The Rotary Club of Edina kicked off a new year on Jan. 3, 2019 with a review of recent volunteer projects and a focus on politics with returning expert on the subject, David Schultz, PhD.
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Click on the link below for more on the meeting...
President, John Flynn opened the meeting with “Be the Inspiration” videos from Hannelore Brucker and Bill and David Clynes (aka the Bill and David show!) ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- Holiday Party thank yous—a warm thanks was extended to Steve Slyce and Marty Kupper for organizing the festive and well attended Rotary Holiday Party! Highlights of the party were shown with photos from the gathering.
- Thank you, Jean Morrison, for your tireless work with the Holiday Gift Giving Program for Cornerstone and 66 West. Jean states: “Edina Rotarians are very generous with donations again this year!” Do you realize that Jean organizes all these gifts and delivers them? She shops with the money donated so that each age group has presents to open? Cornerstone does! As they state in a thank you note: “Thank you for your continued partnership and your incredible support of Cornerstone’s mission. We are especially grateful for your kindness this holiday season. The gifts that your Club collected were wonderful and so very appreciated by our client families.”
- Thank you to the 30 Edina Rotary volunteers who were bell ringers for the Salvation Army at Byerly’s on France Avenue and Jerrys on Vernon Avenue. A very dedicated group!
- We continue with the search for a Club Administrator. Thank you, Jennifer Bennerotte, for spearheading this search!
- The Edina Rotary Foundation Board meeting report was given by Shelly Loberg.
- David Clynes, The Rotary Foundation director, gave a report on TRF giving.
- Edina Rotaract Club announcement from Sam Thompson—the next meeting is Jan. 9 at The Mezz.
- The Snowshoe Golf and Arctic Eating Extravaganza is Jan. 26— signups are still available!
Catherine Gump, almost official as our newest member, was introduced today! Welcome, Catherine, to the No. 1 Club in the Universe!
The following people were visitors at the meeting today:
- Jennifer Bennerotte introduced guests Katie Kielb, Rebecca Michalski, Casey Mahan and Lolly Saunders
- Michael Stanzak introduced guest Andrew Bjornstad
- Royce Pavelka introduced guests Ryan, Wilson, Brian Utley and Christine Pouliat
- David Clynes introduced guest Janet Kang
- Visiting Rotarian Andrea Humphrey from the Edina Morningside Rotary Club
- Visiting Rotarian Cathy Haukedahl from the Eden Prairie AM Rotary Club
Professor David Schultz kicked off the New Year in Edina Rotary with a political overview from recent elections. Schultz is a Hamline University professor of Political Science and University of Minnesota Professor of Law. He is a returning speaker for this group and is an author of more than 35 books and 150 articles. His most recent book is "Presidential Swing States" (2018), wherein he states that “The 2020 U.S. presidential race is arguably already over except for about 12 states and 20 counties." If recent presidential election trends are any indication of what will happen in 2020, Democrats in Texas and Republicans in New York might as well stay home on election day because their votes will matter little in the presidential race. The same might be said for voters in most states and counties in the United States. Conversely, for those in Ohio, Florida, Colorado, Iowa, and a handful of other states, every vote matters.
Such a bold and revealing comment started the presentation. Dr. Schultz then settled into his theme for this presentation: Political (Critical) Realignment.
Historically, every 30-35 years, driven by different factors, we get elections of critical realignment. Voter turnout spikes, how people vote shifts within a party or from one party to another, an emergence of new parties or coalitions form. The party winning in that time period becomes the party for the next 30-35 years. This is a historic reality and not an issue of contention.
Dr. Schultz sited the presidential elections of 2016 and 2018 potentially as being part of this critical realignment. In 2016, the Deep South, which was traditionally Democrat, voted republican. In 2016 when Donald Trump won the presidency, we saw white working-class Americans with college degrees cross over and vote Republican. There are many factors debated about why this happened. But in 2016, Hillary Clinton won all the urban counties; Trump won the outstate and agricultural areas.
However, trending in elections denotes that over a 20-25-year period, suburban women living in affluent areas were beginning to move away from the Republican party because of different issues. In 2016, Hennepin and Ramsey county voter turnout was down. Suburban women were the majority of voters in 2018. They drove the election. The election was about suburban districts crossing over to vote democratic. The blue wave of moving the Democrats back into control is the result of the increased suburban woman voting and carrying the 2018 elections
Dr. Schultz also discussed the current animosity in politics and his prediction is that in about 10 years this behavior will disappear. The reasons in part will be the voters, primarily Millennials and Gen Xers, and the issues—immigration, LBGTQ rights, etc. Most of the voters will already have some level of understanding of and agreement with these issues.
Bedtime reading...for political junkies, check out: http://schultzstake.blogspot.com/. Your curiosity will be piqued!
