Thursday, January 21, 2016
Political Mayhem Thursday: "Michigan-- What a Mess"
The line "Michigan-- What a Mess" was at the top of the CNN website, followed by a torrent of articles decrying the Flint water crisis, the Detroit schools, and other issues in my home state.
Meanwhile, my old friend Ron Fournier headed back to the mitten to talk to the Governor, Rick Snyder. His interview revealed a governor who is clearly chastened by what has happened to a city (Flint) and a school system (Detroit) that fell apart while under state control after locals were removed from power.
Michigan has taken its lumps over the years, but this is an especially bad week.
Some have called for Snyder to resign. Is that a valid idea?
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Ron would have been better served to have been in Michigan as the stage was set for the Flint water story. The Flint water disaster is just one of many failures left in the wake of Rick Snyder and in a greater degree our states representatives' actions. They have successfully reached their goal to weaken the State's government's ability to govern. Corporations now have more power and are tax free. They are also free of having to contribute. Workers and voters have been disenfranchised with their voices diminished. Infrastructure and roads have been neglected and are crumbling. Michigan has weakened their regulations and oversight on our health and environment. Statewide, the education system is underfunded. State managed Detroit Public Schools' state emergency managers have created massive debts. Snyder has placed the former Flint emergency manager who made the critical decisions on the water supply to be DPS new emergency manager. Only in Snyder's Michigan. The election process is more difficult ad expensive. Studies and commissions have replaced real help to local communities in crisis. We have delayed taking needed actions as a result of our pledge to have no new taxes. No one will be asked to help.
The auto industry was saved over the protests of the same folks that now want credit for any recovery that we have had in our State. Rick Snyder has mostly limited rather than assisted in the states recovery. Our recovery has not been shared. Workers who gave up so much have yet to see results.
The Detroit Free Press regularly lists the bills proposed by our legislators. Many would make the hair stand up on your head. Many of these mean spirited and self serving bills have ended up on Gov. Snyder's desk and he has signed them.
We may never know who knew what about Flint's water and when in our state government. We do know who was responsible. It was the result of a deliberate course taken by a state government that has been committed to government on the cheap.
Flint will get their water back but it will be again the most expensive and hurtful process we could have taken. We have to start acknowledging that good government is often preemptive and it can be a good investment. This is a hard sell today.
If Rick Snyder decides to stand up to our dreadful State Congress and call them out, he should stay. If he stays on course and doesn't lead while pointing his finger in the wrong direction, local and Federal government, he should go.
The auto industry was saved over the protests of the same folks that now want credit for any recovery that we have had in our State. Rick Snyder has mostly limited rather than assisted in the states recovery. Our recovery has not been shared. Workers who gave up so much have yet to see results.
The Detroit Free Press regularly lists the bills proposed by our legislators. Many would make the hair stand up on your head. Many of these mean spirited and self serving bills have ended up on Gov. Snyder's desk and he has signed them.
We may never know who knew what about Flint's water and when in our state government. We do know who was responsible. It was the result of a deliberate course taken by a state government that has been committed to government on the cheap.
Flint will get their water back but it will be again the most expensive and hurtful process we could have taken. We have to start acknowledging that good government is often preemptive and it can be a good investment. This is a hard sell today.
If Rick Snyder decides to stand up to our dreadful State Congress and call them out, he should stay. If he stays on course and doesn't lead while pointing his finger in the wrong direction, local and Federal government, he should go.
What a mess, indeed. My heart goes out to the people of Flint, even as I cannot help but think "there for the grace of God." Seriously, it is not hard to imagine Waco falling into a similar circumstance. And, of course, just down the road in Marlin, our neighbors actually are living through a similar circumstance.
We sit around trying to explain Trump. Not at all surprising when an honest and rational conclusion is that the only party worse at governing than the Democrats has to be the Republicans (or vice versa). We have reached a moment in our political culture in which the overwhelming stench of corruption, well-intended bureaucratic incompetence, rent-seeking, demagoguery, and the practice of placing politics over policy, at almost every level of government, is now so pungent and unmistakable that every sentient citizen is repulsed.
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We sit around trying to explain Trump. Not at all surprising when an honest and rational conclusion is that the only party worse at governing than the Democrats has to be the Republicans (or vice versa). We have reached a moment in our political culture in which the overwhelming stench of corruption, well-intended bureaucratic incompetence, rent-seeking, demagoguery, and the practice of placing politics over policy, at almost every level of government, is now so pungent and unmistakable that every sentient citizen is repulsed.
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