Talk:Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party

Ideologies

The MN DFL is not communist or socialist. Not once in my interaction with the party have I ever seen any evidence of such. This should be common sense. --97.112.60.202 (talk) 03:28, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

Also, why is the DFL considered to espouse "Social Democratic" views. Not a single other state Democratic party is considered social democratic on Wikipedia and neither is the national party. What sets the DFL apart in this regard? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.73.154.202 (talk) 19:47, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

leaving?

The article says

Several conservative Democratic candidates and officeholders have now left the party, some of them moving to the Independence Party of Minnesota, which considers itself a centrist party; among them are Tim Penny, Peter Hutchinson and Tammy Lee.

The wording in that paragraph seems exaggerated and a bit misleading to me.

• "Several" -- are there any more than the 3 mentioned? And since the DFL runs over 200 candidates in a statewide election -- how many of them makes up several?
• "candidates and officeholders" -- the first 2 mentioned have never been a DFL candidate, as far as I can find. And Tim Penny was a former officeholder; he last ran as DFL 7 years before running in the Independence Party.

I think this paragraph should be re-worded.

T-bonham (talk) 14:12, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

It does seem a little off. The wording seems to exaggerate the importance of these defections and it seems misplaced in general. I'm going to remove it since it seems both inaccurate and not really relevant, given the unimportance of the "Independence Party of Minnesota" and the lack of any mention of former DFLers on that page. As far as I can tell the latter party has no elected officials at the federal or state level and I've find no mention of any elected officials or viable candidates whatsoever. PantsB (talk) 04:04, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

While I agree that the defections weren't particularly notable, the [Independence Party of Minnesota]] has one notable big win - Jesse Ventura for governor in 1998. Their candidates have also often taken > 10% of the vote in state-wide races. Crumley (talk) 12:14, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

creation

The article says

The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party or (DFL) was created on 1944 April 15 when the Minnesota Democratic Party and Farmer-Labor Party merged to create the DFL. Hubert H. Humphrey was instrumental in this merger.

In the 1970s, some radicals outside MN described HHH as having "kicked out the" radicals [Reds, Communists, don't recall] "in the MN DP", i think as an argument that his VP or Pres candidacy was a sign that DP was not worth radicals supporting it against GOP.
I always presumed that this meant that the range of ideologies of DFL activists who could expect to fully participate was broadened to the left (in '44), relative to pre-DFL DP, and that HHH later helped implement a retreat from that, either purging FL vets from leadership or narrowing a de facto "grandfather clause" to apply only to the "grandfathers" and not to their proteges. Can anyone provide NPoV info on this? (Or even PoV?!)
--Jerzy(t) 20:08, 2004 May 12 (UTC)

I added some further reading references, which might go a ways toward answering Jerzy's questions. No idea if they are online. DJ Silverfish 19:24, 17 May 2005 (UTC)

In my exploration of various documents the Minnesota Historical Society has made available on the internet, I found an interesting article written by Elmer Benson in 1978, in which he accuses Humphrey and the DNC of sabotaging former leftist candidates in 1946 and ejecting many former Farmer-Laborites who supported Henry A. Wallace over Harry Truman in the 1948 election. Not sure about whether it would survive NPoV, though, as he went on to label both Democrats and Republicans fascists.
--MNTRT2009 (talk) 22:35, 21 August 2011 (UTC)

The article I mentioned above can be found here.
--MNTRT2009 (talk) 22:43, 21 August 2011 (UTC)

Category

Editors familiar with Minnesota politics may be helpful in this discussion of renaming a category associated with this article. Jonathunder (talk) 14:33, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

I see I'm not the only one who thought of this! Well, I'd like to second the request... In a nutshell, are party members properly referred to as "Democrats"? Cgingold (talk) 19:27, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Yes, party member are correctly referred to as "Democrats." It is an OK synonym for an DFLer, but it is particularly appropriate for those involved with national politics, since the DFL party is a party of the national Democratic pary. Crumley (talk) 12:17, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

I disagree. When the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party and the Minnesota Democratic Party merged, the agreement was to keep the new combined name. To refer to members as Democrats is to disenfranchise a large number of constituents. Perhaps as a compromise, we could make a subcategory of to make it easier for non-Minnesotans to find it.--Appraiser (talk) 00:20, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

Political Positions?

Could a political positions section or something be added? From this article, I have no idea what the differences are between this party and the Democratic Party. -- Erroneuz1 (talk) 19:00, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

There aren't really any major political differences - at least not anymore that any other state party has compared to the national party. The DFL name is really just an historical artifact. Crumley (talk) 19:23, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps this should be stated. -- Erroneuz1 (talk) 00:08, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

Minnesota owners of timeshare out of state

State of Florida HB 453 OR 435 out-of-state time-share owner 2601:445:47F:1EA0:944B:F81E:42F2:40D9 (talk) 01:53, 26 May 2022 (UTC)

Add Social Democracy, perhaps as a a faction section.

Within both the Lower and upper houses of the Minnesota there are socialists, and I believe adding Social Democracy to the Ideologies section is reasonable. Minnesotawaterballer (talk) 01:13, 3 February 2024 (UTC)

It is certainly reasonable, but is there a reliable source stating that this constitutes a differing faction? I found a few articles mentioning their victories, but haven't found anything indicating they are a distinct faction within the state party. They vote along party lines on all issues, they don't seem to be a significant departure from the broad progressive ideology the state party holds. Carlp941 (talk) 17:46, 3 February 2024 (UTC)

I suppose progressivism and Social Democracy are somewhat interchangeable here and you do sound very accurate. In time volunteering in the DFL and reading through other party platforms and policies, it is clear the DFL is the most progressive or left-wing state affiliate of the National Democratic Party.

[1]https://twincitiesdsa.org/2022/01/democratic-socialists-in-the-dfl-the-story-so-far/ Minnesotawaterballer (talk) 00:23, 29 May 2024 (UTC)

Could you cite a more reliable source? An activist group's perspective isn't what I'd call an NPOV, reliable source. Carlp941 (talk) 03:15, 7 August 2024 (UTC)

I would advocate putting it as a "historical" ideology, given the party's heritage from the Farmer-Labor Party, which was social-democratic. Nicknimh (talk) 17:03, 6 August 2024 (UTC)