We are less than a month away from the next round of partisan precinct caucuses. Some participants will be enthusiasts who understand the maxim "those who show up rule the world". Some will have entirely local axes to grind and some will find creative release in the draft resolutions that are meant to convey collective opinions to the world at large. This year is an off-presidential election year and so the top of the ticket will be state constitutional officers, then candidates for the US House - the US Senators in Minnesota are not up for election this time around. We will also be contemplating candidates for Hennepin County offices including the Commissioners who are elected in seven individual districts and the Hennepin County Sheriff. There will also be contests for the membership of both the Minnesota Senate and the Minnesota House of Representatives and I rather think some charter amendments may also find their way to this coming fall's ballot. I'm leaving out notice of choices in the judiciary and some lesser offices for brevity's sake. Not all caucuses are alike. The DFL and Green Parties have what amount to "loyalty oaths", meaning that signing in at the precinct caucus means pledging to be supportive of the candidates that intend to seek party endorsement to the exclusion of candidates who march to a different political tune. The IR and IP Parties have no such stipulations and my understanding is that the IR caucuses will occur on the night of February 2nd and the IP gatherings won't be on tap until much later in the month of February. There's plenty of manuevering available to us "political junkies". It's also the case that caucuses and conventions aren't the only road to fame and fortune, as demonstrated by Susan Gaetner's recent announcement that she will persevere in her candidacy for Governor on the DFL primary ballot whatever else happens between now and September. There are literally dozens of candidates coming forward in Hennepin County and the City of Minneapolis jurisdictions with or without party endorsements. After having seen the remarkably thin and almost entirely monochromatic outcome in the 2009 municipal election cycle in Minneapolis, I've let it be known that I will host an IR precinct caucus in my home precinct, departing from both the Green Party label and that of the DFL Party in order to make the point that closed party systems are not particularly helpful. I can assure my old friends State Senator Berglin and Representative Karen Clark that I will be in their corner as has been the case since the early 1990s. It doesn't bother me one whit that they happen to be DFLers. I also want to encourage the Greens, the IRs, and the IP folks to think about running candidates in all the Minneapolis Senate and House Districts so we can have some real dialogues this time around and not the spurious silence of mainstream media indifference and the lackluster performance of the Minneapolis League of Women Voters that worked to the disadvantage of non-incumbents in 2009. I started my political life as a liberal Republican in the early 1960s in Wisconsin. This proved unsustainable in the fullness of time and I now find myself returning to the Republican banner as a matter of free choice - no "loyalty oaths" need apply. I don't expect to find much purchase in the Minnesota IR mainstream for what I believe are obvious reasons. What matters to me is that I can be as frank as I please in the weeks and months ahead. I like the Libertarian purposes that are coming to the fore in at least the Minneapolis IR setting. These folks appear to me to have more heat than light in these early days but they also have a refreshing willingness to listen and to learn, character traits that seem to have become endangered species in our dominant political party apparatus. There's also the appealing notion that Minneapolis IR Chair Niklas Ludwig and his colleagues have a hammerlock on the information management technology that I've been urging our political class to embrace for several election cycles with very spotty results and plenty of "blowback". The IR investment in technology is a commitment I can admire whatever the policy language and political personalities that come to the fore. Welcome to today's tools, say I, and let's have a serious go at the new media while we're at it. Lockstep obedience to a political environment that discourages innovation and pursues a censorious atmosphere that would make the Grand Inquisitor proud is simply not my cup of tea.
