Readers Write (Oct. 28): Homecoming royalty, U.S. House races, U.S. Senate race, Ebola

Tears are streaming down my face after reading about the several students with disabilities who were elected homecoming royalty this year ("A special class of school royalty," Oct. 26).

As a 50-year-old born with physical deformities, I couldn't even begin to describe the many episodes of discrimination I suffered as a public school student. The name-calling, exclusions and lowered expectations were a clear and striking facet of my educational life from kindergarten through college. The perpetrators were students, parents, teachers and administrators, and it all happened here in Minnesota.

Well, the times they are a-changin', as Bob Dylan so eloquently sang. That song was written in 1963, one year before I was born. Times needed to change a lot back then, and they still do. But this, my friends, is the progress I've been waiting for. Never in my life did I think I'd see a headline like the one published Saturday in the Star Tribune.

I offer my most heartfelt congratulations to these students, and my most sincere thanks to those who supported them. May your homecomings be one of the best times of your lives, and may you all have many more good times to come.

The Star Tribune Editorial Board's torrid love affair with U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen continues (Oct. 27), and the irony is breathtaking. There's no doubt that Paulsen is genial and hardworking. But his much-touted "working across the aisle" is limited to no-brainers like protecting the victims of sex trafficking. On substantial issues of financial regulation, the environment, the economy, abortion rights, gay rights, Social Security, Medicare and the role of government in our lives, Paulsen consistently votes with the archconservatives and billionaires. He has received a highly negative rating of zero (out of a possible 100 points) from the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, the United Auto Workers, the Human Rights Campaign, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.

Many folks in the Third Congressional District will vote for Paulsen because he seems to be a genuinely nice guy, which he certainly is on many levels. But even a casual glance at his voting record (see votesmart.org) makes it clear that his views are not those of a moderate who consciously works across the aisle. The Star Tribune's endorsement is ironic because its editorials consistently support positions that Paulsen consistently votes against.

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The ECM newspapers endorsed Democrat Mike Obermueller over Kline precisely because of Kline's voting record. Kline may be chair of the Education Committee, but his voting record is a disaster. He votes against any climate-change initiatives, against school lunches for poor children, against healthy lunches for children and against increased funding for special education, while at the same time complaining about the lack of funding for special education. He has failed to get reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the premier legislation to replace No Child Left Behind.

Student debt is the second-largest debt in the country behind home mortgages. This newspaper has excoriated Kline on student-debt issues, for-profit colleges and veterans' education programs.

Obermueller has demonstrated leadership during his time in the state House. The argument that he lacks knowledge and experience is weak: Kline didn't know anything about education when first elected.

By endorsing Al Franken (Oct. 26) and Mark Dayton (Oct. 19), the Editorial Board shows how out of touch with average Minnesotans it is. We are a suburban middle-class couple who have seen our health insurance rate go up from $850 a month to $1,200, while my husband's work has declined by 30 percent because of excessive government regulation. The local food shelf where I volunteer has seen usage up 30 percent. Many of my friends' spouses have been downsized and forced to accept work for less pay, and their college-graduate children are still living with them while they try to find good full-time jobs. That is the reality for the middle class under the current leadership in Minnesota. With their policies, neither Franken nor Dayton are helping the middle class and do not deserve re-election.

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As troubling as I find his 97 percent voting record with President Obama, I am more disturbed by the fact that, according to Politico (http://tinyurl.com/krcnf4l), Franken ranked dead last among all senators in sponsoring bipartisan legislation. This stubborn unwillingness to seek out common ground with his Republican counterparts is likely the primary reason why Franken didn't pass a single law in his six years in the Senate.

This state deserves a senator who will work across party lines to get things done for all Minnesotans. Mike McFadden is that person.

The writer is former chair of the Independence Party of Minnesota.

The front-page story "Politics shape opinions on Ebola" (Oct. 27) reflected the spread of a considerably more frightening disease in this country. It's Opinion Fever.

Common symptoms are:

• The opinion that any amount of experience, knowledge or training is of no value compared with the good old common sense of "our" group.

The effects of Opinion Fever are most noticeable nationwide at election time, but in Minnesota they are seen every day in the endless bickering over the appropriate future of transportation, education or mining.

Ebola will hopefully be controlled at its source and cause no further harm to our country's people. But, given the ever-more-complicated world we live in, we need to find a cure for Opinion Fever and move on to an era when we are guided by a preponderance of knowledge.