Mileg

Members of the Michigan Legislature:

I want to start out by thanking you.  It’s never easy to govern, and public service has an even higher set of challenges now.  Your willingness to take on the roles you have, and lead the state forward, is exemplary.

With that in mind, I would ask you to pick up the reigns of leadership, and right some wrongs that have recently sprung up.  Our nation has gone through a tough summer of political vitriol, and it seems everyone is interested in playing Can You Top This in terms of social media presence, outrageous statements, and behavior that borders on– and, sadly, sometimes demonstrates– the dangerous. 

With all respect, you aren’t helping.  State law says we have to have a budget by now—in fact, we’re supposed to have one long past now.  It’s distressing that the legislature’s response to missing this deadline was—to go on vacation for two months.  It’s equally distressing that, since coming back to Lansing, many legislators have said there won’t be a budget by October 1.  

I understand budgets are complicated things, but you have two weeks. It took the legislature less than that to turn Michigan into a right-to-work state, and for the House to pass the school bathroom bill the Senate is now taking up.  This is big stuff, but it got done in short time because legislative leadership thought it mattered.

The budget matters too.  Again, with all respect, there’s more media coverage of Lansing leaders pelting the opposition with criticism and shaming than stories about the real issues behind the budget impasse.  There seems to be this false dichotomy about roads versus schools, a juxtaposition that seems odd, since we need both. 

But I’m not here to tell you what to spend state money (forgive me, but—my money) on. I am here to ask you to decide.  Now. 

I understand a good amount of legislating is behind the scenes, but I would suggest you put some sunlight on the issue.  Social media duels are tiresome, and achieve nothing—no one is going to join your side because of a Tweet, and playing a game of chicken with the October 1 deadline distracts us from doing our jobs, raising our kids, and driving safely on our precious roads. It also increases the already rampant cynicism about government, and reasonably leads some to ask—if the legislature doesn’t have to obey the law, why should I?

Just as important, you need to set an example for the rest of the political world to follow.  The us-versus-them hate speech is morphing into more political violence with every passing moment.  The best way—what 250 years of history ultimately shows as the only way—to calm it down is to demonstrate bipartisanship with everything. 

The budget may seem a modest goal, but every step to a better democracy matters.  Remember the running coach who said, if you run a 10-minute mile New Year’s Day and take one second off your time every day after that, you’ll run a sub-four-minute mile next New Year’s Day.

It’s time to lace up your shoes.  I urge you to lead us to harmony, asking legislative leadership to walk into a room together, and only walk out once they have a budget. You order enough late-night pizza when you’re trying to get home at Christmas.  Those places also deliver late nights in September.

It’s now your turn to deliver. It would be a small, but important, step towards normalcy and civility, and towards the more pleasant peninsula our state motto says we seek.

Economic Brothers

The man
With the roadside cardboard sign
And the tycoon
Peering desperately
At hourly S & P reports.

Neither
Has
Enough.

Talk about a bond market.

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