It was 50 years ago this Sunday that Minnesota received a journalistic “atta-boy” of epic proportions, with a Time magazine cover story that heralded “The Good Life in Minnesota.”
At a time when the U.S. as a whole was facing a growing list of challenges, Time dubbed Minnesota “The State That Works,” citing clean government, safe streets, a vibrant arts scene, a well-educated and largely middle-class population, and a relaxed lifestyle centered around the state’s countless lakes.
The story noted that Minnesota ranked highly on a number of societal measures, including a low poverty rate, low violent crime and the second highest life expectancy in the country, at 73 years. So how has the state fared in the half century since the publication of this much-discussed report?
That question was recently the focus of a multi-part retrospective published by Minnpost’s Dane Smith, and the Timberjay is republishing extended excerpts from that series, Reappraising Minnesota, which ran in three segments on June 12, June 28, and July 19. Smith is a former Star Tribune writer who authored a 30-year look-back at the Time report back in 2003. Anyone wanting to read the full series can find it at minnpost.com.
Reappraising “Minnesota: A State That Works”
Smith writes:
“Few moments in Minnesota’s history have more favorably defined our state in the eyes of the nation and the world than 50 years ago this summer, with the publication in early August of a Time magazine cover story that proclaimed “The Good Life in Minnesota.’’ 
“The cover photo featured a grinning, plaid-shirted Gov. Wendell Anderson, a DFLer then at the peak of popularity and riding a wave of liberal policy achievements and reforms. He was holding up a freshly caught northern pike, with one of our 11,842 lakes in the background. 
“The headline on page 24 of the lengthy story inside praised Minnesota as “A State that Works.” The article described a veritable Camelot in Middle America’s flyover land, distinguished by an evenly shared prosperity, a sophisticated arts-and-culture scene, civic health, bipartisan cooperation between liberal Democrats and moderate Republicans, racial tolerance and acceptance, generous capitalists and upbeat creative people. The focus was on politics and public policy, but also on a relaxed lifestyle and Minnesotans’ reverence for the arts and their natural environment, especially their lakes, where even working-class folks had cabins. 
“The Time piece helped foster the concept of “quality of life” as a measure for the well-being in a place, as opposed to just GDP and population growth or low tax rates. And for decades to come, in Minnesota news media and general public policy discourse, that 1973 snapshot became the default narrative, an iconic reference point, and a baseline standard against which new trends and developments were measured.”

In the half century since Time published its ode to the North Star state, the shine has definitely dimmed, even as Minnesota continues to rank as high or higher in many societal rankings as it did back in 1973.
Smith notes: “Particularly grievous damage was done to the reputation in 2020, when we again became the center of national and international attention. Our new defining image was that of a white Minneapolis police officer slowly murdering a Black man by kneeling on his neck for almost 10 minutes. A week of unprecedented chaos, a ransacked police station and scores of buildings on fire in Minneapolis and St. Paul, became our new cover story.   
“The national media all at once seemed to be discovering what many racial justice advocates in Minnesota had been frantically signaling for years: that racist policing and some of the larger racial disparities in the nation, especially on economic security and educational attainment, were coming home to roost. Minnesotans of color, whose presence has increased twelve-fold as a percentage of our population (two percent in 1970, 24 percent in 2020) argue convincingly that racial disparities, especially for Blacks and Native Americans, belie the reputation for “the good life,” and have all along.”

Smith also examines the ongoing and increasingly harsh political debate that has ensued in recent years over what some see as the decline in Minnesota’s quality of life, an argument that generally belies the state’s continued high ratings on societal measures.
Reappraising ‘The state that works’: racial disparities belie ‘the good life’
Fifty years ago, Minnesota was a different place, and that was reflected in the notable lack of diversity reflected in the Time article.
Smith writes: “No people of color were visible in the many photographs of smiling and prosperous Minnesotans in Time magazine’s 1973 cover story celebrating “The State That Works.” 
“Every single one of the 10 overachieving citizens in a photo collage inside was a white male (that’s right, no women either). This august assemblage featured seven generous corporate leaders, including five brothers of the Dayton family dynasty, also the University of Minnesota president, Minnesota Orchestra conductor and Guthrie Theater artistic director.
“Time’s love poem to our “good life” probably rang true or held promise for most white Minnesotans 50 years ago. It surely sounded hollow for many of about 80,000 Blacks and other folks of color in 1973 (and who number about 1.4 million now).”

Minnesota is far more diverse today, and that demographic change has prompted backlash from those who prefer the Minnesota that existed a half century ago.
As the state’s diversity increased, Smith writes:
“Conservatives complained, often with racially coded accusations. They blamed generous welfare benefits for attracting “thugs” and “welfare queens” from Chicago and Gary. Or frightened us with the specter of “illegal aliens” invading our space and taking our jobs. Or raised the specter of Islamic immigrants imposing “Sharia Law” on Christians. Most recently, an “anti-woke” crusade warns that diversity training or learning about injustice in schools is anti-American and divisive, building a sense of “victimhood” and “entitlement” for people of color, along with white guilt.
“Our more hospitable voices responded all along that the shift was a positive change, driven by good people simply seeking better lives in a more livable place. Mainstream Christian organizations, such as Lutheran Social Services and Catholic Charities, and nonprofits such as the American Refugee Committee played a crucial role in welcoming and settling immigrants.
“Perhaps most important, the private sector beckoned too. Agribusiness and service sectors took full advantage of cheaper unskilled labor, employing new Minnesotans by the hundreds of thousands. The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce issued several reports in recent years documenting the need for and value of immigrants, even though many of its business owner members continued to donate mostly to conservative candidates who minimized the importance of racial inequality and promised lower taxes and less regulation.   
“Elevating racial equity and explaining how “We all do better, when we all do better” might never win over all Minnesotans. But emphasizing that racial equity is good for white people too will be the key to building more consensus for racial equity policy.”

Conservatives have regularly criticized the state’s progressive politics and have most frequently cited a rising crime rate to suggest that those policies have failed Minnesota. Conservatives predicted big political gains in Minnesota in 2020, in the wake of the George Floyd unrest, but discovered that voters had other ideas, re-electing DFL Gov. Tim Walz and restoring the DFL to full dominance of the Legislature, including electing the most diverse legislative body in state history. Rather than a conservative retrenchment, Smith notes that the state has seen the enactment this year of the most progressive political agenda since at least the 1970s.
Reappraising ‘The State that Works’: High rankings hold up, mostly 
Fifty years ago, when Time put Minnesota on its pedestal, they noted that the state fared well on a variety of societal benchmarks, at least compared to the rest of the 50 states. A half century later, Minnesota still does quite well comparied to other states, suggesting that the state’s progressive tradition has allowed the state to continue to provide most of its residents with a high quality of life.

Smith writes: “A review of the key indicators flagged by Time a half-century ago suggests that Minnesota generally has maintained its advantage. We remain one of the better places in the world in which to live, to work, to create and recreate and even to retire. The glaring exceptions are racial disparities and declines around some aspects of education and governance.”

Health measures
Smith writes: “On longevity, a crucial bottom-line measure of health, Minnesota holds steady. We were second in 1970 and third in 2022, rising from 73.0 to 79.1. All states improved over this period, but other Midwestern states dropped out of the top 10 and were replaced mostly by coastal states.    
“On more comprehensive multi-factor health rankings that measure many criteria, Minnesota still ranks consistently high: third on the Commonwealth Fund’s ranking of State Health System Performance; seventh on the United Health Foundation’s list of Healthiest States; and third on WalletHub’s list for Best States for Health Care. Not so great: We are only 17th least obese, only 18th lowest in tobacco use, and way too high in alcohol consumption.”

Wealth measures
“Time in 1973 stated, without specifying a ranking that poverty rates were “among the lowest in the nation.” And while admiring a versatile and balanced economy, it reported that Minnesota was only a middling 19th in per capita income.     
“Major progress here. Minnesota’s poverty ranking improved from 15th lowest in 1970 to fourth lowest in 2021 and median income climbed from 17th to 12th.
“Perhaps more important than annual income, Minnesota ranks even higher on personal wealth, or an impressive third in median net worth, according to a report earlier this year by CNBC.
“These rankings fly in the face of a constant refrain from the right, increasingly strident in recent years, that Minnesota’s progressive policies are bad for business and our economy. In fact, the state continues to rank high in Fortune 500 companies per capita, patents per capita and on many indicators of business vitality. A recent “Best States for Business” ranking from CNBC placed Minnesota ninth.”

On educational attainment, Smith writes:
“Few correlations to health and prosperity are stronger than educational attainment, and here again Minnesota has stayed above average on most metrics since 1973. However, trouble spots in this realm are among our most worrisome. 
“Citing Minnesota’s emergence as one of the nation’s leading “brain-industry centers” Time in 1973 reported that “the citizens are well educated; the high school dropout rate, 7.6 percent, is the nation’s lowest.’’ 
“Although Minnesota’s annual dropout rate had improved to just 4.1 percent by 2018, other states caught up on education investment and improved faster, while our increasing racial disparities took a toll on overall attainment and test scores. 
“The most recent rankings on educational attainment, compiled by Wikipedia, place Minnesota fifth in high school graduates (94 percent), 11th in four-year diplomas (39 percent), and 20th in post-grad degrees (13 percent).  
“However, Minnesota no longer can claim to be among the top 10 in the basic conditions of its public educational systems. Several multi-factor rankings of educational quality place us in the teens or 20s. U.S. News ranked Minnesota 17th for “Best States for Education.”  
“Looking beyond just test scores and schools, Minnesota generally ranks very high on more comprehensive assessments of well-being for children and young people. The multi-factor 2020 Kids Count profile by the Annie E. Casey Foundation ranks Minnesota 3rd overall for the well-being of children.”

Smith concludes:
“Optimism is in order but smugness with these rankings is not a good look. Time in 1973 perceptively found fault with a Minnesota tendency toward “middle-class complacency” and “a kind of porcine self-satisfaction,” captured a century ago by Sinclair Lewis in “Main Street” and his other novels based in his home state.
“Moreover, our dismal rankings on racial disparities and a loss of stature on educational systems and good-government performance are every bit as important as our superlatives. But taking some pride in doing well because we have done the right things ought to be OK. And when a state does as well as Minnesota on so many rankings, year-after-year over many decades, it might just mean we have been doing at least some things right. Doubling down on our strong suit, a compassionate and pragmatic egalitarianism, might be the best course forward.”