The recent rash of extreme right legislation being forced on the Michigan public by the legislature and the governor has elicited a number of very strong reactions. It has also resulted in a massive drop in popularity of Governor Snyder.
The reason for this change is that the governor and the legislature are acting counter to the will of the people. Given that most polling does not favor the Republican point of view on nearly all of the recently enacted legislation, those looking to defend the actions of the governor and this legislature resort to simplistic or errant logic.
While the Michigan legislature currently has a Republican majority this comes as a result of creative redistricting or gerrymandering not a populace that supports Republicans by a similar majority.
The most recent election data shows that over 54% of the votes cast for State Representatives in Michigan were for Democrats. These numbers are nearly identical to the results of the presidential election totals for Michigan
As further proof of the illegitimacy of the Republican rule in Michigan the average margin of victory for Democrats in the House was over 42% while Republicans margin was less than half that at 19%.
So while Republicans in Michigan can pretend that the results of the most recent election are equivalent to the will of the people. The reality is that Republicans have jury-rigged the system to suppress the majority in what can only be considered a perversion the democratic process.
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