Because two of the Override Six are from Spot's neighborhood - Senate District 41 - he has heard a lot of the wailing about the traitorous Ron Erhardt and Neil Peterson, culminating in their failing to be endorsed by the GOP for re-election. One of the phrases repeated over and over is that the Override Six failed to observe one of the "core beliefs" of the GOP: lower taxes, sometimes pronounced "tat-sez" by many Republicans. It began to sound like a talisman or a holy writ to Spot.
So, Spot did a search on the term "Marty Seifert core belief" and this is part of a blog comment to the very first hit that came back, and, not surprisingly, it's a comment to a post at the circus billboard that is also known as Minnesota Democrats Exposed:
More fundamentally, however, their vote went against the party platform. In voting the way that they did, those legislators thumbed their noses at one of the critical principles that define Republicans in Minnesota. It’s like being Catholic but not believing in the divinity of the Virgin Mary.
I think that we all agree that there are times and places where one should and likely must compromise in order to make the wheels of government work. It is unreasonable to expect people to dig in and fight every time. However, there are also times when a particular issue arises that goes against a core belief. An issue that defines you as a person or group. At those times, there can be no compromise, no surrender. In those moments, one must fight for those beliefs with all of the passion and heart they can muster.
Exactly. The author of this comment said it quite well, and with a more explicit reference to religion than Spot might have dared. Well, probably not, but never mind. As the commenter suggests, a core belief is something that is accepted as true irrespective of the presence or absence of proof, and even when there is common sense evidence to the contrary. The core belief - or faith - does not admit the possibility of exception or error. To do so would call the entire belief system into question.
The Override Six are not merely dissenters: they are apostates. As such, they must be excommunicated, or better yet, killed.
MPR reports that Marty Seifert used a Civil War analogy to explain the situation; the override vote was Bull Run and the election will be Gettysburg for the Republicans. Spot's got a better analogy for you, Marty: the French Revolution:
But the French Revolution ironically was a failed revolution: Liberté, Egalité, and Fraternité quickly descended to the towering figure of Robespierre and his Reign of Terror as the revolution spun out control and began to murder itself.
Guess who is starring in the role of Robespierre in this remake, Marty?
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