To the editor:

Your View 3-29-21 made fun of Jeremy Munson’s proposed bill that would allow “some” western Minnesota counties to secede from Minnesota. Not surprisingly, Jeremy’s idea is nothing new. Efforts by northern California counties to create a State of Jefferson have been ongoing for decades. Residents of Southern Illinois counties have created “2nd Amendment Sanctuary Counties” to end-around Chicago’s unconstitutional 2nd Amendment restrictions. Residents of “Upstate” New York have been trying (unsuccessfully) for 24 of the last 28 years to secede from the metropolitan City of New York.

What do all four of these areas have in common with Minnesota? Minneapolis/St. Paul has joined the likes of Los Angeles, Chicago and New York in Democrat control of politics of their respective states. The accompanying moral and urban decay is evident. All four of these states are rich in natural resources and agriculture. On a recent visit to Sacramento, CA I asked residents why their efforts to create the State of Jefferson continue to fail. They simply shook their heads and said Southern California needs their water. Similarly, our Twin Cities area needs our states’ natural resources to exist. The only REAL wealth any state or country has, comes from Mother Earth. Soil, water, minerals, sun, energy, agriculture, the list is long. Rural areas don’t need metro areas. They need us, plain and simple.

With the metropolitan areas comes LOTS of votes. Votes that bring politicians, LOTS of politicians, and LOTS of corruption. Lots of corruption brings LOTS of regulations that very few of us rural residents need. And so it goes. Governor Walz has his “One Minnesota,” President Biden has his “Unity.” Both of them run roughshod over rural residents. Blue vs. Red.

For the record, I do disagree with Munson’s “some” western counties seceding. I suggest the seven county Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area remain “Minnesota”, a sort of “Mini-sota”, if you will. The rest of the state could become the State of “East Dakota”. If South Dakota is willing, I propose East Dakota share Kristi Noem as our governor as a cost saving measure. Oh, and lets build a wall around Mini-sota for good measure.

Paul Platz

Lafayette