By Rep. Michelle Fischbach

Last week, one of the Executive Orders signed by Joe Biden was to disband the 1776 Commission. President Trump created the 1776 Commission to counter the "reckless 're-education' attempts that seek to reframe American history around the idea that the United States is not an exceptional country but an evil one." Sadly, it seems a similar effort may be underway in Minnesota.

As we advocate for School Choice this week, we need to be watchdogs of what is being taught in our public schools for the families and children who don't have options for educational opportunity. That's why we'd like to call attention to the Minnesota Department of Education's decennial review of social studies standards.

In the first draft of revisions, there are several key pieces of our world, nation and state’s history that may be dropped from our schools' social studies curricula. These missing benchmarks include major events in the American Revolution, causes of the Civil War and the two World Wars, the Holocaust, and the rise and effects of communism and socialism. The draft also suggests eliminating lessons on why and when the Pledge of Allegiance is recited and would instead ask how "people show patriotism."

Some items that made their way into the proposed standards are how freedom and democracy have included or excluded different groups, how "to recognize unfairness on the individual level and injustice at the institutional level," and "developing a respectful awareness about how ideas and norms about gender have changed over time."

The Center for the American Experiment is following this issue closely; read several more articles about the proposed changes and background on the Standards Committee at this link.   

The Standards Review Committee met on January 11 to review public comments received to that point. They are currently working on the second draft of the standards, so there is still time to make your voice heard. You can submit your respectful comments directly to the Education Commissioner and the Standard Committee Chairman: [email protected] and [email protected].

Twenty years ago, parents and concerned citizens stood up to "Profiles in Learning" by using phone trees.  You can make a difference, but only if you take this small action.  

By Randy Sutter

* Author Note: Barbara Sutter recently attended her first Republican National Committee (RNC) meeting as Minnesota’s National Committeewoman. I tagged along as her guest. As a guest, I could not attend any of the meetings, but I was able to listen to some of the guest speakers and talk to some of the attendees.

The RNC Winter Meeting took place against a backdrop of the Georgia Special Election, the counting of the Electoral College ballots, and the Washington Rally that partially morphed into the assault on the Capitol.  The rapidly unfolding events left many at the RNC sessions struggling to comprehend exactly what was going on and what lessons to take away. 

Four special guest speakers helped give some perspective on how the party leaders should work going forward.  Former Governor and UN Representative Nikki Haley (at left), Governor Kristi Noem (below), Governor Ron DeSantis, and Senator Rand Paul talked about their own experiences and thoughts. 

Here are some of the thoughts that I took away:

As the new year gets underway, it is hard to be optimistic.  The incursion into the Capitol was un-American.  “We must be better than this.  We cannot inflame passions.  The party of personal responsibility must take personal responsibility.” 

This speaker went on to challenge the delegates to be leaders.  “This is not the time for whining, only for choosing.”  Focus on the value that has come out of the last four years:  the defeat of ISIS, the isolation of Iran, the peace process for Israel, and the pushback of China.  Special note was made of the appointment of conservative judges to the Federal courts.

More work is still to be done.  Elections must be free and fair. We need to accept that Biden won, but we must continue efforts for better election security. We must push for the wider use of voter ID.  We must eliminate the opportunity for ballot harvesting. 

We must stop Socialism in the US.  “Democrats don’t trust Americans to run our own lives.”

We must stand against the “rise of Woke.”  We must defend our freedom and stand strong for the guiding principles upon which the US was founded.

As Republican leaders, we need to look deeper.  “We have had chances to deliver, and we haven’t always followed through.”

Our country is changing.  We need to pay greater attention to the education of our children.

The reaction to the pandemic in the US has been marked by a lot of fear and a lot of emotion.  The impact on the economies in many of our states is a reflection of that fear and that emotion.  The states that have fared the best have not made their policy based on fear.

“COVID did not crush our economy.  Government crushed our economy.”  Those that feel that Government is the answer to any crisis will be only too eager to trumpet the next crisis.  What will the next crisis be?  Climate change?  Guns?  Obesity? 

Minnesota House Representative Steve Elkins (D, West Bloomington) led off his “Dear Neighbor” email to his constituents on January 11 with a pledge that he would “continue to advocate for your needs.”  He went on to say that “COVID-19 will continue to play a significant role in how we approach legislating this year, and while we are a split legislature once more I am hopeful that we will be able to accomplish a lot of good.”

He dashed that hope two paragraphs later when he wrote, “please remember that an open Minnesota is a privilege (emphasis added)” 

What Gov Walz and Attorney General Ellison have done, with the acquiescence Elkins and other members of the Democrat-controlled Minnesota House, has been to effectively close Minnesota. Their unilateral restrictions have essentially shut down gyms, bars, restaurants, churches, and event centers.  They have denied Minnesotans the opportunity to assemble and to freely practice their religion.  We are appalled that our representative would say publicly that our right to freely assemble and to worship together, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, should rather be considered a privilege, a privilege that can be denied by the Governor and prosecuted by the Attorney General. 

Perhaps Representative Elkins should have paid more attention to his Civics lessons.  At a time when less than one out of 2,500 Minnesotans has an active case of COVID-19 (source:  Minnesota Department of Health), there is no justification to continue policies driven by fear and promulgated by fiat rather than by legislative action. 

If you are a small business owner that has been arbitrarily shut down or a citizen that cherishes your freedom to assemble or your freedom of religion, we urge you to let Elkins know what they think of his stance.  He can be reached at [email protected], or (651) 296-7803.

During a virtual legislative panel hosted by Forum News Service on January 11, Governor Walz claimed that people who stormed the U.S. Capitol had been intent on killing the vice president and Congressional leaders.  Walz’s claims have been denied by Federal prosecutors.  In addition, the words he used in his remarks appear uncannily similar to those spoken by another Democratic politician half a continent away.

As quoted by Rose Williams in a Jan. 12  article in AlphaNews, Walz said, “The United States Capitol was stormed by people who were intent on killing the vice president, the speaker of the house, and our other legislative leaders at the urging of the president of the United States.” The article includes a link to the video recording of the panel.

On January 12, the U.S. House of Representatives met in Washington, D.C. to debate the impeachment of President Trump.  According to an online article posted by the Daily Signal Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., made some of the most far-reaching allegations against Trump during that debate, outlining an intentional plan to kill public officials. 

“He summoned and dispatched his men to kidnap and hurt many of us. He is unfit to hold office,” Espaillat, a third-term lawmaker, said.

“He summoned and dispatched his mob to assassinate Vice President [Mike] Pence, to assassinate Speaker Pelosi. He is unfit to hold office. He summoned and dispatched a mob that waved the racist Confederate flag and assaulted this Capitol.”

Is there strong evidence of the claims that a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol with the aim of capturing and assassinating elected officials?  On January 15, Michael Sherwin, acting U.S, attorney for the District of Columbia, stated that there is “no direct evidence at this point of kill, capture teams.”

If Gov. Walz accepts so readily rumors of claims of murderous intent on the part of the supporters of President Trump, he should be at least willing to hear and pursue the substantiated election integrity concerns regarding the recent Minnesota election.

On January 3^rd, Republican Congressman Tom Emmer wrote:

Nancy Pelosi has been elected by her socialist peers for another two years as Speaker of the House.  [She] is already working to erode the core principles that make our country the greatest in history. After barely holding onto her majority and retaining the Speaker’s gavel, Nancy Pelosi’s first act of the 117th Congress is to pass a rules package that, among other things:

* Strips the minority party in Congress of an important procedural tool to change legislation which has been in place and used by both parties for more than a century;

* Restricts free speech of elected officials and staff and threatens disciplinary action for the content they post on social media; and

* Exempts from traditional cost analysis and House budgeting requirements the “budgetary effects of measures to prevent, prepare for, or respond to economic, environmental, or public health consequences resulting from climate change,” paving the way for legislation like the Green New Deal.

Even though Republicans flipped 14 Democrat-controlled seats in November and Speaker Pelosi’s majority is razor-thin, the Socialist Left is signaling on Day One of the new Congress that they are more determined than ever to implement more of their policies which are antithetical to our American roots.
 
The race for the majority in 2022 begins again today.

Mainstream media, including our local Star Tribune newspaper’s Associated Press articles have labelled any assertion that voter fraud exists in America as unproven and worthy of being censured.

Take Gregory Krieg of CNN, who stated on November 22 that “Trump lawyers and loyalists are seeing their baseless allegations of system voter fraud treated with increasing contempt by disbelieving judges.”

The animosity of that piece is in sharp contrast with the reasoned commentary by Jonathan Turley, linked below..

But are the allegations “baseless”? If we referred to it by the broader term “election fraud” would it at least be acknowledged by the media?

Why Vote Republican?

In the months leading up to the election, that search-inquiry was a frequent reason people came to our SD49 Republicans website.

After our losses in 2020, the ever-widening gulf between our two major parties compels us to look again at the most basic ideas that have defined us and driven American history for the last 244 years. As we do, we begin to see that the historic American debate is as alive and well as it was when the Revolutionary Founders were debating it. At the core: Given historical experience, how do we organize government to protect the ordered liberty that so many have offered up their “lives, fortunes and sacred honors” to obtain and defend?

At the end of the day, our elections are about BASIC IDEAS. And this leads us to why every informed and thinking American should vote Republican:

• Republicans believe that government is a necessary evil, and should always be the solution of last resort to any problem. Democrats believe that government is a benign service bureau of “enlightened” public servants, perfectly suited to micro-managing every problem imaginable, and therefore the solution of first choice.
  
  
• Republicans believe that power, the ability to arbitrarily bend others to our will, is the single most corrupting influence in all of human experience. Democrats believe that power rightfully belongs in the hands of  properly “enlightened” elites who will consequently act with unfailing integrity in the interest of the “greater good”.
  
  
• And finally, Republicans believe that every human being, by virtue of their humanity, has the unalienable right to be considered as an individual and not as a member of a race or religion or gender or any other stereotyped class. An individual is fully entitled to the fruits of their productive efforts, fully responsible for their choices, and fully endowed with the complete array of dazzling possibilities inherent in every single human life. Democrats, on the other hand, will always consider us in stereotypical groups of races, genders, faiths, income levels and every other imaginable or statistically definable classification.

How these differences show up can be easily seen by looking at 3 factors: PERSONALITIES vs POLICIES, SAVING OUR CONSTITUTION, and INDEPENDENCE.

What Should (and Can) We Change to Win?

In other years at about this time, the Republicans in SD49 have held our Fall Conversation. It has been our opportunity to talk about matters of importance to us as an organization and as a community. Unfortunately, that is not possible this year. Instead, we are sharing some thoughts with you in the hopes that you will give us your feedback and will volunteer to help us move forward.

Could We in SD49 Have Done More?

By Jim Bowen

If we like the results of this election, we just need to keep doing more of the same...I think the answer is "No!  Let's change!" 

We sent out, by email, our volunteers-needed message to 2,300 people that we believed were GOP supporters. We have about 180 delegates, alternates, precinct officers and executive committee members (our “activists”), yet we struggled to get 10 people together for 3 hours of door knocking.

Some people cannot door knock, but they may be able to phone call. The MNGOP, Trump, Qualls and Johnson campaigns all operated phone banks. Although we had a number of people who volunteered to phone, we lacked a volunteer to organize a phone bank for ballot questions as well as local legislative candidates.

Campaign contributions are an essential way to help, particularly local candidates. The Republican organizations and candidates in Minnesota raised far more than in recent election cycles because of our “battleground” status, but we were still out-raised and outspent by a wide margin.

If we in SD49 want to win, we need to up our effort.  All activists and supporters should plan to spend 3-4 days door knocking or phone calling every fall in election years as well as make total contributions of at least $100 (if you are financially able) to local candidates.

The “Basket of Deplorables” was the memorable label given to President Donald Trump’s vocal supporters by Hillary Clinton in 2016.  Rather than being shamed, many Republicans have taken the term on as a badge of honor.  As of a week ago, there's an addition. 

On October 30, former Vice President Joe Biden came to Minnesota to hold one of his campaign’s trademark Drive-in Rallies on the State Fairgrounds.  He was greeted by nearly 150 Trump supporters on the way into the fairground parking lot where the rally was held.  The Trump supporters continued to make their presence known by waving flags and honking their own horns during Biden’s speech.

Upset by the horns, whistles, and other noisemakers that can be clearly heard during his remarks, Biden at one point referred to the partisans as “Trump Chumps”.

Bloomington residents will have two questions on their November ballots dealing with “organized” trash collection.   SD49 Republicans recommend voting YES on these two questions.

Question 1 ADD VOTER APPROVAL TO CITY-ORGANIZED COLLECTION PROCESS

While this question would appear to be straight-forward, asking if Bloomington residents want to continue with the current city-run trash collection system, it is not.  It really asks if Bloomington residents agree with the statement that the city should NOT replace open, competitive trash collection with a city-run, non-competitive trash collection system unless voters elect by ballot to do so.  In essence, should the Bloomington City Charter be amended to add: “Unless first approved by a majority of voters in a state general election, the City shall not replace the competitive market in solid waste collection with a system in which solid waste services are provided by government- chosen collectors or in government designed districts.”

Why are Bloomington voters being asked to confirm that changing the way trash is collected should be decided by them?  This ballot question is really a “citizens’ amendment” that came about when the city lost a series of court cases regarding their unilateral decision to implement city-organized trash collection.  Bloomington City Council had also refused to include residents on the committee set up to explore organized collection options and had dismissed feedback given at the time.  

Voting YES on Question 1 will serve as a reminder to the city council, city manager, and staff that residents absolutely have a right to participate in our local government.  Unfortunately, our local representatives have had a habit of not listening to residents until time for their reelection.  Too often, important questions have been scheduled for the end of open city council meetings, late at night. An affirmative vote on this question will serve as a reminder that residents should have a voice in city government, a voice that should be respected and taken seriously