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Readers Write (April 15): The 'artificial aristocracy,' teacher-tenure lawsuit, Twin Metals mining, gender and restrooms, District 60B race

Beware the "artificial aristocracy" that Thomas Jefferson warned about.

April 14, 2016 at 10:44PM

In this photo, first published in Wednesday’s Star Tribune, a vendor was shown selling merchandise before a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the airport in Rome, N.Y. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

A photo on Page A5 of Wednesday's Star Tribune showed an ironic image: a T-shirt with the face of GOP billionaire presidential candidate Donald Trump, and an outstretched hand holding a handful of money.

It's also ironic that it appeared on Thomas Jefferson's birthday. Our country's third president had many insightful things to say about the government and the political process, including this:

"There is also an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents … . The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government, and provisions should be made to prevent its ascendancy."

I think this quote contains an excellent description of many of our candidates, and a sad reminder of how we have failed to implement, or willfully misinterpreted, many of the founding fathers' visions for our nation.

Thomas Gille, St. Anthony

TEACHER TENURE LAWSUIT

Expect the teacher-bashers to piggyback this for all its worth

The latest special-interest attack on public education ("Suit assails teacher tenure law," April 14) will bring the teacher-bashers out in force. They'll criticize everything from due process to licensure to the union that advocates for teachers.

I read an online comment from an engineer who suggested he would be willing to teach the highest-level math and science in high school if only those darn obstructionist licensure rules weren't in the way. I'd pay much more attention to his claim if he'd offer to teach the lowest-level math to the most underprepared middle-school students at the most underresourced school in the city. The teacher-bashers, however, never seem willing to make that offer.

Kevin Lindstrom, Brooklyn Park

MINING

This is no ordinary business; thus, the heightened scrutiny

Complaining about Gov. Mark Dayton's brave opposition to copper-nickel sulfide mine exploration on state lands next to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a mining company executive with financial interest in seeing Twin Metals move forward wants to draw our attention away from what's really happening ("In blocking Twin Metals, Dayton rules by fiat," Opinion Exchange, April 14). She draws an innocuous analogy with a prospective restaurant owner being shut down, crying, "Unfair!"

Sulfide mining is no restaurant business. No sulfide mine has ever been permitted in Minnesota. The risk to taxpayers and the environment make sulfide mine proposals different from any other prospective business venture. The public is rightly demanding greater scrutiny and transparency for these destructive sulfide mining activities. Why? Because mining firms have not been able to make these types of mines work financially without the public's acceptance of extreme financial risk. In Minnesota, corporations proposing new sulfide mines like PolyMet and Vermillion Gold have never operated a mine and have no real assets.

The governor understands that the BWCA and the Superior National Forest are our lands — yours and mine, and our children's. It is our iconic North Woods. Dayton has said that the PolyMet mine environmental-review process is so narrow in scope that it fails to answer the simple question: "Is this even good for our state?" His actions show he understands that sulfide mining is not like a restaurant and that it has not produced thriving communities and quality of life.

That is not ruling by fiat, it is leadership with courage and wisdom.

Paul Danicic, St. Louis Park

The writer is executive director of Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness.

GENDER AND RESTROOMS

Accommodation isn't so hard to achieve, and here's the proof

Women's, men's and now transgender bathrooms are not a problem at the new Hy-Vee grocery stores that are opening in Minnesota ("Legislators, families face off amid national debate over restrooms," April 13). When I needed a bathroom at the Hy-Vee that opened last October in New Hope, I couldn't believe what I was seeing — eight or 10 bathrooms, all private. I went into one, locked the door, did what I had to do, washed my hands and walked out. Amazing that businesses and public buildings did not think of this before. Other grocery stores, as well as retailers like Target, Costco, Wal-Mart and Sam's Club, are going to have to remodel to keep up with Hy-Vee as it continues on its plan to open 22 stores. And how about schools and any other public buildings? I would suggest that our wonderful Legislature, which is now in session, stop wasting its time with July 4th fireworks and liquor sales that their merchants don't want and pass a bill that future buildings and remodeling projects require private bathrooms. What an accomplishment that would be!

Alan Stone, Minnetonka

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I find bizarre the mere concept of a transgender kindergartner, as mentioned in the April 13 story. As a boy, I dressed in my mother's clothes, had dolls and a dollhouse, and skipped rope with girls at recess in my first years in grade school.

My parents were homophobic, but I'd take them any day over parents trying to mend their child's gender identity. In my own time, I was able to openly choose to identify as a gay man.

Philip Willkie, Minneapolis

LEGISLATIVE RACE

In District 60B, what do we have? Ageism? A power play?

Former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak's comments about state Rep. Phyllis Kahn at the DFL endorsing convention in her contest against Ilhan Omar and Mohamud Noor were not-too-subtle age discrimination comments ("DFL race reveals rifts in the ranks," April 13). It is unfortunate that the opportunity to clearly explain his endorsement was not taken, and the comments "it's good to have some fresh energy" and "it's just saying we benefit by every once in a while, or in this case every few decades, from having a new voice" address nothing beyond slamming Kahn and her long service.

Please focus on issues in reporting, and stay away from allowing Kahn/Omar/Noor from becoming a local version of Trump/Cruz/Kasich.

The District 60B race will be an interesting one. Report it on its merits and effects at both a local and state level.

Tim Kleinpaste, Minneapolis

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Kahn's failure to retire and allow a new generation to take her spot in the Legislature is both funny and sad. Her railing against the "establishment" is funny since she has become part of the party power establishment she ran against 40 years ago. Sad in that she can, with a straight face, tout her decades of experience while trying to paint the young Omar as a pro-"establishment" choice. Kahn, in some respects, is now not so different from the old men who didn't want to share power with the then-young brash feminist all those decades ago. Now it's Kahn who doesn't want to give up the bully pulpit she feels so entitled to keep. Her years of accomplishing anything meaningful are long past, and she is just a sad old gadfly without the dignity to pass the reins to a new generation of DFLers. Kahn is the past and Omar is the future.