Last week, the Detroit News ran a stunning expose on the up-until-then secret meetings between Gov. Snyder’s executive office and Mackinac Center co-founder Richard McClellan. Their goal is simple: making a profit while educating our children by turning Michigan’s public education system into a voucher-like hybrid. They call their project “Skunk Works.” The phrase “Skunk…
While the continuing controversy over Dave Agema’s hateful Facebook repost could have been an opportunity for the GOP to make their tent a little bit bigger, they haven’t seized it. And while a few moderate Republicans have called on Dave Agema to step down, elected officials and party leaders like Gov. Snyder, Speaker Bolger, and…
Seriously. Each day he wakes up and goes to work as a chemist. Each night he comes home and goes to work as an advocate for progressive issues. And the reason is simple: Chris Savage cares. He cares what happens to Michigan and where America is heading. While some people get paid to go to…
Elected officials are accountable to those they represent. In 2010, Gov. Snyder presented himself as a no nonsense businessman who would move us beyond the partisan gridlock that had gripped Michigan with simple, fair, and efficient solutions that would benefit the common good. The nerd in him demanded concrete goals and graphs so that we…
Peter Pan was afraid of his shadow. It reminded him that one day he’d have to grow up and leave Neverland. Republican lawmakers that still stand with Dave Agema – like Reps. Ken Yonker and Mike Shirkey – are Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. They’ve even got their own Neverland. It’s the birthplace of…
Republicans are hypocrites. They believe big government is bad government unless it’s defining marriage; it should stay out of the business of business unless you’re gay (seriously, in Michigan, you can be fired for being gay). Just this week, Michigan’s Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema posted a screed on Facebook that warned of the “filthy”…
Republicans are hurting. Their policies are unpopular and they keep losing elections. But rather than change, Republicans decided it would be easier to rig Michigan’s elections in their favor. Remember how Lansing Republicans gerrymandered Michigan’s congressional districts in 2010? Well, under the new GOP scheme presidential candidates would get one electoral vote for each congressional district they…
The causes which destroyed the ancient republics were numerous; but in Rome, one principal cause was the vast inequality of fortunes. –Noah Webster, American editor and writer (1758-1843) The Mackinac Center is a well-financed front for wealthy special interests. They are beneficiaries of the current political/financial oligarchy. One where banks are too big to fail…
Recording devices and the Internet have been the bain of the Republican party’s existence. But when you base your beliefs on things that are untrue, tell a room full of rich folks what you haven’t bothered to tell anyone else about your magical economic policies, and have given up the facade of thinking citizens are…
Most people accept that the Republican party exists in a self-contained bubble of information, even their own alternate reality. This alternate reality is policed by the Grand Old Party Poobahs – Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Karl Rove, Mitch McConnell, and John Boehner – who determine what and who is acceptable, and what and who isn’t.…