The Color Purple

By John Strand
Staff Writer

We are going to be politically incorrect from the start. It’s Christmas. Soon we’ll see what trickles down from the GOP.

Christmas is a time to give generously and out of abundance. A time when the haves share with the have nots. That’s one of the keys to get into heaven, otherwise it’s like squeezing a camel through the eye of a needle, so the camel trims down through generosity, which leads to grace.
Taking this around a corner, we know more than a few people who plain and simple define Republicans as that group of people who simply want to line their pockets with more money. Some define Democrats as those who will take and spend money from the haves to take care of the have nots, a very different concept than giving.

While the country witnessed somewhat of a seachange in political power from Democrats to Republicans nationally in November, North Dakota’s shift could more accurately be described as an increasingly rising tide. At the state level, North Dakota has been dominated pretty handily by the GOP, basically since 1992. Our congressional delegation, as we all know, was blue. After the tide rose again in November, we now have state offices and two of three congressional seats in the Republican ranks.

The opportunity facing the North Dakota GOP is absolutely historic. It will also be a litmus test. What exactly will the party of no say yes to now that they control the U.S. House? And what exactly will the state’s two new GOP leaders representing North Dakota in DC do or say about issues hugely impacting all of us, directly or indirectly: earmarks, energy policy, the ag bill, health care, multiple foreign wars, education at every level, high taxation, immigration, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, election finance reform, gay civil unions, gender equality, government debt, joblessness, homelessness, home foreclosures, homegrown food, etc., etc.?

Back closer to home and specifically in Bismarck, what might we expect the new GOP legacy to be? Will it improve the quality of life for everyone? Or will it, perpetuating bad myths, we hope, “line the pockets of the wealthy?”

We think good can and will come out of this. Truth is, some of our most progressive thinkers here in North Dakota are actually Republicans. Truth is, we know plenty of Republican women, Republican gays, parents and family members who care about their kids, their kids’ well being and education, their parents, and their parents’ security and quality of life.

Consider: there are more Republicans in North Dakota. Hence there will be proportionally more of them in subcategories that reflect our population. More women, more workers, more service providers, more of everything.

More reasons than ever to transform North Dakota while the opportunity is at hand, and for the benefit of everyone. And with such total and almost complete control, more responsibility, more accountability, more need to do things right than in a long, long time. Otherwise, the tide they rode in on will be the tide they ride out on.

One particularly troubling challenge facing North Dakota Republicans will be to not get self-obsessed, to not get corrupt, to not leave anyone out of the formula which includes our residents, each and every one; our communities, including all their families and all their children; our place in the world, particularly with regard to energy and agriculture, thinking globally but protecting and representing our own people locally.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Unless folks in absolute power stay on the high road and for the benefit of the greater good, this moment will be less than it otherwise could have been.

We close this editorial comment by bringing up an example, a translation of sorts, of how government action can trickle down, or not. An example bearing witness to the absolute need to evaluate every policy action in light of how it will impact or affect all people, at all levels, in every state of condition.

Fargo has something like 52 percent of its residents living in apartments. The last legislative assembly, also Republican dominated, very wisely reduced property taxes in every school district in the state 75 mills, properly addressing a very significant need. Doing the math, that 75 mills resulted to an annual reduction of money out of pocket for property taxes amounting to over $18 million, just in the confines of property within the Fargo School District.

If over half of you living here in Fargo live in apartments, how many of you saw a rent reduction? How much of this truly trickled down? Any?

It will be a challenge for the North Dakota Republicans running us politically, lock stock and barrel, to never, ever forget the reality that all of us, like it or not, are under one big tent. In keeping with the Christmas spirit, grace follows generosity.

Just a few short months from now, all of us will have a sense of how this sea change of power unfolded, or is unfolding. Nationally, we see red where there was blue, and states like ours are red as red can get.

For the moment. That’s the now, today stuff.

Tomorrow’s look back at this historic political time is what really matters. Was everyone in every corner in every way represented or not? If it’s about lining one’s own pockets, at the expense of others or not to their inclusionary benefit, we’ve made a huge blunder; several of them, actually.

Politics aside, some of our very most respected and highly regarded individuals are in positions of power and have been elected to serve. North Dakotans are hard working, ethical, and decent people. Times like the Christmas season bring that to mind. Let’s resolve to continue that culture forward into future policy debates and actions.

Blue and red, when mixed, by the way, yield the color purple, and that’s what we need more of, blended results benefiting the greater public good.

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