鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter if you are left, right or somewhere in between,鈥 she chastised other commenters. 鈥淎ny help from anyone is needed and greatly appreciated. … Negativity does nothing for us. Positivity gives us hope for our town鈥檚 future.鈥
I called Joy and asked why she had decided to weigh in.
鈥淚t just rubs me so wrong when people just have these negative comments,鈥 she told me. 鈥淧olitics doesn鈥檛 matter when you are a devastated community that is going to need help.鈥
Our political environment encourages us to hate. Hatred gets us out to the polls, erodes the electability of opposition candidates. I remember talking to someone who hated President Bill Clinton when he was in office and then believed, years later, that Clinton was actually somewhat likable. Hatred is only useful when someone has power. Afterward, the hate mongers drop the elected officials, and we鈥檙e allowed to see them once again as human beings.
I can understand why people don鈥檛 like Walz. He鈥檚 been governor during some terrible times in Minnesota and made tough calls, including blocking evictions and closing restaurants during COVID. If you took COVID seriously, you were grateful to him. If you believed it was a hoax, you resented him.
Walz held office during the violence in the aftermath of George Floyd鈥檚 death and didn鈥檛 call out the National Guard soon enough in my book.