Yesterday, a small fraction of Michigan voters went to the polls to pick who they wanted to get the Republican nomination for president. Mitt Romney was able to scratch out a victory by adopting a fiscally irresponsible tax plan that will explode the deficit with tax cuts for the richest Americans and corporations that outsource jobs, and endorsing radical anti-abortion “personhood initiatives.” Despite his narrow victory, it’s clear that he has a regular voter problem: he only won among voters making more than $100,000 a year, doing worse with voters the closer they got to the average American income. Mitt Romney left our state this morning, but we in Michigan still have to deal with dozens of politicians and aspiring politicians whose radical views don’t represent us.
In the race for the Republican nomination for Senate, Pete Hoekstra, Clark Durant, and now Gary Glenn are running circles around each other trying to make the case for their conservative records. Hoekstra has endorsed Herman Cain’s “9-9-9 plan” that would raise taxes on 84 percent of US households. Durant told college students he thinks the wealth gap in America “should be wider.” But Tea Partiers decided these two weren’t good enough, throwing their support last weekend to Gary Glenn, a long-time anti-LGBT and anti-choice activist who is currently president of the Michigan branch of the American Family Association and has even lobbied for the banning of Gay/Straight Alliance organizations in Michigan schools.
Don’t think that Lansing politicians were going to miss out on the fun. After a Circuit Court judge forced Governor Snyder’s Emergency Manager review team meetings to hold public meetings, Snyder simply appointed a “subcommittee” that he says is exempt from the Open Meetings Act, so they could get their business done behind closed doors. Meanwhile, Highland Park teachers are teaching for free after House Speaker Jase Bolger said he was “done trying to save Highland Park.”
And this is just this year, after we were told Republican politicians would be pursuing a more moderate agenda, since they’re running for re-election in November. Who could forget last year, when Republicans in Lansing “fixed Michigan” by giving corporations a $1.8 billion tax cut that was paid for through an unprecedented tax on seniors’ pensions and a record cut to education funding. We know we’re not alone when we say if this is fixing Michigan, we definitely liked it better before.
So what can you do to stop them? We at Progress Michigan are working tirelessly to hold Lansing politicians accountable for their constant lies and attacks on Michigan workers and families. Start by adding your name to our campaign encouraging Lansing politicians to invest in kids, not corporations; then forward it to some of your friends and family so they can get involved, too. And make sure you’re connected with us on Facebook and Twitter so you can keep up with all our updates. 2012 is going to be a great year for Michigan, but we can’t do it without your help.