Brad Mills, Jamestown
In this election season, we hear a lot from the Republican party and their cheerleaders about how Republicans deserve all the credit for the economic success in North Dakota, and how we need to bring "The North Dakota way" to Washington to solve the nations problems.
The problem is that Republicans have had almost nothing to do with North Dakota's economic success. They did not magically inject all that oil into the Bakken Formation, nor did they magically control the weather and the commodity prices in recent years that has helped the agricultural sector. Their single greatest accomplishment is to pat themselves on the back for all of this, and deliberately misinform the voters to keep them voting Republican.
Let's think about the "North Dakota way" for a minute. North Dakota prides itself on being a self reliant, conservative right wing state, and yet it has been heavily subsidized by the federal government for decades. Were it not for the fact that this state has received almost $2 for every $1 it pays into federal taxes, we would have nothing. Furthermore, our Republican leaders seem to have no problem taking federal money for flood relief, while it sits on a massive budget surplus.
The "North Dakota way" is the way of the typical welfare queen, which means that it is part of the problem, not the solution.