Americans must get involved now to decide whether their country will provide opportunity for all, or will exist to help the rich get richer, U.S. Senator Mark Dayton told delegates to the Minnesota AFL-CIO convention.
Minnesota?s senior senator addressed more than 800 union members attending the annual event Monday at the Minneapolis Hilton.
Blasting the 3 million jobs that have been lost since George W. Bush took office and the billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy, Dayton said, ?You don?t have to be patriotic in America anymore ? you just have to be rich.?
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U.S. Senator Mark Dayton addressing the Minnesota AFL-CIO convention. |
He urged union members and all Minnesotans to mobilize for the 2004 elections to change the direction the country is heading.
?You give them (Bush and his cohort) five more years, you won?t recognize this country,? Dayton exclaimed. He cited the administration?s opposition to extended unemployment benefits for jobless workers, its attacks on overtime laws and its prescription drug program, which Dayton called ?a cruel hoax for our seniors.?
The Bush administration is a ?mean-spirited, cold-hearted, deceitful, dishonest group of people? that is ?wrong for America,? Dayton said. He also condemned the policies of Governor Tim Pawlenty?s administration, which he said is destroying the high quality of life in Minnesota.
Pawlenty?s budget cuts to education and services for children are ?shameful,? Dayton said, chiding Pawlenty for accepting money from a telecom company while running for governor. Pawlenty received several thousand dollars as a consultant and served on the board of the company, but said he was not accountable for illegal ?slamming? in which the company switched people?s phone service without their authorization.
?I had my problems with Governor Ventura, but at least when he was into slamming, it was pro wrestlers, not senior citizens,? Dayton joked.
?When these people run for office and say they want to run government like a business, be sure to ask them which one they have in mind.?
But Dayton was somber in reflecting on the sacrifices American soldiers are making in Iraq. ?They?re not standing there to provide jobs for people in sweatshops overseas, or so we can make the superrich even richer or so elected officials can lather their own accounts,? Dayton said.
?The founding principles of this country and this democracy . . . those don?t mean what they?re supposed to mean unless they?re real, and that?s why unions are the most democratic institutions in America and we need them now that our democracy is threatened.?
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Americans must get involved now to decide whether their country will provide opportunity for all, or will exist to help the rich get richer, U.S. Senator Mark Dayton told delegates to the Minnesota AFL-CIO convention.
Minnesota?s senior senator addressed more than 800 union members attending the annual event Monday at the Minneapolis Hilton.
Blasting the 3 million jobs that have been lost since George W. Bush took office and the billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy, Dayton said, ?You don?t have to be patriotic in America anymore ? you just have to be rich.?
![]() |
U.S. Senator Mark Dayton addressing the Minnesota AFL-CIO convention. |
He urged union members and all Minnesotans to mobilize for the 2004 elections to change the direction the country is heading.
?You give them (Bush and his cohort) five more years, you won?t recognize this country,? Dayton exclaimed. He cited the administration?s opposition to extended unemployment benefits for jobless workers, its attacks on overtime laws and its prescription drug program, which Dayton called ?a cruel hoax for our seniors.?
The Bush administration is a ?mean-spirited, cold-hearted, deceitful, dishonest group of people? that is ?wrong for America,? Dayton said. He also condemned the policies of Governor Tim Pawlenty?s administration, which he said is destroying the high quality of life in Minnesota.
Pawlenty?s budget cuts to education and services for children are ?shameful,? Dayton said, chiding Pawlenty for accepting money from a telecom company while running for governor. Pawlenty received several thousand dollars as a consultant and served on the board of the company, but said he was not accountable for illegal ?slamming? in which the company switched people?s phone service without their authorization.
?I had my problems with Governor Ventura, but at least when he was into slamming, it was pro wrestlers, not senior citizens,? Dayton joked.
?When these people run for office and say they want to run government like a business, be sure to ask them which one they have in mind.?
But Dayton was somber in reflecting on the sacrifices American soldiers are making in Iraq. ?They?re not standing there to provide jobs for people in sweatshops overseas, or so we can make the superrich even richer or so elected officials can lather their own accounts,? Dayton said.
?The founding principles of this country and this democracy . . . those don?t mean what they?re supposed to mean unless they?re real, and that?s why unions are the most democratic institutions in America and we need them now that our democracy is threatened.?