BOB GREEN

Knocking on doors is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get.

Tonight I came across yet another Bloomington resident who thought it took an act of courage on the part of Democrats to raise our taxes because our bridges (yes, he said “bridges,” as in more than one) are falling down and our roads need repair. He is happy that we all are paying more because more money equals better bridges and roads. Right?

Wrong. Money does not keep our bridges from falling down. Money does not keep our roads in good condition. Good engineering, quality construction practices and materials, and prudent maintenance practices will keep bridges from falling down and roads maintained.

Money does not solve problems. People solve problems. Money may be a tool to get a job done. Money is not the first and only solution as many Democrats seem to believe. We should first try managing our State’s existing resources effectively before we blindly follow the Democrat’s cry and just throw money at a problem.

At the other end of the spectrum, tonight I met a husband and wife who were good enough to invite me into their air conditioned home for a few minutes and give a me cool drink. This was much welcome. It was 90 degrees and humid and they offered me some comfort. Their kindness was much appreciated. There really are a lot of nice people out there.

You never do what you are going to get.

Most of us have activities that we like to do to relax. Those activities may be golf, gardening, reading, entertaining friends or family, or just maintaining your home.

I like to ride motorcycle. With the demands of running a business and a political campaign, my time is limited and, so then, are my motorcycle tours.

This afternoon I took a little ride to some of the historic areas of St. Paul along the Mississippi River.

Shepard Road passes the Upper and Lower Steamboat Landings where steamboats would beach to unload and load passengers and goods when St. Paul was a frontier city.

Across the river is South St. Paul and West St. Paul. Does anyone know why West St. Paul is actually south of St. Paul and not west of St. Paul?

Farther down Shepard Road is an area known as Pig’s Eye. This area is apparently named after Pierre “Pig’s Eye” Parrant, a colorful individual who opened the first business in St. Paul. Now, some 170 years later, the name “Pig’s Eye” brings to mind a beer that was named after him or the sewage processing plant that now is in the Pig’s Eye area. What a way to be remembered, huh?

Doubling back along the limestone cliffs that jut over the river, we come to the Indian Mounds. These mounds are burial spots for Native American peoples.

Native Americans of this area and the era before European settlers buried their dead on cliffs overlooking rivers. These mounds may date back to the time of the birth of Christ.

The site of Carver’s cave is just a ways north of the mounds. Here, early British explorer Jonathan Carver met with some 300 Sioux in about 1766 to warn them against alliances with the French. The cave has long since been destroyed by railroad construction and cave ins.

The site of the chapel built by Father Lucien Galtier is on Kellogg Boulevard overlooking the river. Father Galtier built his log chapel in 1841 and named it after the apostle Paul- St. Paul. Later, the city that developed around this chapel would take the name St. Paul.

A bit farther west is Irving Park. This small plot of land was donated to St. Paul by a developer (by the name of Mr. Irving) and meant to be used as a park. On the streets around Irving Park are some of the oldest houses in St. Paul. Continuing westward again along Shepard Road, we pass the limestone cliffs where soldiers took the stones to build Fort Snelling. The site for Fort Snelling was first identified in about 1805 by either Lt. Zebulon Pike (yup, the same guy Pike’s Peak is named after) or a military engineer in Pike’s exploration party.

And crossing the river again to get back to Bloomington, we pass what used to be known as Wold-Chamberlain Field, now known as Mpls-St. Paul International Airport. This area started out as an automobile race course. Since it was flat and easy for airplanes to take off and land, it eventually grew into an airport. I remember when part of this area was a farm. (No, I am not THAT old).

Hope you enjoyed the tour too!

It’s 10:20 PM on July 4, 2008.

I have spent a day with family and friends, celebrating the 232nd birthday of our republic. Fireworks are booming and popping outside as others celebrate this festive occasion.

Thoughts come to mind about the blessings heaped on this country by a Creator that loves us so much that He sent his Son to redeem us and all of mankind. We here have been blessed to live in the one of the safest and most prosperous parts of this planet.

People still stand in line and yearn to come to this country for the freedoms we have, the opportunities we enjoy, and the rights our government preserves for us. We are free from fear. We are free to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. The potential of this country is almost unlimited.

We have no long history of kings or emperors making subjects of us or enslaving us. We have no caste system that makes royalty out of a few and serfs out of many others. Our freedoms have allowed us to become a world power in the short time of 232 years. Our people have the opportunity to better their lives through their own industriousness and initiative. Our labor force is the mightiest on this planet.

Yet there are those who see nothing but problems in our country. They seek to curb our freedoms and our opportunities in the name of making things equal for all. They seek to put us under a heavy tax load in the name of having an all powerful government that provides everything for its subjects (excuse me, citizens). They seek to instill an attitude of entitlement that destroys the individual initiative that built this country.

They seek to make us slaves to the planet that we have been made stewards of. They seek to coddle those who would destroy this country. Some of these people are well meaning. Many of them are only seeking to elevate themselves to positions of power over others.

This group constitutes the enemy within that will be this nation’s greatest challenge for the next several generations. If this nation can conquer this group, the United States of America truly will be the mightiest nation on this planet. We will be the shining light on a hill for the rest of the planet.

Our chief exports will be freedom and prosperity that we generate and share with the rest of the planet. If we base our society on Judeo-Christian principles and faith in the Triune God, no nation or extremist religious movement will be able to stand against us.

If we fail to defeat this enemy from within, the United States will be relegated to the scrap heap of history, having been only one more democracy that lasted only slightly longer than the average lifespan of democracies - 200 years.

I am most thankful for what we have. I owe a debt of gratitude that I cannot repay to those who have fought to defend this country so that we can celebrate this 4th of July. And I continue to pray for the future of this country so that we may be a shining light to the nations and give future generations in this country the same that has been given to me.

Last night when I was out door knocking, I came across a homeowner who shared some of their story with me. This woman and her husband had been through quite a bit.

They are raising a family. They lost everything they owned in a storm and had moved back to Bloomington to rebuild their lives. By the grace of the Lord, they were able to buy a house.

She is working three jobs and her husband owns a small business and is working one other job besides. They don’t always make their monthly payments on time but they do make them. The home was very neat and well kept.

This lady, in spite of the struggles they were having, and in spite of having the ear of a politician-to-be (me), never so much as hinted that the government should help them out or give them aid in any way. They are making it on their own. And they will eventually succeed.

I have been through some of these kinds of struggles. I salute this couple and others like them. This is the kind of initiative that has built this country, not government programs, many of which foster entitlement mentalities.

Sadly, the taxes these Bloomington homeowners pay may go to bail out others who bought houses they couldn’t afford and now seem to think the government should bail them out. These Bloomington homeowners either have to get a job with an employer that will provide health insurance or buy it themselves. Or do with out it.

Yet the taxes these homeowners pay will go to provide free healthcare to illegal immigrants.

What is wrong with our system? Too many liberals wanting to buy votes with bailout programs? Too many Democrats handing out social programs to buy themselves a job?

Last March I had the opportunity to visit with Marty Seifert, House Minority Leader.

Marty mentioned that the city of Bloomington has been used for a number of years as an ATM for Minneapolis and northern Minnesota. I will be researching the numbers and expect to report back to you with some hard evidence of this.

Marty has been at this for a long time and probably knows what he is talking about. As this is being researched, Bloomington may want to consider a new City Slogan:

Pay the freight for the rest of the state:
Move to Bloomington!

Of course, Ann Lenczewski has been representing us during this period.

Maybe she likes the slogan.

The other night, when my team and I were out door-knocking, we met a gentleman who shared some of his life’s experiences with us. His little son has had (and continues to have) serious health challenges since birth.

This gentleman told us of some of the experiences he has had taking care of his son and dealing with medical expenses and health insurers. He showed us a photo album of his son. The album included family events and also chronicled the surgeries his son had gone through.

Through all of this, I never got the feeling that he was whining. What I saw was a man struggling to bring up his son in a loving manner and give his son every opportunity to have as normal a life as possible.

Later, this gentleman’s wife brought his son in their minivan to meet us. One of my team members called this little guy a champion. He truly is a champion for what he has overcome. Yet he probably only sees himself as struggling to have a normal life.

In September, he starts second grade. I could see the love this little guy’s mother had for him by how she talked to him and tickled him. Here are a man and wife struggling to bring up their child and give him all of the love and opportunities they possibly can.

It made me think. If I get this job, is there anything I can do to make things a little better for people going through something like this?

I am a conservative and a Christian. Those truly in need ought to be helped.

The other day I went to Cub Foods to pick up a couple of things. As I was walking through the parking lot, I noticed a sign in the back of a car that said “Vote Democrat to take America in a New Direction.”

America doesn’t need a new direction. It needs a better direction. We have seen what the direction that Democrats have taken our country in the past leads to: higher taxes, stagnant economy, weak national defense, laws created to remedy crises that were manufactured by Democrats, and regulations to force us to sanction and promote things that most of us do not want to tolerate.

On the state level, Democrat policies have created an unfriendly business climate, causing loss of jobs and an exodus of businesses from our state. Democrat policies have loaded the individual taxpayer with a tax burden that makes Minnesota one of the highest-taxed states in the union. And they continue to load more taxes on us, in spite of rapidly increasing gasoline and food prices (also due to Democrat policies).

Does this make any sense? Is this the “new direction” the Democrats want to take us in?

If you want to see a microcosm of what the wonders of Democrat policies can accomplish, look at the cities of Minneapolis, Washington D.C., New Orleans, and Chicago. All four cities have been Democrat for most or all of the last 50 years. All four of these cities have high taxes, high crime rates, and poverty.

Do we need the Democrats to take Minnesota in one of their “New Directions?” No thank you!

To quote Ronald Reagan once again, “(Liberalism) has nothing more to say, nothing to add to the debate. It has spent its intellectual capital, such as it was - and has done its deeds.”

Democrat ideas are not new ideas. They have been tried before. They don’t work, can’t work, never have worked, and never will work.

I was door-knocking last night when I met a retired couple and their granddaughter who was (I am guessing) about 10 years old. The granddaughter’s school class had recently toured the State Capitol and had been in the House Chamber. Her grand parents explained who I was and the position was running for.

A little later, after I had gone on to the next house, her grandmother brought her over to me and said she had some questions. She asked me if I sat at the desks with the buttons. I explained that I was trying to get a job sitting at one of those desks and that the desks each have a green button that says “Yea” to vote yes and a red button that says “Nay” to vote no and that the votes would then show on a big board so everybody can see them. I encouraged her participate in her government when she is old enough.

She then asked me where I would like to sit in all those seats. I explained that I would have to sit on the side they told me to sit, because of what party I am in; and that I would like to sit in front if I could.

She said she thought the seats in the back were the best. I think she’s right; the seats in the back would allow me to stretch my legs.

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Dear Taxpayer:

Economic times are tough.

With rapidly increasing prices for food and gasoline, many of us are struggling to make ends meet. Despite this, my opponent, Ann Lenczewski, Chair of the House Tax Committee, voted to raise the income tax, the sales tax, license tab fees and the gas tax. She also voted to put in place another tax on new cars!

My goal is to lower your tax burden, not increase it. That’s why I’m running for the Minnesota State House district 40B seat. If you are interested in change for the better, I respectfully ask for your vote.

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