If the Republican refrain was “self-reliance,” the Democrats we interviewed were concerned about particular issues and how government could help.

John Heer, a father of two teenagers from Edina, is an engineer in the energy industry who has been concerned about global warming since he heard scientists discuss the problem at the University of Minnesota 15 years ago. He described it as “the biggest issue we were doing nothing about even though we have the tools TO do something.”

For Mary Moriarty, a psychotherapist from Maple Grove, health care policy had become a matter of life or death. “The Republican agenda has harmed a lot of my clients. They are not able to get insurance coverage. I’ve had patients be suicidal and not have any sessions at all allowed.”

Jennifer O’Rourke

Jennifer O’Rourke is a mother of two young children. She wasn’t a delegate, but was at the convention recruiting volunteers and funds for Erin Murphy, the DFL-endorsed candidate for Matt Entenza’s seat. She’s also a lobbyist for the League of Cities. Personally and professionally, she appreciates the accessibility of elected officials in Minneapolis, but admits she doesn’t know her neighbors well, and worries that people are so busy they’re becoming isolated. “I think it’s important to get to know your neighbors and I think it’s important to reach out to your world whether it’s your church or the community that’s offered because you hang out at the park a lot and your kids play Little League. I think it’s important to engage yourself in society.”

Vincent Carraher comes from a long line of proud Democrats. His grandfather was a delegate to the 1932 national convention that nominated FDR. He believes in bipartisan dialogue, but worries that lightning-rod issues like abortion keep people from discussing more important policy questions. “We don’t get anything back from the feds the way we used to. Young people, think of the debt you young people are going to have. I had my day in the sun but you folks are getting clobbered.”

Veronica Burt grew up on the South Side of Chicago, came to the University of Minnesota twenty years ago, and is now lead organizer with the Central Corridor Equity Coalition. Many of her friends grew up in the Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul, and saw their neighborhood decimated by I-94. Their experience informs her activism on projects that involve large investments of public funds, projects like light rail. “We try to identify projects where there’s a large concentration of African-Americans who would be impacted and a number of times impacted adversely unless we do the kind of education and organizing in the community to hopefully try to leverage benefits for local constituencies.” Her approach is a combination of grass-roots organizing and policy analysis that takes the long view. Her approach in a nutshell: “What is it that people want and how is that we can get it to them, and start from a basis of a win-win philosophy. I think if you start from that basis you’ll have a lot more patience in trying to figure out how your piece is a part of a puzzle as opposed to thinking that you need the entire puzzle.”

Vernonica Burt

Thinking of our visit to the Republican convention last week, we asked most people whether they talked about issues with Republicans, and, if they did, where they found common ground. Perhaps the most interesting response was from the engineer, John Heer, who told us he and his Republican brother-in-law disagreed fiercely about the war in Iraq, but agreed that consumption taxes were a viable way to make policy, especially when it came to energy.

To sum up, we could say that if the Republican catchphrase was support for self-reliance, the Democratic one was concern over an eroding safety net.