This week, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was officially endorsed as the 2024 Democratic Party nominee for Vice President at the Democratic National

For those of us who have had a front row seat to some of Walz’s machinations and political decision-making in Minnesota for the past several years, reconciling the current media narrative around Walz with what we’ve seen with our own eyes has been disorienting.

Tim Walz originally decided to run for office as a Democrat after being denied entry to a George W. Bush rally in 2004. He flipped a longtime red Congressional District in 2006, and then proceeded to be one of the most conservative Democrats in the U.S. Congress, ironically aligning himself with many of the Bush Administration policies. He had an ‘A’ rating from the NRA, voted for the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline, supported the big agriculture industry, and was obviously pro-military after serving in the Minnesota National Guard for 24 years.

  • chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world
    393·
    3 months ago

    It’s almost like people can grow and evolve in a nearly two decade span of time.

    I grew up in a Conservative Christian household and was taught to be homophobic, not to trust anyone who wasn’t a Christian because they could be “activated by the devil to work against me at any time”, and grew up with parents who casually used racial, sexist, and other hateful slurs about people.

    Now I’m a very strong LGBTQA+ advocate, actively volunteer for my local Democrat’s office doing phone banking, and am extremely left leaning in all of my views.

    I’m not saying that’s what happened to Walz, but he seems like someone with a big heart who’s trying to do the right thing. If he’s lying about who he is, I’ll be damned if I can tell. He’d have to be exceptionally good at it to seem as genuine as he is. I’m not saying he’s a saint, though. He is human. He’s going to have flaws.

          • chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world
            72·
            3 months ago

            Landlords are fine. Corporations should be banned from owning single-family homes and be forced to stick with apartments. Apartments should have rent control.

            • return2ozma@lemmy.worldOP
              517·
              3 months ago

              Landlords should not exist. They need to stop leeching off the labor of others. Get a real job.

              • chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world
                81·
                3 months ago

                In your mind, though, who would own and operate apartments, townhouses, and single family homes that are for rent?

                I’m open to an opposing argument and curious about what solution you’d propose.

                • Similey@mastodon.social
                  31·
                  3 months ago

                  @chronicledmonocle @return2ozma I think we need landlords, caretakers of property that is otherwise often changing hands. I think the failure of communism has demonstrated what happens when you eliminate too many social variables and remove the incentive to succeed at anything. Capitalism has its own critical failures too, of course.

                  • chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world
                    4·
                    3 months ago

                    Yeah I could see socialized rental housing. I think socialized rental with individual privatized ownership of things like Single Family/Townhouse Homes would work. Cheap housing for rentals while you save to buy a home.

                    Home ownership is an important part of building wealth in America, so unless there is a radical shift or we go significantly more socialist in many categories, it’ll still be necessary for individuals to be able to buy a home.