One marker of how deeply Tea Party thinking has steeped into the Minnesota Republican Party: The party's Second Congressional District convention in Red Wing on March 20 came within two votes of supporting a resolution supporting what state party chair Tony Sutton described as "the right of states to secede from the union."

The resolution was defeated, but only after Sutton, who was functioning as the convention's chair, reminded his fellow Republicans that opposition to secession by states was a founding Republican principle in the late 1850s.

The nation's bloodiest war was fought beginning in 1861 to keep the Union intact. Minnesota Gov. Alexander Ramsey was the first in the nation to promise troops to President Abraham Lincoln, the nation's first Republican president. The losses the First Minnesota regiment sustained at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 were larger, in proportion to population, than any other state's.

It's stunning that the Republican Party in a state with that history would even flirt with a pro-secession resolution now.

LORI STURDEVANT

MODEL REFORM

Fashion for real, healthy women should be put on the runway

The most biting judge on TV's "Project Runway," fashion designer Michael Kors, is using his voice to change the fashion industry's pernicious effect on body image. At a recent forum on eating disorders at Harvard Business School, Kors declared that he wants to eliminate the "army of children" in fashion shows. From now on, he said, he'll no longer hire models who are younger than 16.

Any modest change and the attention it draws will be useful for an industry known for putting immense physical pressure on women and girls. Models are essentially walking clothes hangers, made to conform to physical ideals that are unrealistic at best and shockingly unhealthy at worst. Many suffer from eating disorders, a fact the fashion industry long ignored.

But far better than an arbitrary minimum age is a newfound interest among a few bold designers in using models who better reflect the women who actually purchase couture. During London Fashion Week in February, designer Mark Fast used size 10 and 12 models for his runway show.

What's sad is that real-sized models still are newsworthy.

BOSTON GLOBE