Opinions

By Reed Anfinson
Publisher
Swift County Monitor-News

An informed electorate is essential to the functioning of representative democracy. In small-town rural America, we hold those in power accountable through the reporting of our community newspapers. Citizens make informed decisions on tax levies, elections, bond sales, the quality of our schools and healthcare facilities, and our communities’ safety through the reporting of their local newspapers.

However, this fundamental underpinning of a democratic society is endangered.

To assess the growing threat and seek solutions, Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Michael Bennet of Colorado introduced the “Future of Local News Commission Act” last month. While the three are democrats, support for community news comes from both sides of the aisles.

By Reed Anfinson
Publisher
Swift County Monitor-News

America is changing. We are becoming more diverse with each passing year and that diversity is going to start having an impact on elections. It’s a bitter thought for some who would hold on to America’s white, male dominated society of the past.

According to a recent Pew Research Center study, all 50 states in America saw their share of what are called non-Hispanic White eligible voters decline between 2000 and 2018. Ten states, in fact, saw their White eligible voter population fall by double digits. This change occurred because Hispanics are a growing percentage of their state populations and because they are getting older.

By Reed Anfinson
Publisher
Swift County Monitor-News

There is an old concept in politics called the “loyal opposition.” The party that is out of power is not seen as the enemy but recognized as made up of fellow citizens with a different point of view when it comes to governing. They share common goals with the  opposing party but see different paths for attaining them.

The role of the “loyal opposition” is to keep the party in power from overreaching and taking the country, state, or other units of government too far in one direction or the other. The majority party consults the leaders of the opposition party, allowing their input, as they craft legislation.
That’s not true anymore. Now the differences between the parties is a chasm. The span so great that compromise cannot bridge it.

By Reed Anfinson
Publisher
Swift County Monitor-News

Perhaps the most common complaint we hear about Congress today is how bitterly divided it is. Democrats and Republicans don’t socialize anymore. They don’t have friends across the aisle like they once did – friendships that  helped them respect one another and negotiate important legislation together.

Now the vast majority are in lockstep with their parties on voting with few crossing over to vote principal over party.

Not all members of Congress are this way but those who genuinely are respected on both sides of the aisle are hardly more than a handful. U.S. 7th District Rep. Collin Peterson is one of those few.

By Reed Anfinson
Publisher
Swift County Monitor-News

There is now less than a month for every Minnesotan to be counted in the 2020 Census. Failure by communities, counties and states to urge their citizens to fill out their census forms will have a deep impact on the future of the services they are able to offer. Failure will mean a loss of representation at the Legislature in St. Paul for rural Minnesota and in the halls of the U.S. House of Representatives. Minnesota would lose votes in the Electoral College.

By Reed Anfinson
Publisher
Swift County Monitor-News

“One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” They are the concluding words of the Pledge of Allegiance. They are a myth.

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” Emma Lazarus’ poem on the Statue of Liberty reads. There are those who would scratch out those words and replace them with “stay out.”

“We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal,” the Declaration of Independence reads - it is an unfulfilled promise.

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.” We are still struggling to form that “more perfect union.”

By Reed Anfinson
Publisher
Swift County Monitor-News

A record 77 percent of Americans could vote by mail in this year’s general election as they try to stay healthy during the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. As many as 80 million ballots could be mailed in this fall, twice as many as in the 2016 presidential election year.

The expected surge in mail-in voting is causing election officials to warn of major problems in getting ballots delivered by the U.S. Postal Service and counted by election officials. Democrats see this logistics problem being compounded by the Trump Administration’s unsubstantiated claims that mail-in voting will lead to massive voter fraud in the Nov. 3 election.

By Reed Anfinson
Publisher
Swift County Monitor-News

We are seeing a lesson unfold with the attempt to complete a 60-game Major League Baseball season during the COVID-19 pandemic. Its success depends on players’ discipline when outside the ballpark, respect for teammates, and thought about how important their continued shortened season is to Americans looking for escape from the oppressing consequences of a deadly pandemic.

Two teams have already failed this test. The Miami Marlins season was interrupted when 18 players and two coaches tested positive. Now the St. Louis Cardinals have been idled due to four players testing positive for the coronavirus.

By Reed Anfinson
Publisher
Swift County Monitor-News

Among the essential characteristics that define a healthy community is active citizen participation in local government. That characteristic is complimented by local elected officials who seek out and respect citizen input to ensure their decisions are representative of the community’s will.

Not all decisions are easy to make. Some, in fact, are divisive and acrimonious. It is during these times that the quality of the elected officials are tested. Too often, those elected officials fail the test. Rather than taking the heat from citizens  and then explaining why their decision moves the community where it needs to go,  they hide behind closed doors.

By Reed Anfinson
Publisher
Swift County Monitor-News

Twitter was hacked July 15.
It’s old news already in our society with its limited attention span and lack of any real concern for what happens on the internet. It’s an intangible thing that can’t be felt physically so it lacks a degree of reality. But this attack on the security and sanctity of Twitter’s trust worthiness could come back to haunt us in the days before the Nov. 3 general election.

President Barack Obama’s Twitter account was taken over. So was that of former Vice President and now presidential candidate Joe Biden.  Billionaire and former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Tesla CEO Elon Musk had their Twitter accounts hijacked. Each of these accounts has millions of followers.

It was considered one of the most severe attacks on the security of an internet social media company in years.