In Minnesota The Times Are A-Changin

Two years ago the Koposia Day parade in South Saint Paul was a little disheartening. There were hecklers that chanted B U $ H, BU$H, BU$H...while hurling insults as we walked with other Democrats. There was one display of open encouragement for us as I remember it. Most of the time the crowd was subdued and silent. Although Democrats won all three MN seats in the Senate District. there was no doubt about the loud subgroup of republican'ts within the senate district. Koposia Days wasn't a parade for the faint of heart Democrat.

So imagine my surprise at the positive greeting Democrats got last Friday night at the same South Saint Paul Kaposia Day Parade. In a display of Democratic unity, Betty McCollum, Jim Metzen, Joe Atkins, Rick Hansen, Katie Siebens, and Karla Bigham marched together as one Democratic Delegation. The parade attendees openly cheered, yelled and clapped in support. They shouted out encouragement and greetings as our group passed by. Many of the watching adults would reach out and just shake our hands and tell how glad they were that we were Democrats. They took stickers and passed them around to their neighbors and friends openly encouraging them to support us.

I'm proud to be a Democrat. But last Friday night I was even prouder that others recognize why. The times are definately a-changin..

Bob Dylan
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.