Why We Live Here

    The front door after hours of shoveling to get to it.
     We're nearly ready for Christmas.

The snow fell and fell and fell! I shoveled for more than five hours, just to keep the path to the garage open and the walkway up to the house clear. I cussed a few times, but, deep-down, I really loved it. While I shovel snow I have time to think clearly about lots of things.
by Charlie Leck

One thing I know for sure is that I would be nowhere else – well almost nowhere else. I love it here in winter, but I’m always thrilled to see springtime roll in.

Most of my readers are not Minnesotans. Many of them are from places like SC, GA, FL, AZ and CA. The only sense of understanding I get from them comes because nearly all of them were once northerners. They understand. They remember snow and they remember loving it; however, that was when they were young, free spirited and a bit on the crazy side. Now they want warm and dry roads to drive on and driveways that don’t need to be cleared of snow.

Pity them!

Winter has roared back to Minnesota – and this after a nearly snowless and coldless winter last year. What fun to have the season return and settle on the land as it should.

Some of you, reading in other places about the terror of the snow in Minnesota, forget it! Don’t believe it! All is well and beautiful here and those of us who are real Minnesotans are happy as all get out about the return of the real season.

Here are a few pictures that I took on Monday morning right here around the house. Have a nice toddy on the patio for me tonight and shake your head, if you must, about that dumb son-of-a-bitch up there in Minnesota.

    The view from the west side of the house, out into the woods
     that lead down to Pioneer Creek that ambles through our property.

    That's our quarter-mile long driveway that can be a bit
    challenging on a day like today.

    That's a stairway leading up to a little guest apartment
    above our detached garage. It's difficult to get up there
    during a winter like this one.

    An attractive little welcome slate greet guests
    who will stay in our little apartment.

    The view from our kitchen window, looking south toward the
    creek and the farm.

All is well. I am happy! Life is good.

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Ron Paul Owns Minnesota GOP

Well, the title of this blog might be somewhat an exaggeration, but I wanted it to catch your attention so I might explain to you how deeply the Ron Paul libertarian political philosophy is penetrating into Minnesota.

by Charlie Leck

Headlines in the Monday morning StarTribune (newspaper of the Twin Cities in Minnesota):  RON PAUL DISCIPLES SEEK LOCAL OFFICES.

Ron Paul put together an organization in Minnesota that was very successful. Forget about national office and national ambitions. Ron Paul’s followers are looking to take over local governments and grow the Ron Paul philosophy from there.

Start with the fact that Ron Paul candidates will run for 26 seats in the Minnesota State Legislature.

Here are some blips from the story:

“A lot of the Ron Paul supporters are socially liberal and 180 degrees from the social agenda of a lot of GOP activists. This is just night and day,” said Carleton College political science Prof. Steven Schier. “If you’re going to grow the party that way, expect a lot of big fights.”

“Paul, who expects to send nearly 200 delegates and perhaps 500 supporters in all to the national convention in Tampa, talks often about efforts to “grow our movement” and bring the Republican Party back to “its limited government, liberty roots.”

What Minnesotans have to remember about Ron Paul is that he is quite liberal socially and there are many of his positions that I could accept and even endorse; however, he would never be able to pay for any kind of programs to promote or institute those liberal positions because he wants incredibly small government and almost no government spending. So, Ron Paul takes positions about more freedom, more free choice… without any kind of structure to support those positions. Rather, he depends upon the good will and kindness of the people.

If this is a confusing blog, I’ve accomplished my purpose; for Ron Paul and libertarianism, in general, is very perplexing – it is liberalism without any teeth and it is conservatism in that it argues for intensely small government.

How successful will the Paul followers be in their efforts to win positions in both local government and state government? My guess is that very, very few of them will win seats in county or state government slots. A number of them will win positions in town and small city elections. Mind you, I said these are guesses. I have nothing to support this conjecture – nothing at all! We’ll just have to see.

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Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.