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My Point of View by Jennifer Vogt-Erickson

Corporations, take the wheel.

Let go and let private equity.

Secretive offshore tax havens will provide.

In trust fund babies we trust.

What a friend we have in billionaires.

Consolidation and captured markets make all things possible.

This is the policy agenda of the Republican Party. They work to concentrate more power in the hands of unelected people in the private sector. This means taking power away from people like us and handing it to corporations and wealthy individuals who have no personal stake in our community and want to siphon as many resources from it as possible.

This will not give us personal freedom. This will make us more vulnerable to losing access to clean air, clean water, fair wages, education funding and medical services. It is anti-union and against organizing for the public good. It requires acquiescence to the profound social and economic consequences of wealth inequality.

This is not appealing to a majority of people, so Republicans like Donald Trump are framing their agenda as the only choice we have other than communism. That’s clearly a false choice to anyone who knows the definition of communism.

Of no help to Republicans is that Minnesota, under Gov. Tim Walz and DFL leadership, still managed to notch sixth place for business in CNBC’s rankings this year. Pretty good for “communists” and especially incredible considering that Minneapolis “burned down,” according to Trump at the presidential debate.

The signs of disease in Trump’s thinking were as clear as the splotchy orange patches on his face during the debate, like his claims of immigrants eating neighbors’ pets (local officials says there is no evidence of this), doctors executing babies (infanticide is illegal in every state) or that crime is “through the roof” (violent crime rates were higher during Trump’s last year in office).

In contrast, Kamala Harris was presidential and all of her answers were well within democratic norms and the capitalist mainstream.

Trump also refused to say he wants Ukraine to win the war to save its independence from Russia’s illegal invasion. A few days before, the Department of Justice had indicted the leaders of Tenet Media for funneling $10 million from Russian state media to right wing influencers like Dave Rubin, Tim Pool and Benny Johnson. The men claim to be “victims” in this foreign influence scheme, after not asking basic questions like, “How can this very small company afford to pay me six or seven figures for the content I create?” They are Russian shills, not victims.

Meanwhile, local Republicans are split on whether Project 2025 isn’t really Trump’s agenda (Trump denies his connection to the deeply unpopular plan), or if they should promote it anyway. More than three-quarters of the people who contributed to Project 2025 were members of Trump’s last administration, and he’s likely to appoint many of them again if he’s re-elected, so Project 2025 is clearly the game plan if he regains the Oval Office.

Project 2025 is a comprehensive plan that seeks to roll back child labor protections, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights and environmental protections, as well as eliminate the Department of Education and cut taxes on wealthy people.

At the district level, Rep. Brad Finstad puts corporate power ahead of people, too. His ag committee passed a provision in the new farm bill that would shield chemical giant Bayer from lawsuits brought by farmers who develop cancer from exposure to Roundup.

If you think Finstad has his priorities backward, the good news is that you can vote for Rachel Bohman this fall. She has her priorities right and will put people first.

We already know how little power we have when a large corporation decides to yank vital services from our community. Mayo shuttered our inpatient hospital services, closed smaller clinics in Alden, Kiester and Blooming Prairie, and has closed rural clinics in New Richland, Janesville, Waterville, Lake Mills (Iowa) and Adams within the past year.

Mayo reported an operating margin of $449 million in the second quarter of this year. Mayo doesn’t have to close these services, it chooses to. Mayo is ripping up a little more rural fabric with each decision made in its boardroom by people who don’t know us and don’t care about us.

Why should we give corporations more power and disempower ourselves even more? When we take power back, that’s not communism, that’s ownership of our own destinies.

We have a right to be rural and to stay rural, but voting for Republicans hands a bigger carving knife to corporations, and we are the meal being served.

In ourselves we must trust. Vote for Democrats, up and down the ticket. Early voting starts this week on Friday, Sept. 20.

Jennifer Vogt-Erickson is a member of the Freeborn County DFL Party.