"The Body" Politic

Minnesota gov. Jesse Ventura slams Republicans, Democrats, and big government.

Jonathan Rauch from the April 1999 issue

(Page 3 of 5)

Ventura: Let me explain with an example: Here in Minnesota, we have more than 10,000 lakes. Every year when springtime comes, we'll get seven days of beautiful 80-degree weather, but there will still be ice on the lakes. Somebody will decide that they have to take a snowmobile out on the lake. And that person will fall through the ice and drown. Right away, you'll hear an outcry: "We have to make it against the law to ride on lakes after the temperature has been over 75 degrees for seven days in a row." That's what I'm talking about. You can't legislate stupidity, because people do stupid things, always will, and government should get out of the business of passing laws to stop them. Every one of us has done stupid things. Sometimes a stupid thing can become fatal. But it doesn't mean that, all of the sudden, you have to go out and pass laws to protect people from doing stupid things. The drug issue falls under this, too: If people are stupid enough to do drugs--if they're stupid enough to get hooked on crack or cocaine or whatever else--how are you going to legislate that away?

There's too many laws altogether. If they tell you ignorance of the law is no excuse, then we should all be running around with backpacks. Because you need so many backpacks with those law books so you wouldn't be ignorant. Here's an example of a stupid law from when I was doing talk radio. I was talking about prostitution, and I brought up the fact that it's only illegal because money is exchanged. It's only a sex act, and if two consenting adults do it and there's no exchange of money, then it's OK, right? Well, lo and behold, in Minnesota, that's not OK. A cop faxed me a copy of a fornication law that's still on the books here. It states unequivocally that if you're two adults and you're unmarried, you can be arrested for having sex. They've never taken it off the books. Technically a police officer could arrest you, just for having sex.

Reason: Are you planning on trying to change that?

Ventura: I don't know about that one in particular. But I've suggested that every fourth year, the legislature would not make any laws. Instead, it would go back and repeal old and outdated ones that don't apply anymore. I'm a believer that there should be a sunset provision on anything that's passed. After a certain length of time, it would require you to go back and review the law or the program or whatever you passed. We should have to review it and figure out if it's working.

Reason: Do you see that as a practical proposal or a thought experiment?

Ventura: I see it as a practical proposal.

Reason: So you may actually push something like that?

Ventura: Yeah. I may. All they can say is no. I've gotten great results in saying it to the general public.

Reason: You've talked about taxes being too high, but as near as I can tell you haven't talked much about the size of government per se.

Ventura: Sure I have. It's too big.

Reason: Do you see yourself as a governor with a cutting-government agenda? Do you want to go through and scrub the books and get rid of stuff?

Ventura: Somewhat. I'm going to scrub the books, but I'm going to do it very carefully, very prudently. I'm not going to just rush in. I'm not going to have any knee-jerk reaction in any manner.

Reason: Are there any specific things you want to get rid of?

Ventura: Yeah. One house of the legislature. I'm a big supporter of unicameral legislatures. What do we need two houses at the state level for? If you don't have dual houses in the federal government, then states like California, New York, and Texas would have all the power. That's why you've got to have the Senate, where every state gets two votes, regardless of population or size. But at the state level, there's no reason whatsoever to have the senate.

I'd also like to get rid of all state-level two-year terms and make them four. As it is, you get rookie legislators who have never done their jobs before. They spend their first year getting acclimated and their second year running for re-election. What do they get done? Nothing. And then if they get beat--what a waste of two years. Make all terms four years. And get rid of one house.