Northland papers defend against Red Menace; Huzzah!

Unsurprisingly, the election year conservatism of the Mesabi Daily News and Duluth News-Tribune have led to McCain endorsements. Both endorsements used taxes as the primary justification. The DNT editorial board, which — during most of the year — advocates an active government that pays as it goes, has even reversed itself now in calling Obama’s policies “socialistic.” That’s really all the evidence you need to know that the DNT in particular has its endorsements imposed upon it by higher levels in the corporation during election seasons.

The MDN hasn’t endorsed a Democrat for president this century, so Bill’s choice was unsurprising. Using taxes as the main justification was a surprise. There are only a handful of people on the entire Iron Range who might (stress might) see tax increases under Obama’s progressive tax plan. Their names would literally fit on a postcard. (Remember, the Obama definition of middle class is less than $250,000 a year, which is both a realistic cutoff and a freaking fortune for anyone living on the Iron Range. Virtually everyone on the Range would see a tax cut under the Obama plan that’s larger than what McCain is promising. And the others would see tax rates similar to those paid under Bill Clinton, when the economy was good and current rich people got rich. In the worst cases, the ultra rich would pay the rates seen under the Communist regime of Ronald Reagan.

The vast majority of McCain’s support on the Iron Range has to do with guns, gays, religious fundamentalism, abortion or what I’ll just call “the culture wars.” But we can’t talk about that. A smaller number of fiscal conservatives do exist, but they don’t drive the GOP machinery on the Iron Range. And I remain unconvinced that Republican numbers will toll much higher than usual around here.

But I agree with Bill Hanna’s close in his editorial. The voters are the only poll that matters. It’s cliche, but true. This is the most exciting election of our time; it may be years before we see a wide open cycle like this one. And Tuesday’s vote will say so much about our country, our state and the Iron Range.

I like this letter in the Marshall Helmberger’s Timberjay up in Tower on the Vermilion Range. The Timberjay endorsed Obama, but — for the record — I still maintain that newspaper endorsements are silly. Editorials should seek to provoke educated debate. Endorsements seek to end educated debate.

Let’s vote this.

Oh, by the by, fans of history should compare the sentiment of today’s DNT and MDN editorial pages to that of the editorial pages of Range papers in 1908, when steel barons were trying to crush the labor movement. The same now as it ever was.