State Representative David Bly, District 25B

"One of the biggest changes in politics in my lifetime is that the delusional is no longer marginal. It has come in from the fringe, to sit in the seat of power in the Oval Office and in Congress. For the first time in our history, ideology and theology hold a monopoly of power in Washington. Theology asserts propositions that cannot be proven true; ideologues hold stoutly to a worldview despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality. When ideology and theology couple, their offspring are not always bad but they are always blind. And there is the danger: voters and politicians alike, oblivious to the facts." - Bill Moyers

I had a discussion about property with some folks interested in the question of what is happening to our democracy and what part property plays in that, as (the issue of property ownership) is at the center of what has emerged over the past 1000 years as justification for having a piece of the action or not. Many argue that being property owners gives us a stake in the future and what happens to our communities.

This notion can be traced back to the emergence of the 'right' to own property in England, which did go a long way toward establishing our justice system and our sense of democracy.

However, since the writing of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the expansion of voting rights during the Presidency of Andrew Jackson, and women's suffrage, there has been a countervailing trend that suggests that there are rights that precede the ownership of property.

You no longer have to own property to vote. You have rights as a citizen without owning property. The right to vote itself has increased the rights of citizens. Prior to voting in many places women could not own property but had to rely on male relatives to provide for them.

In our history broadening the right to vote is something that the landed gentry and the wealthy have resisted as they see themselves as the true masters of the world. Those without property have only their labor. It is assumed by those who have property that they purchase the labor of others and therefore own that labor. They don't want to be taxed but don't mind that the labor of others is taxed.

Enter the labor movement and the notion that each worker owns his own labor and when unfairly treated can withhold that labor. Through her labor that worker may accumulate wealth and buy property, which raises her stature as a property-owning citizen.

The problem is no longer that some own property while others do not. The problem is that some use their property and their wealth in a predatory way to gain more wealth, power, and property at the expense of everyone else across the globe. (This is what Thorstein Veblen described in much of his writing.) Something that has become 'common business practice' in some sectors of our economy, especially as wealth has become 'protected speech'. Those with money can, with little restriction, influence our political system to their liking.

If we are going to make headway in this economic struggle it is important that we are clear and that we see clearly. Not all Republicans are the enemy, as Eisenhower's comment on social security points out:
" …..Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid." — taken from a letter President Eisenhower penned to his brother, Edgar Newton Eisenhower, on 8 November 1954.

Not all property owners nor all big companies are the problem. Those who we must aim our attention at are the pharmaceutical companies, the oil companies, the insurance companies, the credit card companies, and the energy companies who have gained huge profits in recent years and will stop at nothing to control what ever they can of the money and resources they can get their hands on. We will discover even the air we breathe has a price and a premium to be paid. The influence of these interests on our government combined with the conservative theology that affirms their right to do so are a danger to our democracy and to our economic future.

I found myself listening to the hymn in church this past Sunday, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" and thinking of my father. My father was a small man but he had a big heart. He wanted me to live in a world where peace was possible, and although we would never reach perfection, we could be guided by our belief in a just God, and that here on earth His work must be done through all of us. In the face of suffering (and suffering was something he knew a fair amount about), that work was expressed by reaching out to each other and making life better, being responsible to each other. Certainly he knew I could avoid this responsibility and ignore the plight of my fellow citizens, but I should remember that just as Cain discovered someone would take notice and ask where his brother Abel was, I would in some way be held accountable if only by his memory and my desire to live up to what he expected of me.

It made me feel small in the way one feels small looking up at the stars on a clear night. He would tell me Jesus loved my soul, but he believed it, and I could imagine him - eight or nine, alone, sickly and suffering in isolation, believing as he needed to - to survive, that he was loved to the very depth of his soul.

To my father, the story of the talents in the gospel of St. Matthew was explained by realizing that we were loved and that our gifts were meant to be given and invested that they might increase. It is through the wonderful interaction with others that the value of gifts and riches can be realized.

If we have work to be done and wealth to be shared, we should put people to work. If we have knowledge to share, we should teach it to others. If we can sing songs or create things of beauty, they are only beautiful if shared with others. Their purpose lies in realizing we are not alone in the world, not an island. Our gifts must be shared, not buried in the soil for safe-keeping until someday when the master returns.

Or as it is said elsewhere, "Do not store up your treasures where moths and worms decay; rather, store up your treasures in heaven." God gives us all from out of his endless wealth of charity and generosity and grace. What shall we do with the charity and grace we've been given? Make more grace and charity by being generous, or shall we be Scrooges? Just because a businessman can make a profit and hoard wealth, this doesn't mean the man has made an increase of grace and charity in the world.

We have to realize that, rich and poor, aged and young, Republican and Democrat, we are all Minnesotans, and we will share the same future. We must decide what that future will be. And we must decide what sort of seeds we will sow to create that future, for we will reap what we have sown.

Is it a future where we will divide ourselves and decide we are not responsible for each other, like Cain who claimed he was not his brother's keeper? A world where everyone is left to their own devices, regardless of their circumstances?

It is easy to claim things are already fair unless you have walked a mile in the shoes of those less fortunate. If my work with young people has taught me anything it has taught me that the human spirit is incredibly strong, as it can survive so much adversity and still come out hopeful and searching to improve.

When I was growing up, I did not think it would be this way. I did not think we would abandon to their own devices those who struggle, and then take refuge in cliches about how it's better to teach a man to fish than give him a fish. This is only good advice if we indeed take the time to teach fishing.

For that, you need a teacher and perhaps a Democrat.