A bridge has collapsed, and others are deteriorating. State highways and city streets are falling apart. Many schools' classrooms are badly overcrowded, and one district is unable even to operate a five-day school week. Students cannot afford tuitions at the state's colleges and universities. Minnesota's unemployment rate has exceeded the nation's for the first time in a quarter-century.
Now the state faces a catastrophic budget deficit. It should sound yet another siren that Minnesota is headed in a profoundly wrong direction.
Those previous indicators of Minnesota's worsening condition seemed not to arouse many alarms. Perhaps they were considered symptomatic of the deteriorating national economy. Perhaps people's expectations for our state's preeminence have diminished. The fact that Gov. Tim Pawlenty's approval rating has remained comfortably high suggests that people's expectations of what the governor and state government should accomplish have fallen drastically.
That is extremely unfortunate, because unless the people of Minnesota collectively demand something better, they are unlikely to get it. And that failure would presage even further declines.
A generation ago, Time magazine praised our state's success as "The Minnesota Miracle." While Time's commendation was deserved, its headline was misleading. Our success was well-earned, not miraculously conferred. We funded excellent public schools and universities statewide; we built and maintained an adequate network of highways to serve expanding businesses and growing communities, and, by many measures, we created an admirably high quality of life for most of our citizens.
Crucial to those and other achievements was our successful state economy. Throughout national economic expansions and downturns, Minnesota's unemployment rate was consistently 2 percent or better below the national average. Per capita income grew, both in real dollars and relative to other states. Increasing employment and rising incomes funded the quality public services that, in turn, provided the foundation for future economic growth.
That formula for success, no matter how well it served most Minnesotans, did not appeal to some Republican politicians, business leaders and other conservatives. Despite Minnesota's economic success, they steadily attacked a "bad business climate." They complained that too-high taxes on wealthy citizens and on businesses, combined with too-favorable (to workers) workers' compensation and unemployment benefits and too-stringent pollution control and environmental-protection laws were driving growing businesses and wealthy individuals away.
They promised that, if those policies were reversed, businesses would create more jobs in Minnesota and the economy would further improve. Wealthy citizens would spend more time and money here. Lower taxes, less regulation and weaker protections, they said, would create a better Minnesota for everyone.
