Liberal in the Land of Conservative

A letter from Jeremiah:

Dearest Bemidji,

Hello there. I am Jeremiah Liend. Today I filed for the office of mayor. It is a decision I have considered well during the last four years. Four years ago I ran for the same office on a platform of change. I ran with a campaign budget of $200. I ran for the common man. Over 1,200 fine people cast their lot with me in the belief that I had the ability to affect change and I thank them for their votes. Four years later I have seen little change for the better.

The last few years I have been listening. I do not listen merely in conference rooms or halls. I listen where my people congregate. My people work the unpleasant jobs that keep the stuttering gears of commerce grinding away. My people are uninsured and desperate for a chance. My people are a renegade assortment of artisans and merchants hoping for the American dream to be more than just that. My people are mad as hell. They are the people who encourage me to fight the good fight and to that end, I enter the ring. To my people I tip my hat and assure them that a vote for me is a vote for them.

There are a number of failures and shortcomings I could rail against. Every mistake over the last four years has been mentally catalogued and filed. But I do not want to play that game. I don’t want to tear anyone down or point fingers. Rather I would like to offer a vision of something better. More complete and powerful than anyone is willing to offer these days. Inside me dwells a pack of dreams and machinations to make Bemidji into the city I know it can be.

The people in power want to see Bemidji evolve into the next Brainerd or Saint Cloud. The cities they strive to become are limited by their fear of the unknown and the grumbling dissent of the old guard’s status quo. I have no such fear. When I look into the future I see Bemidji taking it’s rightful place as the crowned city of the Mississippi, a sibling of the Saints Paul and Louis and the mouth to New Orleans roar. The one city the mighty Mississippi would travel north to visit deserves better. I defy those who claim it cannot be done. We are a community of great people and I truly believe that, working together, there is nothing we cannot accomplish.

I have assembled a series of stratagems called “The Bunyan Initiative”. It’s end game is to make our city famed and prosperous. Our Florence but requires the Medici, men and women with the power, will, and ability to invest in the vast reserves of talent we have left unexplored for far too long. When I look at the marvel of Bemidji what I find most amazing [and tragic] is not that it lacks in ability and resource, but that our leaders have not used them. Production companies lurk in basements, desperate for assistance. Local business owners facing recession combat a legion of corporations without ally or weapon. Three great colleges see students arrive, learn, and escape without a second glance to an anemic and failing job market.

Amid it all I find myself wanting only one job and one charge. I want the office of mayor for but a two year term in which I hope to wrestle the wheel of progress away from the discouraged and fearful and direct our course into a bright new future. A future where taxes are eliminated and not raised. A future where our people speak out and our leaders listen. This is your wake up call to the revolution. You need not live in anger and fear of being ignored any longer. I will bring your word to those in power and they will tremble from your assembled voice.

I make these promises: First; I will fill every vacant downtown storefront with local business owners by the end of my two years. The first component of “The Bunyan Initiative” details just how to do it. Second; I will always vote for bids to go to local companies. The time of throwing your tax dollars out of Bemidji will end. We are not a group of bumpkins and incompetents but a powerful assembly of greater Minnesota’s best and brightest. And finally I promise to place the struggling masses of rent-poor wage-earners that this city is built on in the forefront of every policy I enact and every vote that I cast.

Four years ago I ran on a platform of change. I ran for the common man and nearly a quarter of Bemidji believed I had the ability. Four years later I have seen little change for the better. This time around I am taking no prisoners. I need your help to make this revolution a reality.

If everyone who voted for me in the prior election convinced two other people to vote for me, it would be a victory for the books. I thank you in advance for your time, your vote, or any other assistance you would lend to me.

Yours most sincerely,

Jeremiah T. Liend