Read This First
I am calling for accountability. I am applying accountability to my own party, the DFL, first. If accountability is only applied to Republicans, it is not accountability, it is theater.
I have learned that people don’t like accountability when it is applied to them. We got to where we are in Wright County because a lot of well meaning, sincere folks, including voters, party leaders, and politicians, made unfortunate decisions. We need to start making better decisions, and that only happens if we hold ourselves accountable.
Every voter, whether they are Republican, Democratic, or Independent, asks politicians the same question: “What are you going to do for me”?
Every politician needs to answer that question clearly: “I am going to do X for you.”
Politicians who do not answer this question directly will not win. Out here in Wright County, Republicans are much better at answering this question. Generally, we local Democrats suck at answering this question. Instead, we preach to the DFL choir because that is easier and more fun. This is why we lose.
Hello! I’m Dan Fiskum, of D.F.L. – Dan Fiskum Law. I’m an attorney in Wright County with offices in Delano and Minnetonka. My wife and I have lived in Rockford for almost 20 years.
This blog is about politics and law. Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Tip O’Neil, famously said that all politics is local. He was right. Accordingly, much of this blog is about what is happening out here in Wright County and the western ex-urbs of the Twin Cities.
Fair disclosure: I’m a reasonable Democrat. I am a capitalist, not a Marxist, a communist, or a socialist. And as a capitalist, I believe in a fair, progressive tax code.
I also believe in the U.S. constitution and all 27 amendments. I don’t just believe in the 2nd amendment to the exclusion of all others. The 1st amendment, the 4th amendment, the 5th amendment, the 14th amendment, and the others are all equally important. (We could have done without the 18th amendment, but then the problems that presented were fixed by the 21st amendment.)
I used to say that I’m a Democrat in the Humphrey, Mondale, Wellstone tradition. But I realized that most voters today do not know who Humphrey was. (Hint: Humphrey was from Waverly, MN, and he made a historically important speech at the 1948 Democratic convention, advocating against states rights and in favor of equal rights for Black people. He went on to become a United States senator and vice president under President Johnson.)
Because of my visceral reaction to what ICE did to the Twin Cities this past year, I went to the local DFL precinct caucus and was nominated to run for state representative in House District 29A. After attending the DFL District 29 convention, seeing what was happening there, and seeing what was happening in other races, I decided to seek the DFL nomination for Senate District 29. I ran in the primary election. My opponent, Louis McNutt, who was the endorsed candidate, won the primary and is now the DFL nominee for Senate District 29. I support McNutt and hope he wins the election. I told him this on election night, when I called him to congratulate him on his victory.
I understand that what I did alienated many Democrats. But I did what I did for a reason. I don’t know how to sugar coat this:
The DFL leaders and DFL candidates out here are living examples of the Dunning-Kruger effect. This is a cognitive bias where people with limited knowledge greatly overestimate their competence.
The Dunning-Kruger effect makes it difficult for us to take practical steps to win elections. We don’t know how to win elections, so we make excuses. We say we can’t win elections because this is a Republican district. I say it is a Republican district because we don’t know how to win elections.
There needs to be a conversation about how Democrats can win elections out here. This blog is about that.
My law firm is called D.F.L. – Dan Fiskum Law. This is sometimes shortened as D.F.L. My law firm, and this website, have no connection to the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor party. My work as an attorney, my political opinions, and this website, are not endorsed by, affiliated with, or sponsored by the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor party.