The presumption was that those in Lansing were there to look after the best interests of the public.
Now there were disagreements, naturally, on exactly what those interests were and how to achieve them. Some thought the state should be doing more to help business.
Others thought the state should do more to help the downtrodden, especially in Detroit, which even then was fighting many of the problems that plague the city today.
The legislature back then also had its share of slackers and incompetents, time-servers, drunks, and an outright crook or two.
But the essential philosophy was, I think, different than now. There was broad agreement that the state had to take care of its great universities, and the public schools as well, though the way they were funded then was not the same.
The lawmakers, spurred by Gov. Bill Milliken, also thought they had an obligation to take care of our parks and natural resources and the environment in general. There were battles about ways and means, but an overall philosophy that there was a public good.
In the private sector, things were different. Everybody expected occasional titanic battles between management and labor over money and working conditions - especially in the auto industry. Every few years, we were conditioned to expect huge nationwide strikes by the United Auto Workers’ union against one car maker or another. Each side was narrowly focused on its own interests, and that was expected. It was how the system worked.
Well, what a difference a few decades make. Personally, I sometimes think we are living in an alternate reality universe.
Turning to the private sector first; the big three and the union have been so battered that they seem to be propping each other up, lest they both go under. For example, Ford and the UAW have been holding informal talks for weeks, and are about to agree on a set of concessions similar to those the union made to Chrysler and General Motors when they were in bankruptcy.
Ford is also going to give the unions some things it wants.
That is a stark contrast to the world of Lansing, where things seem to be moving backwards. Senate Republicans are sitting on six major budget bills, and won’t send them to the governor because they are afraid she will veto them.
Well, guess what. She has a constitutional right to do that. These bills were legally supposed to be sent to her weeks ago, but everybody has been dragging their feet. Now, there is once again talk of a government shutdown the day after Halloween.
Both parties have worked hard at giving us a dysfunctional state government that is fast becoming the laughingstock of the nation. I wonder if we should consider asking Ford and the UAW to step on and take over instead. They seem to be able to play nice with others, and neither has gone bankrupt, not yet anyway.
Don’t know about you, but I think that works for me.
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