The day after an election always seems like a good time to check in on the seat of government. Particularly after an election day which saw an unusually high rate of
employee turnover it seemed prudent to verify that it was still possible to peaceably assemble to petition the government for redress of grievances. Unless they are operating some sort of gulag behind that curtain it sure looks to me like business as usual.
In this country when one side loses an election the losers don't throw bombs, they hire movers and get out of the way to let the winners move into the seat of government. It appears that that is what will happen here again. At least for today anyway there was no sign of any tanks or storm troopers at the Capitol.
It has not always been quite so easy.
One of the greatest heroes of Minnesota,
Governor Floyd B. Olson.
In 1934 the Citizen's Alliance was attempting to suppress a legal strike of teamsters at the Minneapolis Farmers' Market. Minneapolis Police had joined with the undeputized forces of the Alliance intent on breaking the strike. Violence erupted.
Three workers were killed. Governor Olson called out the National Guard. The legal right to strike was recognized and order restored.
Speaking to the 1934 Farmer-Labor party convention Governor Olson said, "I am not a liberal. I am what I want to be — a radical."
Floyd B. Olson, a Minnesota hero.
4 comments:
The capitol building reminds me of the Wizard of Oz for some reason.
Floyd was a mensch.
How did you find a patch of blue on this the glummest of cloudy November days?
It is a tiny bit of nice blue, isn't it? Just framing and accenting Floyd and the skyline.
Actually as I left the house I thought my blog title was "Revert to Blue". We had very, very blue here just for a few minutes. I got about two miles before the overcast reasserted itself.
Floyd B. Olson is definitely a MN hero. Excellent story.
I assume there is some sort of restoration going on at the Capitol? I'd heard that it was necessary but didn't realize they'd started already.
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