5 Independents are running as team for the top state offices.

http://www.teammn.com/issues5g.php

THE 5 G's - DON'T LET THEM SCARE, DIVIDE, DIVERT OR PARALYZE US

The 5G's - guns, gays, God, gambling and gynecology - are purposely used by politicians to divert, divide or scare us. These issues bring out the extremes and drive moderates away. Divide and conquer is a battle plan that we can't allow to succeed, because no one wins. Team Minnesota (Peter Hutchinson - Governor, Maureen Reed - Lt. Governor, John James - Attorney General, Lucy Gerold - State Auditor, and Joel Spoonheim - Secretary of State) will harness the resources of all five executive offices to do what it will take to find common ground and get the results Minnesotans want.


GUNS

The Divide: One side sees gun ownership as a threat to their safety. The other sees gun control as a threat to their rights. Common Ground: Minnesotans know that this argument will never be resolved to everyone's satisfaction. But most Minnesotans are less interested in choosing sides than they are in reducing the number of gun related deaths. We don't need to change the law to do that. We need to use the laws we have plus gun safety education and personal responsibility to bring gun deaths down.

GAYS (and marriage)

The Divide: One side sees gays getting married as a threat to marriage as an institution - and to their religious beliefs. The other sees it as a civil rights issue. Common Ground: Minnesotans don't want the government to threaten religious beliefs by telling churches who they can marry. Nor do we want churches to threaten civil rights by telling the government who it can marry. We share a common interest in encouraging marriage - and marriages that last, since the greatest threat to marriage is not those who want to marry but the rate of divorce.

GOD

The Divide: One side sees government as a threat to religious values by actively removing those values from public life. The other side fears government telling them what to believe. Common Ground: Religious values are important. They help shape our character as people and as a community. We are a very religious state. We have a wonderful array of religions guiding our lives. People should feel free to bring their religious values with them into public life and to use them to guide their participation in the life of their communities. Doing so would give all of us the chance to learn from those around us and consider how best to lead our own lives. However, people should not feel free to impose their beliefs on others or to ask the government to do so.

GAMBLING

The Divide: Some Minnesotans see gambling as a sin, others as a danger. Still others see it as unfair that Indians get to own and profit from it but "we" don't. Common Ground: People gamble - they take risks. We can regulate it, but we can't stop it. Most Minnesotans do agree that the risks of gambling should be the responsibility of those who gamble - not our state, our government budgets and our services. Government should regulate gambling as it would any business; and, it should tax gambling income as it taxes other income. Government should not be in the business of gambling.

GYNECOLOGY

The Divide: To some, abortion is murder. To others, it is a right and one of many choices (the choice of last resort) for preventing unwanted pregnancies. Common Ground: Decades of arguing haven't brought us any closer to agreeing on which side is right. However, Minnesotans do agree that we ought to have fewer abortions. We should join together to achieve that goal through education, family planning, and adoption services. More fights over preventing changes in the established law will not get us there. More arguing over who's right will not move us forward. People have a right to choose, the courts are clear on that. We should offer them the best choices possible and expect them to act responsibly. If we do, the number of abortions will continue to fall.