Democrat ideas work in Minnesota

I've written about the Kansas disaster-in-progress that is being formulated and fomented by former Senator, now Governor, Sam Brownback.  I"ve got a shortie coming up on that..   But I found this article of interest, which discusses how Democrat/liberal ideas are being implemented in Minnesota by self-effacing Governor Mark Dayton:


The Unnatural: How Mark Dayton Bested Scott Walker—and Became the Most Successful Governor in the Country

I recommend reading the entire thing.  But here are two excerpted sections that I found of particular noteworthiness:

"Over the past several years, Minnesota has become a testing ground for a litany of policies Democrats hope to enact nationally: legalizing same-sex marriage, making it easier to vote, boosting primary education spending, instituting all-day kindergarten, expanding unionization, freezing college tuition, increasing the minimum wage, and passing new laws requiring equal pay for women. To pay for it all, Dayton pushed a sharp increase on taxes for the top 2 percent—one of the largest hikes in state history. Republicans went berserk, warning that businesses would flee the state and take jobs with them.

The disaster Dayton's GOP rivals predicted never happened. Two years after the tax hike, Minnesota's economy is booming. The state added 172,000 jobs during Dayton's first four years in office. Its 3.6 percent unemployment rate is among the lowest in the country (Wisconsin's is 5.2 percent), and the Twin Cities have the lowest unemployment rate of any major metropolitan area."

 Yeah, that's good.  But wait, there's more:

"Priority No. 1 was raising taxes on the rich. The final tax plan—which bumped up income taxes 2 percent for couples earning $250,000 per year—made Minnesota the fifth-highest tax state in the nation. But the hike paid for an arsenal of new programs. The same day Dayton signed the tax bill, he also approved a $429 million jobs bill. "He was unswayed by the consultants in the Democratic Party who were counseling Democrats to go to the middle to avoid the tax and spend label that is put on Democrats," says Jacobs, the University of Minnesota political scientist."

And yes, it's working.  Now read about Sam Brownback -- and how Kansas isn't working.