I am looking forward to celebrating my son’s first 4^th of July. We will spend time with family, play in the water, watch a boat parade, ooh and aah at colorful fireworks (my wise coworkers have kindly advised me that the sparkly displays may be frightening to my little one this year), and sing songs celebrating our great country! One of the songs we will sing, This Land is Your Land, goes like this:

This land is your land, this land is my land

From California to the New York Island

From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters

This land was made for you and me.

This is one of my favorite songs about America, because it so simply states that “this land was made for you and me.” There is a place in America for all of us. There is a place in Minnesota for all of us. We are all one family. What few people know is that this 1940 song, written and recorded by Woody Guthrie, has additional verses. The following verse seems especially poignant today:

In the shadow of the steeple, I saw my people,

By the relief office, I'd seen my people.

As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,

Is this land made for you and me?

Today marks the first day of our state shutdown. Everywhere we turn, we are inundated with information about the shutdown, and rightfully so. Statewide, our neighbors are feeling many emotions – concern, anxiety, fear, anger, and dismay. Hopefully, some of our neighbors are feeling relief. Relief? Yes, relief. While I had hoped that our Legislative Leaders and the Governor would have agreed to a comprehensive budget solution and passed a healthy budget in a timely manner, I am relieved that they did not pass a state budget replete with cuts and void of fair and progressive revenue. The proposed Health and Human Services budget alone would have harmful effects on many Minnesota children and their families. Had the Governor signed the Legislature’s proposed budget bills, our State would be left to ask itself, “Is this land made for you and me?” I am hopeful that our State’s leaders will soon come to an agreement that allows us to avoid painful cuts and accomplish funding priorities. We need a state budget that invests in all of us, especially Minnesota’s youngest members.

When our children celebrate the 4^th of July, the songs they sing should ring true. When my son is old enough to sing This Land is Your Land, I want him to sing those powerful words in a Minnesota where all of our children thrive. I want him to feel part of a great community, and I want his statewide neighbors to embrace him as their own. I want him to grow and develop in a State where he never has to wonder if everyone belongs.

When you celebrate the 4^th of July this weekend, please take time to reflect on the Minnesota you envision. Should investments in our children – our future leaders, parents, workers and policy makers – be funding priorities? If so, I encourage you to visit (perhaps you can find them at a local 4^th of July parade or celebration), call or e-mail your legislator and tell her or him that it is time to make the necessary, and possibly politically difficult, budgetary decisions to ensure that our State is a place where all children flourish!

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Comments

Thank you for being there and for your many years of service on behalf of children everywhere.  Sincerely, Cheryl D. Munson  Submitted by Cheryl Munson July 14, 2011 - 7:55pm.