Amend Our Legacy

In many ways, the future of our society and the future of the world in which our children and grandchildren will live will be determined by the outcome of the November election. The person who occupies the White House starting in January, who appoints the next several Supreme Court justices—in short, whose hand is on both the rudder and the button—will determine our course.

It’s appropriate and important to get involved in the campaign. But we also need to remember there are other races and other issues that are terribly important, issues that will also impact our lives and the lives of our children for decades to come. Remarkably, three of those issues have been bundled together into what is known as the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment, and I’m asking everyone I know to vote yes for it in November.

You might ask why on earth we need an amendment to Minnesota’s constitution to fund such broad, seemingly uncontroversial programs, and it’s a fair question. Indeed, until the last few years, I always thought it made more sense to give our governor and legislators complete flexibility to fund all needs out of the state’s general fund. But that position assumes our leaders will always do what is in the long-term interests of the state, not just what is expeditious in order to solve a temporary budget program. Sadly, that utopian view of our leaders’ integrity, self-discipline, long-term vision—call it what you will—is no longer realistic.

A handful of years ago, we had an enormous reserve fund, paid to the state by tobacco companies, which was intended to promote smoking cessation and to persuade young people not to start. But one dark night the fund vanished, and its millions of dollars were used to balance a budget our leaders weren’t strong enough to balance any other way.

If the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment passes, the funds it raises could not be reassigned—or ripped off—by future political leaders for purposes other than those stated in the amendment itself. It would be protected, and it would be a powerful force for good in a state that has seen its quality of life erode, little by little, over recent years.

Shockingly, 40 percent of Minnesota’s lakes and rivers, by one estimate, are polluted or impaired. We simply must make a serious commitment to fixing our water sources, or our natural habitats, wildlife, and our own drinking water are at risk.