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My Point of View by Brad Kramer

This economy is not heading in a good direction. When people divide you against “the rich,” do you know who I see? Jennifer Vogt-Erickson wouldn’t recognize the rich people I know as being “the rich” that Democrats talk about. Business owners who still work seven days a week to ensure business goes on. Farmers who bought the family farm and are millionaires on paper but put in endless workdays. Landlords who paid loan payments out-of-pocket on their rentals when their government wouldn’t let them evict bad tenants. They couldn’t even evict people who were destroying their property! The people I know in my community who constitute “the rich” that Jennifer demonizes are working harder than ever to make things work. They give me hope.

The COVID-19 lockdowns hurt a lot of people as suicide, addictions, domestic violence, and of course, the riots, devastated many families. Many businesses closed their doors or worse — had their doors closed by government permanently. However, we have seen a surge in small businesses because people who had been furloughed started a side hustle, and that side hustle spurred a real business. Many parents lost day care during COVID and ended up quitting work and day care altogether and making up the difference with any number of side hustles. The number of homeschooling families skyrocketed as families like us took control of our children’s education and upbringing. Families returning to family values while finally realizing more government wasn’t the answer gives me hope. Our caucus was filled with so many young people who had a message of not being able to remain neutral as Democrats used COVID as an excuse for overreach. As many people also started working from home and being able to design their lives around their values rather than consumerism, capitalism is bringing solutions through new business models and automation to allow consumers to influence the economy. The mainstream media has turned to rubbish in recent years, and there are now media sources being created to fill the void of quality investigative journalism. That is capitalism at work. If your product is garbage, people stop buying it and buy something else. That gives me hope! 

Minnesota is one of 12 states that taxes Social Security. Jennifer tried to distract you in the last column from the real issue that Rep. Peggy Bennett is trying to solve. Peggy, true to her fashion of people before politics, pushed for a bill that would eliminate the taxes paid on Social Security benefits for everyone. Citizens are required to pay into Social Security, take risks that they will not receive benefits when they pay in, get no say in how their funds are invested, have numerous controls on when and how they can withdraw what they paid into, and Jennifer wants to argue that some senior citizens should still pay taxes on it. She twisted Peggy’s stance from Social Security should not be taxed, to accusing Peggy of pushing a bill that Jennifer claims benefits people she feels should be taxed more aggressively. This factors into how retirees decide if they want to retire in Minnesota or states like Florida and Arizona or how their taxes are calculated if they spend winters in warmer climates. 

We pay lots of taxes. Income, property, sales, gas, inheritance, capital gains, and so on and so on. Then we pay vehicle registration, licenses and fees, and endless other forms of taxes. I’m happy to pay taxes for an effective infrastructure, strong education system, government services and the other things that make our lives better, but we need to attack the waste in government. As people get squeezed by the endless taxes that Jennifer thinks we should pay, remember that when you pump gas and pay a utility bill that seems bigger than ever. I appreciate that Joe Pacovsky agrees with President Trump that we should eliminate unnecessary OSHA and EPA regulations, according to his recent column. As a safety consultant, I’m on board with that! However, even his solution went as far as starting a committee that reviews regulations — the typical answer of a Democrat who wants to attack waste is appoint another government body to find waste. Brilliant Joe — I liked Trump’s strategy better, but I’ll take the glimmer of hope that you recognize there is overreach in the current regulations. 

Pacovsky’s recent column deserves some focus because of how out of touch and uninformed his understanding of regulations are, but Jennifer’s last column following her usual rhetoric of telling you how evil the rich are and following her usual tactics of turning our community against each other, while not being truthful about the Marxist principles she pushes, needed some attention first.  

I see hope in the many Americans who have tenacity and grit focusing on living their vision of The American Dream. 

Brad Kramer is a member of the Freeborn County Republican Party.