Letters to the editor

We’ve got mail!

Bad business

I’d like to thank Martha Njolomole for her revealing and well-researched article on the sad condition of the business environment in our state. While I’m not sure a liberal media outlet under the NBC umbrella would listen to your organization, it’s hard to argue facts and the truth of the statements in her article. Despite their likely reaction to ignore a piece from a conservative publication, you should send it to them anyway. 

How they can rate Minnesota a “top-five place to do business” when compared with at least some of the states they list in the bottom five defies facts and logic. I have been a strategic business and finance consultant to more than 50 Twin Cities companies under $50 million in revenue over the past 16 years after leaving a 20-year public company finance career. Some of these companies are or were startups and I can assure you the statements made in Martha’s article are true hindrances to a flourishing business community. The owners of these privately held businesses would corroborate my assertions.  

The only way we can collectively thwart devastating leftist and progressive economic and tax policies is to shine the light of truth on their failed outcomes. Thank you to everyone at American Experiment for continuing to do exactly that. My only hope is that your content is spreading nationally.  

Ken Saddler  
Orono, Minn. 

Stay and fight

I read American Experiment columns and articles regularly and enjoy the insight. Thanks for continuing to be naysayers of the DFL. There are so many of us out here in Minnesota just continuing to try to earn a living and save for retirement. We all watch and shake our heads in amazement and shame at what still goes on at the Capitol.  

Keep up the good work on behalf of the quiet, right-minded, normal residents of our state! It’s great knowing that you will always give grief to the left and hold them accountable.

Kirk Stensrud  
Red Wing, Minn.

State of the union

While I agree with many of your comments regarding the Minneapolis police, and the state of our government, I do not agree with your stance on trade unions. I was a union member my whole life and I truly believe the reason we have a middle class is largely due to unions. The non-union workers base their wages off of the union wages. If there are no unions, the pay for all workers will greatly decline. I do not vote DFL across the board, and I know I have some tough decisions ahead, but I do stand with organized labor.

Richard Swanstrom

It doesn’t grow on trees…

I’m left with mixed feelings after reading “Reaping What You Sow,” the story of Lance Nistler, an aspiring farmer who was denied a grant from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture ostensibly because of the color of his skin. On one hand I agree that this was a flagrantly discriminatory act and I therefore support Nistler in his lawsuit. However, the question that wasn’t answered in the story was why the Down Payment Assistance Grant Program exists at all.

“Grant” implies that this is a gift, not a loan. This in a state that famously squandered a $17 billion tax surplus and doubled down by creating countless additional programs that will necessitate tax increases in the future. And now I learn that the first fruits of my labor are going toward making aspiring farmers’ “dream a reality” to the tune of $15K per person.

My household has deferred many a dream due in no small part to this state’s crushing tax burden. I support Lance Nistler in his lawsuit, but question whether the Minnesota Department of Agriculture should be in the dream-making business in the first place.

Thomas L. Bonnett  
Mendota Heights, Minn.