On Monday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “On Balance,” former Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) said that “for most of my upbringing, Minnesota did work better,” but now “we’re paying a lot more taxes in Minnesota and not getting the services that we once enjoyed.” “And that, I think, does have a lot to do with the migration,” from north to south.
Host Leland Vittert asked, “Is it fair to say that things are objectively worse in terms of public service, for example, in many of these northeast states?”
Phillips answered, “I think most of us are sick and tired of promises made, not kept and a lack of municipal leaders and state leaders that actually execute their jobs the way they’re supposed to, which is to provide the services that we all want, especially mayors. … [W]e have executives who think they’re legislators, we have legislators who think they’re executives, and, in the meantime, snow is piling up, potholes are terrible, traffic jams are immense, and we’re all sick and tired. And, again, another failure, if you ask me, of the two-party system, lack of competition, and the lack, frankly, of, really, the best and brightest executives willing to offer their names for public service as mayors.”
Later, Phillips added, “I grew up in Minnesota, Leland, where we pay higher taxes. We were known as a state that worked. And I think, for most of my upbringing, Minnesota did work better, better education, great civic engagement, great parks, clean water, clean air. But as I traveled the country, certainly as a member of Congress and since, I discovered that we’re paying a lot more taxes in Minnesota and not getting the services that we once enjoyed. And that, I think, does have a lot to do with the migration, certainly from northern states to southern states, because in Minnesota, New York, Michigan, Illinois, we’re not going to attract people because of our lovely winters.”
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