On the Stump to Downsize Michigan Government
Published July 24, 2008
Yup, you heard me right. I’m not just a bitcher and moaner, or a person who writes an occasional bombastic article on the terrible state of our state. I’m actually stumping to reduce the number of people we have in Lansing lording over us peons.
If you haven’t heard of the ballot initiative Reform Michigan Government Now, it’s the new cause du jour around here. You would think that since the state doesn't have any money that the logical step would be to cut costs. As a business owner and a person with an overall positive cash flow, I know that if I don't have any money, that's what I would do.
I've always thought that a good place to start trimming the fat would be with the number of legislators we have in Lansing. For a state our size, we have more people in the State House than California, a state with more land and three times as many people. The glory days of automotive plants filled with workers is long gone. The size of state government should shrink according to the size of the population. (Don't even get me going on our county. That should be next on the list.)
It's always been my contention that if you are in public service, your motives should be altruistic. You should be serving to improve your city, county, or state, not be there to improve your own financial situation. Maybe I'm naive, but that's how it was in the olden days. It's a completely different story now. Where else could you serve as a representative for six years and get paid health insurance for the rest of your life?
Back in November, I heard about Reform Michigan Government Now and tried to find out more about it. There wasn't much online at the time. Then one day this spring I was approached by a canvasser positioned in front of the Royal Oak Post Office. I was going in to mail a care package to the Number One Son. Usually, I quickly swoop past the assortment of survey takers, hobos, and union members pitching their collective causes before they can pigeonhole me, but as soon as I heard that this one was regarding Reform Michigan Government Now, I practically knocked the guy over to sign up.
And now because so many have jumped on the bandwagon to oppose (yes, OPPOSE! even though a poll stated that 70% of Michiganders thought it was a good idea) the ballot initiative, I’m more sure now than ever that this is a great idea whose time has come.
- On the Stump to Downsize Michigan Government
- Published: July 24, 2008
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Politics
- Filed Under: Politics: Government, Politics: Elections and Candidates, Politics: Local and Regional
- Writer: Joanne Huspek
- Joanne Huspek's BC Writer page
- Joanne Huspek's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
I've seen this stuff come and go in Minnesota. If it weren't for the vicious way execs slashed jobs in your state, I'd say, 'have a little sympathy for the poor bastards'.
But given that you are a business owner, and not some flunky drawing a paycheck on someone else's risk and gamble with fate and money, you have a right to hold the views you do....
Of course, you have to realize the downside with cutting wages and bennies of people who can legislate you out of existence, or wipe you away with a mere court order. It makes them even easier to buy than they are now. It's just like underpaying cops. Do that, and you may as well elect the local mafioso as your leader, because that is who the uniformed goons will be loyal to - their meal ticket.
I'm with ditching Granholm. She wants to be the governor, but she doesn't want to make the hard choices and govern.
As for cost cutting, everyone else is forced to do it, so why not the government? Why can't they operate as leanly as private enterprise? Why does a teacher HAVE to make $65K with full benefits? Does a state senator really have to get full benefits after six years?
I'm thinking being legislated out of business might not be a bad thing. Change is good. It's apparent that the state doesn't want to keep the old businesses here.
I can not support your effort. While I believe in the initiative process, this wholesale attack on our Constitution is not in the best interest of the taxpayers and voters of this state. It does not give the opportunity for clear analysis and consideration of the consequences that will result due to the magnitude of the changes.
The average voter will not be able to make an informed decision with only 100 words allowed on the ballot.
Rose Bogaert, Chair
Wayne County Taxpayers Association
Hello.
While the Detroit Free Press has done a great job of covering the recent discovery of the PowerPoint presentation which documents the partisan nature of the proposed RMGN amendment, they admit that they were not the discoverers of that presentation.
Instead, as the Free Press article above reports, it was the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland, MI who found the document and broke the news on Detroit's WJR talk radio. For more details on the Center and their discovery, please click here.
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The first thing the people of Michigan need to do is throw Granholm into lake Michigan.
Seriously...........the bitch needs to go and go now.