Tolkkinen: The November election was full of distractions. Now maybe we can work on real problems

Is it just me or does it feel like Minnesota is on the brink of possibly getting along in 2025?

Nobody got everything they wanted during the November election but everybody got something. MAGA, which dominates greater Minnesota, is happy about Trump going back to the White House, and the Republicans are about to share power in the Minnesota House. Democrats have a lock on both U.S. Senate seats, the governor's mansion and the State Senate. And the two parties equally share the congressional delegation.

It feels like that elusive quality known as balance is hovering within reach.

This is as great a time as any to identify and work on issues that we all have in common whether we live in Bloomington or Bemidji. Political campaigns are notorious for waving shiny objects to distract us from issues that actually affect us. Now that has all settled down, there are plenty of real issues that we need to talk about.

Here are a few.

We need more affordable housing everywhere. With the cost of today's building materials and labor, private-market home builders are not going to produce this type of housing, so it looks like we have to rely on the nonprofit sector. The Habitat for Humanity chapter in Alexandria, which is building 42 single-family homes, works with homebuyers who make as little as $20,450 a year. They can do it because they use volunteer labor, receive donations and they're not looking to make a profit.

We need better dental care. There is widespread need across the state in rural and urban areas. People are missing work because of abscesses, infections and all the other lovely ways our teeth can go wrong and critical-care dentists are swamped.

Groceries cost too much. It was one of the things people cared about in the run-up to the election. Rising food prices aren't surprising. People have been predicting this for decades. In 2008, historian Paul Conkin said the cost of energy, irrigation, fertilizer and chemicals will continue to drive up the cost of farming and food prices, as would the pace of global warming. Now that higher food prices are here, they're painful, and voters likely will look to the incoming Trump administration for help.

We have "forever chemicals" in our drinking water and chloride in our lakes and rivers, and we're breathing plastic. Nationwide, at least 45% of tap water contains per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, or PFAS, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. One of these is called perchlorate, a chemical that boosts explosive power in things like airbags, fireworks and grenades, but when ingested, prevents us from absorbing iodide. That's not a big deal for adults, but it can cause deafness or severe intellectual disability in fetuses and babies. The federal government has been dragging its feet on whether to regulate perchlorate for more than 20 years.

When politicians talk angrily about regulations, often they're talking about health and environmental regulations, which can be costly, and which someone has to pay for.

Meanwhile, there's a looming shortage of nursing home beds in Minnesota. In 2024, the oldest baby boomers turned 78, which means the demand for long-term care will skyrocket over the next 20 to 30 years, according to the Mankato-based Center for Rural Policy and Development. Nursing homes already have been closing across the state given staff shortages and because retirees prefer assisted living and other options. The need will be felt first in rural Minnesota, where the population is older, but it will hit the metro, too.

Our charter schools need an overhaul, no matter if they're in rural or urban areas. Nine of the state's 181 schools operating at the start of 2024 have closed, and Star Tribune reporting has uncovered troubling financial and academic failures. The secrecy surrounding many of these publicly funded schools is anti-democratic, and the Minnesota Department of Education needs to insist on full disclosure of records.

We don't have enough workers, only 51 for every 100 open jobs, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. If the new Trump administration carries out mass deportations as intended, that likely will stretch our workforce even more. Whether or not you agree with this policy, we need to be ready for it. Young people often take their first job because the openings are easily noticed; they see a help wanted sign or they follow a friend or family member into a field. Maybe we need to make jobs in critical industries more noticeable and training more readily available.

Internet safety for children is a huge area that rural and urban, DFL and GOP can agree on. It can't be emphasized enough that criminals are constantly looking for victims online, and children simply lack the judgment and awareness to know when they are being targeted. Even adults fall prey to online scams, so we can hardly expect children to emerge unscathed.

I'm optimistic about Minnesota's immediate future. The time is right to set aside partisan bickering and just go back to being Minnesotans again. One state, indivisible, with lefse and hotdish for all.