Essay: Power Center - 3/13/06

I really like this litany they say sometimes in African-American churches. “Lord, I’m not what I should be. I’m not what I’m gonna be. “But at least I’m not what I was.”

Michigan these days isn’t what it should be, and it isn’t what it was. But it hasn’t been getting better, not for quite some time. That’s bad. What’s worse is that our leaders really haven’t been talking to each other; they’ve been spouting rhetoric at each other.

Phil Power is hoping that his “think-and-do tank" called the Center for Michigan can do something about that. 

Here is where he’s coming from. For almost thirty years, from his young manhood to middle age, we had three governors who were generally responsible, moderate and high-minded. Those men – George Romney, Bill Milliken and Jim Blanchard tried to govern from the reasonable center, and put together coalitions of supporters that sometimes changed from issue to issue. They weren’t blinded by dogmas. They all had faults and made mistakes. But they also had guts. They were willing to take chances and make hard decisions and put their careers on the line.

  Today, when I look at our state’s elected officials, I am mostly reminded of William Butler Yeats’ famous line. “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are filled with passionate intensity.”

Meanwhile, the state is drifting downhill. Phil Power loves his native Michigan. For years, he’s been trying to help protect this state’s environment. Last year he sold his newspapers, and now has the time and ability to try to do something for his state’s political environment. He wants to wake up the intelligent, sane, and sensible people of this state, and make them mad enough to come together behind some reasonable proposals, and force their elected leaders to fix things.

Something like this has happened in Michigan before, notably in 1961, when a citizens’ movement resulted in a state constitutional convention. People can come together to get some one thing done.

Hopefully, the Center for Michigan can have as much of an impact. What will be trickier is to see if it can have a positive impact over the longer haul. The hardest part may not be identifying solutions for our state’s common problems. It may be in getting the sanest among us to defend common-sense solutions with our own passionate intensity.

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Comments

[Mary Ann Donahue]

At last! Phil Powers in finally talking some sense when it comes to Michigan politics. I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard this program today. How can I help?

[Rhonda Ross]

Jack --

When I heard you quote William Butler Yeats’ statement (“The best lack all conviction, while the worst are filled with passionate intensity") I was thinking that our current leaders in Washington have inadvertently modified the situation in that now the best are filled with misguided but passionate intensity while the worst may well lack all conviction or perhaps they have already been convicted.

People are angry about state of our great Union. The anger is not restricted to "Democrats" or "liberals". Many seem to share the same concerns --

* Our economy is in a shambles;
* Our government has stood idly by while dozens of our major Corporations have filed bankruptcy;
* We have lost the respect and trust of our allies;
* the government programs that many trust to protect them are finding that those programs are failing and that the level of incompetence is simply mind boggling (both at the helm of the Agencies and in Congress and the White House for failing to set appropriate priorities and then support those priorities with the necessary funds);
* our highest government officials led us into a war using information du jour as to why it was essential for us to pre-emotively invade a Country and now they use excuses du jour to tell us why we have not been able to “succeed” in bringing democracy and stability to Iraq;
* we have seen our President promote the spread of Democracy while instead he has only succeeded in helping de-stabilize the most volatile of all regions (e.g., Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, etc.)
* We are watching our parents, our friends, and our neighbors lose their jobs, the healthcare benefits and their pensions;

I’m sure I can list at least a dozen other issues where there would be a general consensus that there is something very wrong with the direction we are heading and our President and Congressional leaders are apparently unwilling to even provide us with an honest evaluation of the State of the Union and they claim that nothing needs to be done because we are on the right path.

The general public is well aware of the problems we face – individually, in our communities, and as a Nation. Many are angry. They are angry about what has happened and about what is not happening to remedy our problems.

What frightens me most is that the general public’s anger over the current situation will turn to apathy rather than enthusiasm for change.

We have many serious problems that need to be addressed, but I believe that we can find solutions. Perhaps it is the Engineering side of my brain or perhaps the lawyer in me that makes me so confident that there are solutions to each and every problem.

We will never arrive at or implement those solutions though if we keep re-electing the same people who have either caused or ignored the problems.

It is too late to wait for others to step up and take leadership roles. We all have an obligation to do what we can do to make certain that we elect people who are willing, ready, and able to work for the betterment of the people.

When the founders of our Country started the preamble of the Constitution with the words “We the People”, they meant us. Our unique experiment in democracy represented a fundamental difference from all other government systems. Prior to the founding of the United States, the people served the Government. The government led and the people were to follow. Our founders wanted to change that very fundamental concept.

In the United States, “we the people” are the leaders. We are just supposed to select to appropriate representatives to take care of the day to day business of governing.

Unfortunately, the money involved in our elections have created a system where campaign funding and gerrymandering have made just about any election against an incumbent into a David versus Goliath battle. The level of time, energy, and commitment to challenge an incumbent is enormous. But if not me, whom? If not now, when?

So Jack, if you are frustrated by a lack of leadership in our leaders and a lack of the ability to govern in our government, you have an obligation to work for change. If not you, whom? If not now, when?

I am unwilling to watch quietly. I have decided to take on an incumbent with over a million dollars in campaign contributions. I will fight and I will win. I see no other option. I encourage you to join me.

Rhonda Ross
Democrat for Michigan's 9th Congressional District
www.ross4congress.org

[Colleen]

Jack,
I love your commentaries. Please, where can I get more info on the Center for Michigan that Phil Power has founded? Anything on the Net? Thanks
Colleen
Brighton

[Greg Thrasher]

Folks like Phil Power have been part of the problem impotent leaders for decades who now wish to save the world. I am not now nor ever willing to put my faith in these people. I will continue to lead from my part of the universe by action not empty words from a rich man...