Note:  This column, written by Senator Marty back in June 1997 shows how investments in prevention could have prevented many of the problems causing our current budget crisis.

Imagine political campaigns that focus on the challenges facing our communities and candidates who spell out their ideas instead of attacking opponents. Unfortunately, politics in the 1990s has  too often been characterized by vicious attacks on the opposition.  While DFL candidates in District 54 have worked to improve political discourse, other candidates have not.

Replacing political attacks with policy agendas would show us how shallow our vision has become.  Envision the way things can be, the Minnesota you'd like to see ten years from now.

Let's use school preparedness as an example:

Minnesota 2007:  All children come to school ready to learn.  Yes, many parents don't have good parenting skills, but we are aggressively addressing that through parenting education in Head Start and ECFE, affordable and accessible to all parents.

Yes, some households do not provide nurturing, loving families for children, but we are aggressively addressing chemical dependency and mental health problems in those families. We are providing support and nurturing for those children through Foster Grandparent and Big Brother/Sister programs, as well as through early childhood education programs.

Yes, some parents never read to their children, but now, no child enters school without experiences with books and reading.    Children no longer waste school mornings with minds focused on their empty stomachs, we have virtually eradicated childhood hunger.  Most of the people who were on welfare received extensive job training and support, and are working. The Sliding Fee Childcare Program provides low income parents quality day care.

Our juvenile crime rate has been cut dramatically through early intervention with troubled kids.  Drugs, gangs, and teen pregnancies have fallen off sharply.

Is this an impossible dream?  We certainly are not close to reaching it yet.  This year Minnesota  finally provided funding for Sliding Fee Childcare, though we failed every other measure.

Thirty years ago, Robert Kennedy reminded us of a George Bernard Shaw saying, "Some people see things as they are and ask "why?"  I see things that never were and ask "why not?"

If public officials provide the leadership and the vision Minnesota will be the envy of every other state--not because we have the best football team or the most beautiful office tower--but because we treat children as if they are our future.