The Michigan legislature has been tilting left recently and the conservative media has taken notice. Some have lamented this shift towards typically liberal policies as turning away from the roots of Republican ideology while others have claimed this change proves Republican lawmakers are working across the aisle.
The reality is that Michigan legislators are no different than any other legislators - their number one goal is to stay in power and with the elections fast approaching Michigan's Republican officeholders are looking for ways to remove the extremist stench they doused themselves in shortly after the 2012 election cycle ended.
So while Republican legislators have shown interest recently in things like raising the minimum wage, increasing education funding, blocking an expansion of the Education Achievement Authority (EAA), increasing taxes to address crumbling roads, and using public funds to save the DIA and help pensioners, their record suggests the sudden interest in portraying themselves as pragmatic moderates has far more to do with getting re-elected than some sort of magnanimous bipartisanship.
This legislative window dressing should help quell the fears of some independents about the radical agenda many Republicans across the nation have been pursuing however it is important to remember that these compromises only represent a small portion of the legislative actions with which these individuals should be judged by.
One of the first acts of Rick Snyder and the Republican majority was to cut taxes for corporations and offset the loss of revenue by taxing the elderly. A move that the governor claimed would create jobs yet Michigan still trails most states in growth.
This corporate giveaway also came at the expense of Michigan's burgeoning film industry since incentives that were drawing an increasing number of film studios to the area were slashed to put a few bucks in the hands of important donors.
The legislature has made a point to increasing funding to education recently yet data shows that since 2007 inflation adjusted education spending in Michigan is short some $1.5 billion. It also true that a portion of the money that Republicans claim they added came directly out of teachers paychecks. Cutting teacher’s wages to claim spending is up does not show Republicans are as dedicated to improving education as they would like you to believe.
In December of last year the legislature passed a bill requiring women to buy additional insurance coverage for removing a collection of cells. To make matters worse the Republican legislature enacted this attack on women's rights without the consent of the voters or the governor as both were bypassed in this process.
Shortly after voters decided they didn't want the government to have the power to void local election results and force an emergency manager on struggling cities, Republicans ignored the will of the people and passed a new emergency manager law that thanks to subversive legislative trick could no longer be put up for a vote of the people.
The legislature also decided to take local control of education away from a most Detroit parents and hand it over to a corporate entity which has been losing students at an alarming rate.
In retaliation for a union effort to secure the rights of workers to organize and collectively bargain, the governor signed "right to work" legislation that allows individuals to opt out of the democratic process while restricting unions from enjoying this same freedom of choice. This legislation was yet another win Republicans handed to their big corporate donors and a loss for Michigan since reports show that 7 of the 9 slowest growing state economies are in RTW states.
When discussing legislation to restrict women right to decide what she can and cannot do with her own body Republicans banned Representative Lisa Brown for using the word vagina. Apparently free speech has its limits.
Governor Rick Snyder used Indiana as the model for reviving the Michigan economy yet data shows the tax cutting policies the governor has championed are far less effective than the tax and spend policies of states like Minnesota.
The Republican legislature attempted to make absentee voting in Michigan more difficult to quell their unsubstantiated voter fraud fears.
Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette is fighting to keep same sex couples from their dream of marriage equality even though the courts have determined his position to be unconstitutional.
So while Republicans have spent the last few months putting lipstick on the pig that is their legislative priorities, it is important for voters to remember that the softened positions these individuals are taking now don't represent a true Republican agenda. If it did the conservative media won't spend so much time pointing out how recent legislation represents a departure from core Republican values.
As George W. Bush once said "Fool me once, shame on ... shame on you. Fool me... You can't get fooled again!” If Michigan voters forget the litany of grotesquely sectarian legislation Republicans crammed into the last lame duck session and give them another unfettered opportunity they shouldn't be surprised when many of these same legislators abandon their new found love of compromise and force more hyper partisan laws on Michigan residents.
No comments:
Post a Comment