I recently spent a semester on the Gustavus Social Justice, Peace and Development study abroad program in India. I learned a lot about justice in our world, but looking back on my experiences, one issue sticks out in my mind as one in which we all can make a difference. This is the issue of child labor. I came in contact with child laborers during … Continue reading Don’t buy from child labor abusers

It is too often that our desire to get new things exceeds our ability to pay for them. This is not only true for children at the candy store and adults in the electronics store; it is also true of our state government. Since 1960, Minnesota’s general fund budgets have increased by an average of 21 percent every two years. That figure is unsustainable.  Because … Continue reading Minnesota state budget

Last year, the insurance companies gutted health care, the banks walked off with a trillion dollars in bailouts and oil coal, and nuclear lobbyists hijacked the clean energy jobs bill. That was before the Supreme Court recognized corporations as equal to individual citizens and effectively repealed all limits on corporate political spending. Everyone knows that it costs millions of dollars to run for political office. … Continue reading Campaign Finance