Nick Coleman, editorialist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, wrote a piece today that completely missed the point (as usual).  He was too busy painting we "rednecks" as jackbooted racists to concern himself with why so many Minnesotans are fed up with their government.

Maybe we should use a little parable for Nicky, so that he may take a little walk down from that mountain of pretentiousness and black turtlenecks that he sits upon, and possibly begin to grasp why people are angry. 

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Imagine for a moment that your home, your family, and your money are being threatened by robbers and others who mean to do you harm.  Your neighborhood is unsafe, and you don’t think you can protect your family and possessions much longer, on your own.  There are no police, so you have to take matters into your own hands.

Since you can’t be at home all of the time (you have to work), you decide to hire a security guard.  He doesn’t come cheap, and you wind up paying him 30% of your own income just to ensure the safety of your home, family, and possessions.

The security guard – who we’ll call "Sam" – does a great job of protecting you, to begin with.  He managed to nab three separate robbers in his first week on duty.  You see that hiring Sam was a good move, even though it takes a large bite out of your checkbook.  No self-justification is needed for your decision, because you know that you would lose much more if you didn’t have him there to protect you.

One day you come home from work, and notice that the front door is broken.  You walk into the house, wondering what happened to the door, but you forget about it when you see that Sam has prepared an exquisite meal for you and your family.  It’s amazing!  There’s an entire spread of delectable morsels, complete with a centerpiece of fresh flowers.  You’re very pleased. 

But then you remember the door.

"This looks great, Sam… But what happened to the front door?" you ask.

"Oh, that."  Sam rolls his eyes,  "Well, I was out grocery shopping for this delicious meal that I’ve prepared for you, and while I was out, a robber broke down the door.  Oh, and by the way, he stole your TV."

You have mixed emotions.  He did prepare this lovely meal for you and your family, but he did it while he was being paid to protect your home.  You chalk it up as a one-time thing, decide that you wanted a different TV, anyway, and enjoy your meal.

A week later, you come home to find Sam in your living room, holding a clipboard, talking to a complete stranger.  There are paint samples and upholstery fabrics strewn about on your plaid sofa.

"What’s going on, Sam?"

"Well," he begins,  "I just thought that the place could use a little sprucing up, so I’ve hired this interior designer – with your checkbook, of course – to redecorate the living room.  I was thinking that a nice brown leather pub sofa would be great in here, don’t you?"

The interior designer claps her hands in agreement.

You’re pretty angry, because you like your living room the way it is, and you can’t afford to hire a designer.   But what you see next nearly makes your head explode.

"Sam?  Where’s the refrigerator?"

Sam walks into the kitchen, still blabbering on about the living room re-do. 

"Oh yes.  That.  Well, while Sharon and I were out shopping for new hardwood flooring, someone must have broken in and stolen it.  Sorry."

You give Sam a good talking-to, and explain that he needs to start doing the job he was paid for.  You tell him that you don’t need him to cook and redecorate your living room, you just want him to protect you and your home.  He agrees and says that he’s sorry, and that it will never happen again.

Sam does a good job for a couple of weeks, and manages to protect your home from half a dozen looters.  But then, you come home one day to find that twenty people whom you have never seen before are living in your basement, eating your food, using your electricity, and listening to your Coldplay CD’s.  They’ve also managed to steal most of your valuables.  Sam is nowhere to be found.

You shoo the strangers out of your house, get in your car, and set out to find your wayward protector.  You don’t have to go far, because two blocks away, you see his Mercedes is sitting in the parking lot of the local park.  You get out of your car, slam the door, and run up to Sam, who has his handy clip board in his arm, and is ordering a crew of construction workers around.

"SAM!?!?  What the hell is going on here?" you yell, "Why are you here when you should be at my house, doing what I pay you to do?"

Sam wanders over to where you are standing and puts his arm around you.

"Well, boss, this is a pretty crummy neighborhood, as you well know.  I thought I could make the place better for the children if I constructed a massive playground for them to play in.  That way, they won’t be out on the streets, robbing people like you.  Oh, and I’m glad you stopped by.  It appears as though your checking account is drained, so I’m going to have to ask you to give me your credit card…for the children."

Should you be angry?  It’s for the children, after all…right? 

But Sam didn’t ask you if you wanted to build a playground, and while he’s here playing the good guy with your money, someone is more than likely taking over your home, harming your family, and stealing and your possessions.

"By the way," Sam says, "I could really use a raise.  The payments on that Mercedes are killing me."

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What people like Nick Coleman will likely never understand is that taxpayers expect their government to protect them from threats.  He – along with many others – seem to have forgotten that government is the employee of the taxpayer.  Taxpayers "pay" government to respect and uphold their right to own property and keep the fruits of their labor, take care of their infrastructure, enforce the laws of the land, uphold justice, and protect us from threats against our national security.  

When government fails to perform their "essential job duties" – like they have in Minnesota and elsewhere – and instead takes more money from the taxpayer to fund things like shiny new trains, baseball stadiums, bike paths, and welfare for the same illegals who are bleeding them dry and driving into their school buses, taxpayers have a right to be angry. 

Just today, the $6.6 billion tax hike (that was vetoed by Governor Tim Pawlenty) was passed with a veto override by the Minnesota legislature.  Meanwhile, three families are burying their children because two years ago, police officers in Minnesota did not check the legal status of the young woman who killed them.

Minneapolis and St. Paul are infamous for their "sanctuary city" laws, where law enforcement personnel are not allowed to investigate an arrested individual’s legal citizen status.  Across the state, illegal immigrants are arrested every day, without so much as a call to find out whether or not the person they have in custody is in this country legally.  If the police – those who are here to serve and protect – cannot or will not investigate a person’s legal status, who will?

As usual, Nick Coleman offers no solutions to the illegal immigrant crisis (with the exception of giving them driver’s licenses), only sob stories about illegals being "rip[ped]" away from their families. 

What would be a better response to this tragedy?

What if we raid the businesses who employ illegal immigrants, rip the workers away from their families, and deport them?

I wonder if the three families in Cottonwood feel like they’ve had their loved ones ripped away from them, Nick?

Yes, Minnesotans have every right to be absolutely livid, and it isn’t because they’re racist rednecks (as much as I’m sure he and his socialist friends would like that to be true).  It’s because their employees – who keep taking pay raises by the end of a gun to fund utopian, feel-good projects – aren’t doing the job their being paid for. 

Maybe if the liberals in Minnesota would concern themselves a little more with the real threats to their citizenry, and spend a little less time and taxpayer money picking paint colors for the latest "Minnesota remodel", they wouldn’t have to dream up racist stereotypes to account for this dissent.

But that would mean little Nicky Coleman would be out of a job.  Lord knows we don’t have enough pretentious liberals in black turtlenecks writing self-righteous op-eds in our midst.  

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