Michigan in the Red

There are effectively no more local elections in Michigan, the Governor has seized power to wipe them out, to vitiate them under the illusion of a financial emergency.  Yes, the emergency -- need not even be real, or severe, or even proven- just declared. 

There are essentially no limitations or procedural protections in the law sufficient to withstand the bald and unprincipled use of power. Now, it is true that all localities are legally created by the State or Commonwealth, and in law the principle applies that the power to create is inherently the power to destroy-- however, there is an higher level of Government and it too has the power to create legal relationships with the cities, counties-- the Congress has done so for most of our national existence. Grants, contracts, civil defense- all have more and more obtained federal-to- city status.  These contracts can effectively be changed in fundamental ways by the power grab in Michigan and are completely subject to being undermined by mere political preferences- we have seen the plan for Republican hostility to Federal dollars even when the people NEEEED  the programs and jobs they bring-- such as high speed rail lines in Florida, for that matter light rail lines in Detroit. There is also the weight of time itself, Detroit has been here a long time, longer than the State in a sense,and the people had a contract with the Federal and State government that precious fundamental contract of a Democracy-- that nothing as important as their vote would be taken away without extensive due process-- that there would be some severe reason for doing so.  So let us look, what is so severe that the people of Detroit must be deprived of the government they have chosen-- well it is a "financial emergency"  as a creature of the State, the State has an obligation to  endorse that debt crisis or consider the damage done by a municipal bankruptcy. 

But on a deeper level, some troubling questions arise: 
what is it about the Detroit voters that caused the "emergency"?  
For that matter - what did the elected officials do to cause the emergency?--
did they force the automakers to move overseas?-
did they trigger the housing market collapse?--
or did they cause massive unemployment? 

The remedy of taking over a local government needs to be related in some way to the cause of the problem-- let's say the root cause of the financial problem may be an inequitable distribution of tax and public revenues attributable to the a Detroit area by the State itself, the Governor and the State legislature-- lets say they cut budgets and unfairly redistributed revenue--or just cut the budget because the Koch Brothers said  DO THIS.  Lets say the allow insurance companies to wreck the local economy by harsh and discriminatory policies. Or lets say there is a gross underestimation of the economic value of Detroit as a regional economic hub.

Finally, was the takeover needed even if a financial emergency in some real and legally sound definition  did exist-- is it more than a need for money subsidies or reforms--ahh, there is the bigger prize-- can some group suppress the vote in Detroit enough to put Michigan in Romney's column in the fall-- yes it is possible-- just emergency yourself into forcing the Detroit Department of Elections into a condition of four hour waiting lines for the election in November and you will  

put  the entire State Michigan into the Red

Tell Don't Ask

The so-called Conservative Right, the self described soul of the Republican Party has given the best political issue yet to the Democrats and President Obama- IT IS their social agenda. Instead of Don't ask , don't tell- (that strange deal with being Gay as if being gay was just discovered instead of being as old as people)- this is some Republicans telling the rest of us:  DO AS WE SAY, WE KNOW HOW YOU SHOULD LIVE YOUR LIFE.

They want to tell us to give up sex until we marry, that we must only love someone of the opposite sex and the same race; they want us to accept that white men are often frightened of dark skinned people and should have the right to shoot anyone who frightens them; and they want us to generally accept that women should be subservient to the men in their lives.  They also believe that the federal government is the root of all evils and that war is the solution to any problems that frighten a Nation of White  men.  This is so much like the 50's when the cities experienced White flight- now is White fright, and integration, busing, and Women's Lib showed that the country was truly going to the dogs.  The problem with all of this is simply- who are these jerks who think they ought to tell anyone else how to live the one life we have been given; I mean: when I want to worship someone i get down on my knees and pray.

There is a deeper problem to all of this, the Arizona Syndrome- where Whites feel the shrinking power of their disappearing numerical majority, and the fact that logic and reason have decimated the White voting bloc.  We are no longer a nation of White Men. It is too difficult now to convince women they need a man to control their lives, it is impossible to convince young people that being selfish helps their country, it is totally out of the question to get many normal people to trust big business after they have seen their assault on our jobs( gone overseas to low bidders); home equities ( the housing crisis and credit crisis); wars for Republican profits ( i mean how else can you explain Iraq-- that a group of thugs with box cutters exposed our miserable leadership and therefore we spent 3 Trillion dollars and 8 years at war) They still control the money and have invented a game only they can generally play- trading derivatives-  one Hedge Fund Manager earned $3 Billion one recent year- while we cut schools and teachers, and trash pickups, and healthcare, and food to the hungry, housing for homeless---ahh what would Jesus say..? or Budha? or Muhammed? or Bubba the local homeless Vietnam War vet now begging under a bridge? (probably saying Ohh myyy Jesus!)

We are not the first country to have a weird Right Wing attempt to take over a society, and like the others ( oh, say Germany with Hitler, Brazil during the military dictatorship) there is a corp of deep pocket wackos who are using a political party to advance interest which i think arise straight from their frustrated sex drives--well i am giving a great deal of credit which may not be due-- they may simply be more or less insane or power mad.  The point is that they want to control behavior- who sexes whom, who decides to give birth, who marries whom, what kinds of sex, whether she submits to a man or not.  They are not content to wage wars, destroy lives around the globe, convert mankind's few opportunities for progress into bloody venges and revenges( is "venges" a word?- should be, anyway...how can you have re venge without first having a venge).

We live in a golden age- glad captives of a time when the globe can be easily embraced. It can be further embraced by a global pollution, excess of automobiles, carbon fuel burning, ocean trashing, woman bashing, rule by petty dictators and machine guns every goddamn place! OOOORRRRR it can be embraced by progress such as the incredibly rapid adaptations to computers, the internet, smartphones--technology puts us to the lie when we say we cannot change,  fundamentally change-- we already have, and in record times:  what maybe 10 years for the embrace of the internet and maybe 7 years for the embrace of the smartphone technology.  Wireless communications mean we don't have to wire-grid and pave-over the world in order to industrialize enough to feed and employ our swelling masses.

This is a Golden Age of opportunity for social Greening, progress on the things which deeply trouble our societies- on a global basis- water, food, the safety and equality of women- putting an end to war, creating productive capacity to give business and careers potentials to millions more ...it is in our busy little hands. Hands which can turn palms up in surrender or grab something we all know is true--the moment to realize we are what we do; and we can be so much more than we now do.