Abolishing Representative Democracy in Michigan

"Sadly, most Michigan residents don't even know what this could mean.  Wait until these communities see their locally elected officials replaced by someone who could care less about them or their local issues.  This is an assault on democracy."

~ Longtime Midland resident and award winning activist Diane Hebert

Sometimes blog posts write themselves.

I was going to write about underwater mortgages or Michigan's item pricing law or Congressman Peter King's (R-Jerk) anti-Muslim witch hunt but after finding out what's going on in Lansing right now with emergency financial managers (EFMs), I'd be remiss if I chose another topic.

Politicians aren't just giving people the shaft in DC and Madison.  It's happening right here in our Great Lake State.  The culprits are a little more covert than that bumbling idiot governor of Wisconsin but the end result is the same.  A person's ability to join with others to fight for safe conditions, a fair wage and other basic workplace rights is being threatened.  Some say democracy itself is under siege.

The Michigan State Senate yesterday approved legislation giving more power to EFMs.  The House of Representatives is expected to concur next week, and Rick Snyder has promised to sign the legislation into law.  (Both legislative chambers are controlled by the Republicans, as are the Governor's Office and the state Supreme Court.)

The reason this is bad news is because the state could then install an EFM in a local community experiencing financial troubles who would have the authority to modify or cancel employee contracts, fire administrators or declare bankruptcy.  The gubernatorial appointee's decisions would trump those of any local elected officials, city councils or school boards.

Why should you care?  Well, didn't a certain German chancellor with a funny moustache abolish all German labor unions back in 1933 in an effort to ban political opposition?  Think about it.

First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

                                         ~ Pastor Martin Niemoller (1892 - 1984)

Sources: Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, The Michigan Citizen