the midst of economic hard times and a Civil War, a young business dynamo by the name of John S. Pillsbury was named a regent for the University of Minnesota and given the unofficial task by Gov. Henry Swift of saving it from premature death.

An entertaining skit now on YouTube portrays your classic Minnesota church ladies slamming down the coffee and clucking around the table about their charitable efforts to help children and elderly folks in their congregation.

Three months before former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush came to Minnesota to pitch his model for improving school test scores and closing the achievement gap, he was joined at Miami's once troubled and rapidly improving Central High School for a celebratory event with President Barack Obama.

Millions of affluent taxpayers know that our public-private system has benefited them, and they are willing to pay a fairer share.

We've all heard the stories and seen the movies about that charismatic principal or that inspirational teacher who defied expectations and boosted educational outcomes for a challenging group of students in a tough urban environment.

As state and federal budget debates heat up this month, the taxophobes are bombarding us with propaganda claiming that too many groups are getting too good a deal.

One of the outstanding things I noticed about Minnesota on arriving here in the early 1970s, right up there with the refreshing coolness of the summer mornings, was the high quality of the state's physical public infrastructure.

Start with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan's recent visit to Minnesota and his frequent and urgent plea for Americans to set a goal of regaining our top international ranking in higher education attainment by the year 2020.