My husband and I have been mildly amused by the recent Republican brouhaha over Mark Ritchie's alleged use of state e-mail addresses for campaign purposes.
My husband is a state employee and also has a state.mn.us e-mail account, and he regularly gets e-mails at his office from the Republican Party and various Republicans asking for support of President Bush and/or contributions. He has asked them to stop, but they keep coming.
Since we are Democrats and have never given a penny to any Republican candidate or cause, we are naturally irritated and demand an investigation! Or, my husband can just keep doing what he's been doing -- hit "delete."
DIANN BENSON, MAPLE PLAIN
Under-funding for the common good has to stop Thank you, John S. Adams. Your Dec. 8 column on budget planning should be required reading by the governor, the Legislature and the antithetically named Taxpayers League.
For too long now, since President Ronald Reagan nationally, and Govs. Jesse Ventura and Tim Pawlenty at the state level, our leaders have promoted tax cuts and "no new taxes" as the utopian ideal. Actually, the reverse is true.
Ironically, the people most likely to trumpet American exceptionalism are the very same people who do not want to fund America. At some point, for example, the absence of additional public funding for our colleges and universities will price our future doctors, engineers, et al., out of the market at a time when places like China and India are becoming increasingly competitive in these areas. And the idea at the state level that we must continually cut taxes for business-friendly purposes has always been wrong on its face. If it were true, all businesses long ago would have moved to the low-tax states. In actuality, it's the higher-tax states that attract business because it shows the electorate is willing to finance and maintain the infrastructure -- from education to transportation -- necessary for the operation of successful businesses.
If we continue to under-fund for the common good to the extent we have for the last 40 years, we can be sure that American (or Minnesota) exceptionalism will be relegated to the dustbin of history in the not too distant future.