Legislators sense this may not be the best time to roll over for a new Minnesota Vikings stadium.
They're devilishly busy kicking the poor off health insurance rolls, slashing affordable housing programs, starving the state university for cash and sparing the rich from tax hikes.
Let's use their reality-based hesitation, however fleeting, to examine the case, however flimsy, for public aid to Minnesota's least needy.
Teams build community. If it were true, Green Bay, which has little to boast beyond its football team, would be the best damned place to live in America. Maybe it is. Call a Realtor about relocating. Operators are standing by.
Over the years, what's made Minnesota special is not pro athletes fighting drug arrests, facing morals charges or snapping photos of their genitals.
The state's measurable achievements -- economic and social -- have been tied to high-quality education, top-flight public services and a workforce ready for cutting-edge research and innovation.
Legislators should fret about the clear and present risk of losing those rather than the imagined peril of parting with a Sunday-afternoon diversion.
Sensing that the public doesn't buy the idea that the Vikings define Minnesota, Gov. Mark Dayton is trying to reframe the case for a new stadium. He has rebranded the Vikings venture "the people's stadium."