Letter to District:

I recently viewed the DVD "Path to War", a made-for-HBO movie. It indicates presciently - it was released in 2002 - how our slow and unending fall into the quicksand that is Iraq is "déjà vu all over again." It chronicles the series of unfortunate decisions that Lyndon B. Johnson was forced to make that led to the enormous buildup and commitment of troops, money, and destruction in Vietnam during his presidency. The film portrays LBJ in a sympathetic light almost like a flawed but essentially good Shakespearean protagonist who succumbs to bad advice, becomes trapped by it, and almost descends into complete madness from it.

I vividly remember the moment when Johnson announced he would not run again. He had become an enemy to many of us at the time, and thus the news that his term would end in less than a year gave us hope once more for the country.

What is key to this film, and what opened my eyes, was his strong objections to the war itself. At each decision point he wrestled with the morality of escalation, and ultimately was led to believe that online casino escalation would bring an end to the fighting. Indeed, history proved otherwise.

What is regrettable is that our current President seems totally immune to the suffering and costs his war in Iraq has begotten. Do we see him agonizing over the injuries and deaths? Perhaps he does in private, but if so he keeps it repressed in public.

At any rate, see the movie and decide for yourselves.

On a related subject, the sentiments below, so eloquently expressed by Deb Hogenson, a DFL activist from Brewster (near Worthington, Minnesota), have often crossed my mind in the last few months, particularly in the weeks following the election. I have considered writing about it, but Deb has done better than I ever could in just a few short paragraphs.

A recent Cornell University poll found that 44% of Americans believe that the civil rights of U.S. citizens who are Muslim should be restricted. The single largest predictor of this belief is religiosity. Put another way, the more you view yourself as a "highly religious" Christian the more likely it is that you believe that people who adhere to the Islamic faith should be treated less fairly by our government than you expect to be treated.

Overall, Minnesota can hold its head high. It didn't buy into the rhetoric and deceit that a majority of Americans seemed to have succumbed to in the presidential race. It's sad that a majority of Americans would support a blackjack leader who took this country to war based on faulty information when the truth was available yet suppressed. It's doubly sad, and indeed frightening, that the myths perpetuated by the White House are still considered to be fact by over two-thirds of the President's supporters.

I say this not as a Democrat but as an American who loves his country and wishes it to survive and thrive. I say this as an American who does not wish to see his country as a bully but as a good neighbor to the rest of the world. I say this as an American who cares deeply about the generations who follow us and who ardently believes that we must leave to our children a planet that is better off than the one we inherited.

In my race I can proudly say that my two opponents ran honorable campaigns. Though Congressman Gutknecht did not debate with me the issues as often as I would have liked, he chose not to use the negative tactics we witnessed in other online casino campaigns. Though we only met once and talked on the phone once, I found him personal, friendly, and straightforward.

I want to thank the hundreds of friends and citizens who contributed to my campaign, and the thousands of volunteers who made our effort - presidential, congressional, and state house - truly cooperative and competitive. I also wish to congratulate the DFL Minnesota State House winners whose districts, either wholly or partially, make up the 1st Congressional District: Ruth Johnson, John Dorn, Patti Fritz, Jeanne Poppe, Andy Welti, Tina Liebling, and Gene Pelowski. They, their campaigns, and volunteers have done a tremendous job.

Equally deserving of praise are the candidates who did not win, but who worked tirelessly with their supporters and volunteers to put forward the ideals that we all share: Kathryn Ness, Richard Peterson, Joe Eckstein, John Gibeau, Terry Clodfelter, Kathy Muellerleile, Jerry Kaphers, Spencer Stevens, Kim Norton, Peggy Hanson, Scott Metcalf, and Sandy Wollschlager.

In sum, this has been a tremendous experience for me, and I hope that as a candidate I fulfilled my obligation to all of you and to all the citizens of Minnesota's 1st Congressional District.