When push comes to shove, immediate action must be taken. The “push,” in this instance, would be a proposed ballot initiative to ensure that state legislators will pass laws to assist those living in Michigan without health care. Consequentially, a “shove” is required to get Michiganders health care now.

Once in a great while, it becomes crucial to nudge Michigan legislators in the right direction, and require initiatives that put the fine art of altruism where it always should have been: as a part of their jobs. Although there are several representatives in the Legislature who have fought to make greater healthcare coverage a reality, the vast majority still need to be pressed. The Health Care for Michigan campaign, which has spearheaded this measure, is proposing that many of Michigan’s healthcare crises could be solved by simply getting legislators to face that we have a crisis and then do something about it.

While there are nearly as many pros to this argument as there are coffee-stained copies of “Powersanding Today!” in a hospital waiting room, some of the best virtues of this ballot initiative revolve around its ability to improve the outlook of Michigan workers, our state’s fledgling economy, and the leaders who represent us in Lansing.

To begin with, a measure like this would help the many Michigan residents who have found themselves in the deplorable position of living without healthcare. Nearly one million Michigan citizens are currently living without healthcare, and many more are at high risk for losing their coverage. It goes without saying that hard-working and rule-abiding workers should not have to endure crushing debt or losing a home if illness happens to befall them. That would be like asking George Washington to lead the foundation of America through the Revolutionary War, and then rewarding him with a one-way, nonrefundable ticket to Britain.

Michigan’s businesses and economy are in great need of the benefits from this measure, too. With healthcare costs skyrocketing out of control, many small businesses are forced to cut healthcare plans for employees, and therefore cannot afford to expand, hire, promote, or develop in any significant way. Even GM and Ford, two of our state’s highest epicenters for employment, must add over $1,000 to the cost of each vehicle they produce, just to keep healthcare plans for their employees covered.

Finally, those politicians in Lansing – elected to represent a people in a dire state of anguish – would, with the passage of this ballot initiative, be forced to recognize the plight of their people and take action. The representatives in our state capital already receive the kind of benefits package that a plant worker in Detroit could only dream of; it’s time to pass this plethora of healthcare onto those who made it possible for legislators to serve in the first place. Writing this measure into law would make political leaders do what they should have been doing in the first place: their jobs. It would no longer be possible for elected officials to overlook the healthcare crisis, and the long sought after relief would, at last, find itself bestowed upon those in such desperate need of it. The period of inattention has passed, and the time for action is now.

With state-wide unemployment rates soaring, the threat of Canadian garbage spilling – quite literally – into our hands, and gas prices higher than the administrative cabinet of the Cheech and Chong fanclub, it seems that the last thing Michigan citizens deserve right now is a massive distraction from the issues that really matter. Nevertheless, leaders in both the House and Senate have chosen to overlook these critical facts and instead pay focus to an issue of complete irrelevance: late-term abortion.

Bill 776 was introduced by Republican Senator Cameron Brown and driven by anti-choice organizations. SB776 has already been passed by the Senate in a margin of 24-13, and has been prolonged and deadlocked for several weeks in the Democrat-controlled House. Just yesterday, the bill passed in a House vote of 74-32. The Senate, unlike the House, is dominated by the Republicans.

Perhaps those Michigan Senators who cast their voices in support of this measure have forgotten that late-term abortions are already banned on a federal level; meaning, of course, that any legislative decision made on the state level is really nothing more than obnoxious reinforcement. You might say that the legislators who voted for and sponsored Bill 776 are, in this instance, accomplishing nothing more productive than sticking their tongues out at the state of Michigan. Since such abortions are already illegal throughout the US, the action taken by Michigan leaders in Lansing has mounted to little more than political pandering towards ultra-conservative and religious groups.

House Speaker Andy Dillon, himself a pro-lifer, made a promise to his caucus that the issue of abortion would never be brought before Michigan legislators during his term in office. At the time of this promise, it seems that Dillon felt – and rightly so – the state of Michigan was facing more pressing matters than partisan wedge issues like abortion. But now that Bill 776 is resonating loudly in front of the entire legislative body, Dillon has effectively broken his word to Michiganders all over the mitten and proven to be an untrustworthy representative of our great state. By diverting focus from more relevant concerns, such as health care and job growth, Dillon and other leaders in both the House and Senate have regrettably led the citizens of Michigan through a drastic tumble down the rabbit hole, and lowered the level of civil, political discourse from a plain of competent governing to Pee Wee's Playhouse.

It is indisputable that Michigan's social and economic climates are in a condition of dual dire straits. Currently, Michigan holds the highest unemployment rate of all 50 states, and has found itself in the midst of an economic slump unlike any that has been witnessed in decades. Shouldn't our elected officials be working in support of the people of Michigan, rather than wasting time on pointless pieces of legislation? It's time for Michigan to pull itself back to its feet, and bail out of the rabbit hole; those who are diverting attention from this unarguable fact are simply working against the betterment of Michigan and its people.