Readers Write (March 25): Mary Franson, first Minnesotans, voter ID, university spending, Bonnie Blodgett

State Rep. Mary Franson believes politicians avoid risks, but our bigger problem is that they avoid facts ("It's a shame politicians avoid risks," March 18). Her lack of awareness about the realities of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a case in point.

She belittled the people who need the assistance. Yet instead of doing more to understand why they benefit from the program, she claimed to be a victim of a system that is too timid. Ridiculous.

As an elected official, Franson has a sworn duty to represent her constituents, including those receiving food stamps. This duty includes a diligent finding of facts. Before Franson speaks with derision about the poorest among us, it's her duty to determine the real reason Minnesotans are accessing SNAP assistance and the impact of cutting these benefits.

KRISTINE PERSSON, Buffalo, Minn.

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The article about Minnesota's native-born population disregarded the state's larger history ("We're not from around here, are we?," March 18). In the 18th century, Native Americans -- mainly Dakota and Ojibwe -- made up the bulk of the state's population. From the early 19th century and into the 1850s, there was an influx of Europeans and Scandinavians.

The original Native Americans were exploited, then expelled (mainly Dakota) after the Dakota War of 1862.

ROBERT NUGENT, BROOKLYN PARK

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Republican lawmakers are pulling a fast one on the voters of Minnesota. They would put to us the decision to mandate a government-issued photo ID card to be shown before voting, yet they admit that they don't have the answers to exactly how it would work or how much it would cost.

They don't know how this proposed constitutional amendment would affect same-day registration or absentee voting. They want to leave the details up to the next Legislature. This is worse than buying a pig in a poke.

Republicans can't even tell us the price tag of this pig, much less how to make it work without disenfranchising thousands of eligible voters. Voters: Use your common sense and walk away from this deal.

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It seems to me that both sides of the voter ID battle are suffering from a lack of data on the impact of this system. Perhaps instead of blindly implementing such a sweeping law, we should test it for a few elections.

We could easily record a huge amount of data on the number, type and voting affiliation of the people who would be rejected under the new system, while still allowing them to vote. At the same time, we could get a grasp on how much voter fraud would be stopped by the voter ID amendment.

SEAN PETERSON, MINNEAPOLIS

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As a Minnesota taxpayer, I am a "stakeholder" in the situation. If I were a director or stakeholder in a private-sector company in which a leader acted with such cavalier abandon, I would call for the immediate dismissal of that individual.

BRADLEY HOLT, ORONO

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Opinion Exchange contributing writer Bonnie Blodgett makes several claims: that only religious zealots believe that human life begins at conception, that the political party that's so opposed to "Big Government" is actively undermining the separation of church and state, and that men are responsible for attempts to curb abortion rights ("The politics of pregnancy and hypocrisy," March 18). According to a 2009 Gallup Poll, a majority of Americans (51 percent) are prolife.

Although it doesn't necessarily follow that all of the prolifers believe that life begins at conception, it would be fair to say that a majority of them do profess this, since otherwise their position would be in support of a right to life for a nonhuman entity.

The Gallup Poll found that 49 percent of those who identified themselves as prolife were women and 54 percent were men. So if the evildoers responsible for attempts to curb abortion rights for women are all men, how does Blodgett explain these numbers?