When Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) says his “golden rule” is “mind your own damn business,” what does he mean?

Walz certainly doesn’t mean that government should let people live their lives as they wish. Walz wants to ban private ownership of the most popular firearm in the country. He signed a law forcing car dealers to sell more electric cars and fewer gasoline cars, regardless of what the dealers and their customers wanted.

During COVID, Walz outlawed church and Little League, mandated vaccines, mandated masks, and then created a hotline and encouraged Minnesotans to snitch on their neighbors for throwing birthday parties.

Walz has even said, on national television, that he wants to curb the freedom of speech.

Walz’s golden rule, then, certainly doesn’t mean “the government should leave individuals alone to live their lives as they please.” He clearly believes that the government should tell people what they can or cannot own and sell and what they may not or must do with their own bodies.

So what exactly does Walz mean by “mind your own damn business”?

He gave us a hint when he reiterated his golden rule in Arizona.

“Society works best when you learn a golden rule: mind your own damn business. I don’t need you telling me what books to read,” he said to massive applause.

What is Walz talking about? Who exactly is telling Tim Walz what to read?

The closest thing I could find is Walz’s legislation on “book bans,” which he likes to contrast with Florida’s policies on indecent or inappropriate books in school libraries.

“Let’s be very clear,” Walz said at a book fair in 2023. “These books are banned in the state of Florida. That’s where freedom goes to die.” Walz was, according to reporters, holding up copies of Lord of the Flies and Of Mice and Men.

Walz was totally wrong, of course. Lord of the Flies and Of Mice and Men are not banned in Florida. This is a common, very online lie. Walz either gullibly fell for an obvious lie or willingly passed along a blatant lie.

Walz this year signed a bill purportedly prohibiting the banning of books. But again, nobody is making it illegal to buy, sell, or read Lord of the Flies. So what does Walz’s book-ban ban do?

It bans local schools from controlling what books go in their libraries. It strips parents and communities of the power to mind their own libraries. The books being removed from local libraries are largely volumes such as This Book is Gay, which is a pornographic book with detailed descriptions of sex, including perversion, such as eating feces.

Here we see what Walz’s golden rule means: It’s not the parents’ business or the principal’s business or the local school board’s business whether gay porn is in their school libraries.

Walz’s bill says the only person who can decide on library collections is “a licensed library media specialist … an individual with a master’s degree in library science or library and information science; or a professional librarian or a person trained in library collection management.”

That is, what books your children read is the business of Walz, state legislators, and their preferred experts.

In this light, Walz’s COVID lockdowns fit into his golden rule. Your child’s birthday party is Walz’s business, and if he tells you it’s illegal, then you should mind your own damn business and obey.

Oren Cass made this fine observation about Walz’s worldview: “Note that Walz follows ‘mind your own damn business’ with ‘stay out of our business.’ This makes no sense if the first directive is a universal one, and the people in the audience should also mind their own damn business. No, the ‘our’ is plural, and the in-group’s business is what must proceed unbothered. Nor is there any promise that our business will mind itself and stay out of yours.”

Walz thinks your children’s education is his business and the business of his friends, and he wants you to butt out.

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