"Faithful Citizenship Now!"
Brian Rusche
Sunday, February 9th, 2003

“We all do better when we all do better.” I can’t remember if this was Paul Wellstone quoting Jim Hightower or if it was Hightower quoting Wellstone but one of them originated the saying, “We all do better when we all do better.”

We all do better when we all do better. We know it’s true. Public health research tells us the health status of an entire community is raised when health disparities are narrowed. In school, kids learn more when they are around other kids who are focused on learning. Your chances of making a good living depends greatly on the prosperity of your neighbors. Our own sense of security is enhanced when living with others who feel secure. Any one of us is more peaceful and civil when we encounter others who are spreading peace and civility.

We are, by nature, by God’s creation, social creatures. Our fates are inextricably tied to one another. We all do better when we build up the common good.

By and large, people in faith communities get this. Our religious teachings emphasize that we are the family of God and the Body of Christ. In spirit-filled places like St. Joan’s, we live out the truth that when one part of the human family suffers, we all suffer. When we allow people to be forgotten or dismissed, we are all diminished. We are of one Body.

For years, this idea that “we all do better when we all do better”was the dominant outlook in Minnesota. It expressed itself in our elections and political systems. Minnesota for many years had a progressive, high-tax-high-service formula that built up, by all average measures, a very high quality of life. For several decades our state outperformed neighboring states and the nation as a whole in just about every health, economic and well-being indicator. This dominant belief in “everyone doing better,” of being part of a whole, fueled support for our schools, for our University, for health services, for a decent safety net, for each other. We have invested in the betterment of our people because of broad-based, pervasive, normative, quiet-yet-powerful, faithful citizenship.

Faithful citizenship, which is about being a part of a whole and tending to the common good, which has served us so well, seems to be losing ground. We are losing ground to a very simple message: “You do better when you look out for yourself.” This message has been expertly packaged and sold on the airwaves with great success. You hear it all the time. “Families are better off keeping more of their own money.” “No new taxes.” These simple, seductive slogans are driving policy as demonstrated by the fact that Minnesota led the nation in passing tax cuts during the tail end of 90s through 2001. What was seductive about the tax cuts during these surplus years is that state leaders told us we could afford both tax cuts and a continuing commitment to public service. Now the economic downtown and the resultant drop in state revenues means we can no longer afford those tax cuts and still maintain our commitment to public service. The budget deficit debate which will unfold over the next several months is a choice between: “are you better off looking out for yourself” or “do we all do better when we all do better?” It is a choice between protecting billions of dollars of tax cuts we can no longer afford and, on the other hand, our long-standing commitment to the common good.

I grew up in Chicago and moved to Minneapolis in the late 70s precisely because of Minnesota’s progressive tradition and Minnesota’s highly-touted quality of life. My observation is that for the past couple of decades we as a people have just assumed that Minnesota can continue to be a very good place to live and that our elected leaders, no matter their partisan stripes, will guard and maybe improve upon our quality of life. We can no longer make this assumption. Ted Kolderie gave a speech at the Minnesota Historical Society about a year ago entitled “The Cold Sunbelt.” He made the point that nowhere is it pre-ordained that there will be an economic engine and relative prosperity where the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers converge. He argued that we managed to build, despite our cold, remote location, a northern sunbelt because of two things: civic leadership and collective investment in the betterment of our people.

Think about it. What is this place, our Twin Cities and our State, without a strong commitment to the common good? Well it’s unfolding right before our eyes. Affordable housing programs, WIC, sustainable agriculture, health disparity grants, higher education, after-school programs and many more initiatives got whacked on Friday in a prelude to what will look like a scorched-earth public sector if we do not get revenues on the table.

Unless the pendulum of public opinion swings, the state House and our Governor will pretty much have their way and scrap huge portions of the safety net, reduce access to education and health care, disinvest in the neediest parts of our state, and protect to-the-end five years of tax-cutting, the benefits of which go mainly to people who already control most of the wealth.

Let me take just a minute to deconstruct the myth that Minnesota’s budget deficit is due to excessive spending. First, the “price of government” index is going down. Not by my accounting but as figured and published by the administration’s Dept. of Finance. The “price of government” measures the total revenues collected by the state and local governments (including the public higher education system) as a percentage of the state’s total personal income. During the mid- to late-90s the “price of government” was about 17.5%. It is forecast to go down to about 15.5% in ’04 and ’05. Two full percentage points lower which doesn’t sound like much until you realize each percentage point applied to the states total personal income would yield about $3.62 billion in the next biennium.

Second, when you hear state officials talk about general fund spending going up by 14% over the last biennium, remember they are counting a lot of new commitments that keep property taxes lower, including the new commitment to have the state fund 100% of K-12, and a complete takeover of district court costs, out-of-home placements for juveniles, and transit levies. If you factor out these new commitments to keep property taxes low, real per capita spending for the next biennium is going to rise about 1.1%. I know I’m getting wonky here, but the point is that we don’t have a spending problem, we have a revenue problem because we passed permanent tax cuts we can no longer afford. If we focus only on the expenditure side, we will dismantle our quality of life.

As people of God and followers of Jesus we have an imagination and a vision of just, healthy communities. We carry each other's burdens. Our sense of personal freedom is balanced with concern for the common good. We invite everyone into the human family, we share our talents, gifts, and resources. We lovingly raise up the next generation. We enjoy and share life's blessings. Faithful citizens build community institutions to get things done that we cannot do alone. We support the notion that taxation should be borne fairly and that taxes must be adequate to meet the needs of the state. This is a vision shared by Minnesota's faith communities. We know deep inside that we are part of a whole; a part of a Body. We must assert this vision and live it out. In fact I would argue that at this time, our state is almost completely reliant on faith communities to keep this vision alive. Faithful citizens are indispensable for the well-being of our state. So what to do? Here’s five quick ideas:

1. Sponsor a teach-in on Minnesota’s finances and tax policy. We can’t govern justly if we skate along on platitudes and sloganeering.
2. Advocate at the Capitol: Participate in JRLC’s Day on the Hill this February 20th and meet with your lawmakers. We need you to be there. We have brochures or you can register on-line at jrlc.org. By all means, support and stay involved with social justice groups.
3. Organize and be strategic. In the very short run, there are two special elections coming up in the next couple weeks. This Tuesday (Feb. 11) a House member will be elected to represent parts of Stillwater and northern Washington County. Perhaps you know people at St. Michael’s in Stillwater or others in the district that you can talk with and urge them to turnout. On Feb. 25 a new House member will be elected from the Osseo/Maple Grove area. Perhaps you can help activists from St. Joseph the Worker or St. Vincent de Paul parishes. In the medium-term, organize yourselves for a very long budget debate. Be prepared to tell lawmakers and the public how proposed cuts will impede the mission work you are already doing. Talk to your neighbors and write letters to newspapers. Join the protests. Call the Governor’s office…often.
4. We need a good, lively fun talk show on community access cable to discuss social justice issues. Is there capacity in this parish to spur such an effort? It seems to me electronic civic journalism is dead. Can we bring it back to life?
5. South-central and north Minneapolis have the lowest voting turn-out in the state. I think one of the most important things St. Joan’s can do is work with other congregations to register and increase the turn-out of your neighbors. We need to encourage all kinds of voters: new Americans, first-time voters, people who have given up. We can’t assume a vital democracy-we must organize it.