Note to what's left of real Republics in North Dakota, few and far between as you may be:  Please just humor me for a minute.  Read this and consider it...

First, let's get something out of the way: No matter how you vote in Tuesday's election, Republicans and their funders -- Harold Hamm, the Koch Brothers, etc. -- are going to continue to own North Dakota for the foreseeable future. If every Democratic legislative candidate won their election this year -- and they won't -- Republicans would probably still have a majority of the legislature and would continue to get their way.  If everybody who reads this blog -- probably a few thousand people between now and the end of voting -- voted straight-party-line Democratic in every race, Republicans would still win a bunch of those races.  

But Democrats might take a few offices and provide some balance.  

Balance.

That's one of two things missing in our state government right now.  We don't have the "checks and balances" governments are supposed to have to be effective, honest, ethical and efficient.  We don't have a State Treasurer who makes sure the other members of -- for example -- the State Investment Board are doing the right thing.  We don't have a single member of the State Industrial Commission who's making sure the other commission members are acting in the public's best interests.  We don't have a member of the Public Service Commission who is looking out for the "public."  We don't have a State Auditor who's able to get up in front of the Legislative Audit and Fiscal Review Committee and explain what's wrong with departments his agency audits without worrying about being ostracised at the next Harold Hamm sponsored silent public-official auction.  

This wouldn't be such a big deal if we had journalists in North Dakota holding our elected officials accountable.  But we don't.  Face it. We don't, and you know it. Our press sucks.  They don't work for us; they work for the Chamber of Commerce and the oil industry.  They just do.

So on Tuesday, after you cast your vote for Mitt Romney at the top of the ticket and are looking down the ballot at all those Republicans and Democrats, consider this: instead of voting for the party that already has absolute power in North Dakota, vote for some balance.  

Vote for Democrats.  

The Democrats are all perfectly qualified candidates.  (And some of the Republicans have no business collecting a government paycheck.)  They won't all win.  

I promise.  

But our government would be better if we had some balance.

And you know it.

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