I'm sorry to see that a petition drive to end term limits in the MI state legislature has failed. The petition would have also instituted a part-time legislature.
Term Limits sounded good when they were enacted but have given us a legislature full of trainees and retards. They have no sense of history, no experienced leadership and no motivation to perfect their trade. This leads to a legislature run by staffers and lobbyists, since they are the only ones who understand what is going on.
We need less legislation and better legislation. The system we have now is broken, and it looks like it is going to stay that way. Too bad.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Jim Webb for Everything
I heard an interview with Senator James Webb last week and I'm ready to vote for him for any position he wants. He's being mentioned as a VP possibility but I think he's too smart to fall for that. We should be so lucky.
In the middle of the interview Webb said the War on Drugs is a disaster and has to be completely restructured. He cited the deplorable statistics for how many Americans are in jail and said this has to stop. There should be a new system of drug courts and we should stop locking up addicts. He made the common sense point that if we don't arrest alcoholics, why does it make any more sense to lock up other drug users?
Webb is able to say things like this because he doesn't give a damn if he gets reelected or not. He is so confident in himself that he doesn't have to pander to the Law and Order crowd. If he loses his Senate seat, he'll go back to writing novels. This is the kind of leadership needed in this country; politicians who will advocate for what is best for the country, not what is required to get reelected.
The relevance of this to Michigan is obvious. We spend more money on prisons than on higher education. We lock up more people on a per-capita basis than any other Great Lakes state. We have another budget deficit and need to find a way to save money. Releasing non-violent drug offenders from jail might be a way to do this.
In the middle of the interview Webb said the War on Drugs is a disaster and has to be completely restructured. He cited the deplorable statistics for how many Americans are in jail and said this has to stop. There should be a new system of drug courts and we should stop locking up addicts. He made the common sense point that if we don't arrest alcoholics, why does it make any more sense to lock up other drug users?
Webb is able to say things like this because he doesn't give a damn if he gets reelected or not. He is so confident in himself that he doesn't have to pander to the Law and Order crowd. If he loses his Senate seat, he'll go back to writing novels. This is the kind of leadership needed in this country; politicians who will advocate for what is best for the country, not what is required to get reelected.
The relevance of this to Michigan is obvious. We spend more money on prisons than on higher education. We lock up more people on a per-capita basis than any other Great Lakes state. We have another budget deficit and need to find a way to save money. Releasing non-violent drug offenders from jail might be a way to do this.
Film Credits
New concerns about the tax credits enacted to lure the film industry to Michigan are yet another example of the utter lack of common sense in our legislature.
Here's how it works: If you bring a film crew to Michigan, the state gives you a credit for 42% of what you spend. The State actually writes a check to subsidize the expenses. So if you spend $1 million, the state gives you $420,000 back - and this is somehow supposed to build a film industry in Michigan?
The fact that film crews are flooding into the state indicates that maybe they gave away a bit too much of the store on this one. Who wouldn't take advantage of this? It is an unbelievable giveaway.
But will it really help the Michigan economy? My understanding about how film crews work is that they bring most of the people and equipment with them, and then take it all away when they are done. They will hire some locals as extras, and maybe even some skilled trades. They will stay in motels and eat at restaurants but I don't see how this constitutes an "industry". As soon as the subsidies are gone, goodbye films.
If Lansing decided to give every tourist from Indiana a check for 42% of what they spent on their vacation in Michigan, we would have a hell of a summer. Would it help build the tourism industry? I don't think so, because as soon as the subsidies ended, so would the traffic.
Sure it will be fun to have Clint Eastwood in town, but is this really a smart way to spend money we don't have?
Here's how it works: If you bring a film crew to Michigan, the state gives you a credit for 42% of what you spend. The State actually writes a check to subsidize the expenses. So if you spend $1 million, the state gives you $420,000 back - and this is somehow supposed to build a film industry in Michigan?
The fact that film crews are flooding into the state indicates that maybe they gave away a bit too much of the store on this one. Who wouldn't take advantage of this? It is an unbelievable giveaway.
But will it really help the Michigan economy? My understanding about how film crews work is that they bring most of the people and equipment with them, and then take it all away when they are done. They will hire some locals as extras, and maybe even some skilled trades. They will stay in motels and eat at restaurants but I don't see how this constitutes an "industry". As soon as the subsidies are gone, goodbye films.
If Lansing decided to give every tourist from Indiana a check for 42% of what they spent on their vacation in Michigan, we would have a hell of a summer. Would it help build the tourism industry? I don't think so, because as soon as the subsidies ended, so would the traffic.
Sure it will be fun to have Clint Eastwood in town, but is this really a smart way to spend money we don't have?
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Is it all about the Game?
I have been deeply involved with the Democratic Party for quite a few years, including running for offices in hopelessly Republican races where the Dem candidate is largely symbolic. I spend too much time immersed in the minutia of national politics even though most of it has only a tangential impact on my life, or the people around me.
What happens in Lansing has the most direct impact since it determines how much money the schools will have to educate my kids, and whether the state is ever going to recover from its economic malaise. I pay attention to what is happening, and the results are really pretty dismal. For all the work I put into getting Democrats elected, their behavior once they are on the job has recently been so bad that I wonder why I bother?
A recent point in case is the bill passed in the Democratically controlled House to essentially re-monopolize the state's utilities under the guise of renewable energy. This is a terrible bill and it is a mystery why the supposedly progressive party has lined up behind the corporate utilities. That we are looking to the Republican Senate to fix this legislation is really ironic.
So it makes me wonder how much of politics is really the sport of it; the game and the winning? Are people (like me) who provide the energy to get politicians elected just suckers? Once our party "wins" do we lose touch with the real goal, which is to have better government? Do we work to elect incompetent hacks just so our side can have a majority? Unfortunately, the answer is sometimes yes.
I flatter myself thinking that political activists they are somehow superior to people at sports bars rooting for the Red Wings. I'm beginning to wonder.
Actually I'm past wondering. Go Wings.
What happens in Lansing has the most direct impact since it determines how much money the schools will have to educate my kids, and whether the state is ever going to recover from its economic malaise. I pay attention to what is happening, and the results are really pretty dismal. For all the work I put into getting Democrats elected, their behavior once they are on the job has recently been so bad that I wonder why I bother?
A recent point in case is the bill passed in the Democratically controlled House to essentially re-monopolize the state's utilities under the guise of renewable energy. This is a terrible bill and it is a mystery why the supposedly progressive party has lined up behind the corporate utilities. That we are looking to the Republican Senate to fix this legislation is really ironic.
So it makes me wonder how much of politics is really the sport of it; the game and the winning? Are people (like me) who provide the energy to get politicians elected just suckers? Once our party "wins" do we lose touch with the real goal, which is to have better government? Do we work to elect incompetent hacks just so our side can have a majority? Unfortunately, the answer is sometimes yes.
I flatter myself thinking that political activists they are somehow superior to people at sports bars rooting for the Red Wings. I'm beginning to wonder.
Actually I'm past wondering. Go Wings.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Public Transportation
I am fortunate to both own a car and be able to put gas in it. I often drive down 44th and 28th streets and it is clear that there are a lot more people waiting for public transit than was the case even a year ago.
What pisses me off is that these riders have to stand in the sun, the rain and the snow while waiting interminably for the buses. There are no seats, and no shelters; in the winter the snow isn't even cleared away so they have to stand in snow banks.
This is disgraceful and it is time for Kent County to buck up and start investing in public transportation. This doesn't just mean more and better buses. It also means treating riders with respect - and allowing them some dignity while standing by the side of the road watching the more fortunate drive by in their heated and air-conditioned cars.
What pisses me off is that these riders have to stand in the sun, the rain and the snow while waiting interminably for the buses. There are no seats, and no shelters; in the winter the snow isn't even cleared away so they have to stand in snow banks.
This is disgraceful and it is time for Kent County to buck up and start investing in public transportation. This doesn't just mean more and better buses. It also means treating riders with respect - and allowing them some dignity while standing by the side of the road watching the more fortunate drive by in their heated and air-conditioned cars.
Saul Annuzio Re-writes History
Saul Annuzio (head of the MI GOP) was on Jack Lessenberry's show today. He tried to put a smiley face on the sad state of the Republican Party with comments like: we have a lot of great candidates and they are just going to have to run on their own appeal. The implication being that they better run as far as possible from the GOP and its miserable performance over the past eight years.
But then he said that if Michiganders help elect Barak Obama (a "tax and spend liberal") it will produce the same results that electing Jennifer Granholm did in Michigan.
Maybe someone needs to remind Saul that Granholm's election came after 12 years of nothing but tax cuts by John Engler, and that his program of tax cuts above all else did nothing to help this state. Maybe he also needs to think abut the great success of Bush's tax cuts and the GOP's brand of "borrow and spend" government.
The ability of conservatives to reinvent (or ignore) history is never-ending, and part of the reason this state (and this country) are in such a mess.
But then he said that if Michiganders help elect Barak Obama (a "tax and spend liberal") it will produce the same results that electing Jennifer Granholm did in Michigan.
Maybe someone needs to remind Saul that Granholm's election came after 12 years of nothing but tax cuts by John Engler, and that his program of tax cuts above all else did nothing to help this state. Maybe he also needs to think abut the great success of Bush's tax cuts and the GOP's brand of "borrow and spend" government.
The ability of conservatives to reinvent (or ignore) history is never-ending, and part of the reason this state (and this country) are in such a mess.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
West Michigan Democrats Deliver
It really goes without saying that West Michigan Democrats helped put Grand Rapids on the national map yesterday. 12,000 Democrats standing up for a new direction after eight years of hell.
Of course I got there late and had to watch the speech on the big screen TV at the Hop Cat.
Of course I got there late and had to watch the speech on the big screen TV at the Hop Cat.
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