No partisan battles were as important as the national interest. That would be a good slogan for today’s Michigan, a state where virtually all of us are no more than an afternoon’s drive at most from the edge of one of the Great Lakes.
They are the nation’s most important sources of drinking water, and our future these days is on the edge of a knife.
Today, our common enemy is not the extinct Soviet Union, the ragged bands of Taliban fighters, or any external power big or small.
Our common enemy is the threat to our economic future. One of the mainstays of this state’s economy, the auto industry, has been shrinking for years. Now it is threatened with something close to extinction. Everyone knows that it employs far fewer people than it used to, and even if Chrysler and General Motors survive and become profitable again, they will be smaller still.
On top of that, the nation is now in what they are calling the “Great Recession.” Michigan, which leads the nation in unemployment, is fighting for its future.
The old, brawn-based economy is over. Legions of high school graduates aren’t going to get high-paying jobs bending metal any more. We need to find a new way to be prosperous.
A century ago, Detroit led the way, turning Michigan into a manufacturing state. Oddly enough, blasted and battered Detroit just might be showing the way again. Last week, the city elected Dave Bing mayor in a hard-fought race notable for its decency.
The city’s bizarre election rules mean that Mayor Bing, who is scheduled to take office today, faces a new primary election in less than three months. But last week a fairly amazing thing happened.
Councilman Kwame Kenyatta, who had been a candidate, dropped out. He said “Our people are battle-fatigued. It’s time for Detroit to pull together and try to solve this difficult crisis we have.”
Other candidates followed his lead and dropped out as well. That doesn’t mean an end to politics. But four elections in one year is crazy, and there’s a time to stop campaigning.
Those are sentiments we would all do well to adopt. Michigan has a multi-billion-dollar budget crisis that extends into infinity, and which neither party has been willing to tackle.
This year, the legislature is putting off hard decisions by plugging it with the stimulus. After that, we’re looking at the edge of the cliff. We need our elected leaders to throw down their ideological blinders. They need to figure out what kind of state we need and are willing to pay for. And then, we need to figure out the best way to pay for it, or, if we aren’t willing to pay for something, to live without it.
Sounds simple, but that’s what they haven’t been doing. This would be an excellent time for our full-time lawmakers to start.
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