The Next Governor of Michigan

Now that Mr. Cherry, a decent but uncharismatic and unfunded man, has decided to withdraw from the campaign for the next governor of Michigan, the field is wide open on the Democratic side. There is a lot of chatter on the right that the Dems are toast because Granholm has wrecked the State. Nonsense, on both counts.

In fairness to Ms. Granholm, she may not have done much to stop our slide into a Depression, but she didn’t cause it either. Governor Engler and the Republicans who ran the State for 12 years, left a 3 billion dollar deficit during a time when the entire Country was in an economic boom. Republicans gave away the ranch to corporations in exchange for a promise of jobs – and then the corporations took the money and left the State (e.g. Pfizer). The net result of virtually eliminating business taxes was increased unemployment, a tax burden shifted to municipalities (meaning that individual citizens now have to pay more taxes to keep their police and fire departments), education was virtually defunded and poor people were virtually left with a choice to leave the State or possibly die (e.g. the latest fire in Detroit killing three people who could not afford electricity).

Republican economic policies ruined the State. Granholm was only guilty of supporting the same failed policies and job-hunting in D.C. The truth of the matter is that the Michigan Chamber of Commerce has bought the last two Governors and owns the Legislature. They have invested a lot of money to get judges elected as well. The next Governor will have to contend with a State government that represents only the interests of corporations. Someone who truly represents the best interests of the citizens of Michigan may only become Governor by leading a mob of pitchfork carrying citizens.

You can expect that the Republican candidate will have a fat bankroll and will be a Manchurian candidate. Hoekstra? Really? A man who enabled the economic policies of George Bush that have wrecked the Country? Pete, think about it… there is no Wall St. or Military-Industrial complex in Michigan – there is barely ANY industrial complex left in Michigan. There is no more economy to wreck. Take your cue from Engler: keep your bankroll and retire to Virginia. Cox? Well, tax-payers have to ask themselves whether you can trust a man who covered for Kwame? The only real question is: what then of the Democrats?

I don’t care if we elect a Republican or a Democrat so long as they are not insane. By that, I mean insane as defined by doing the same things and expecting different results. The next Governor of Michigan will have to be Roosevelt (Teddy AND Franklin) – someone who can break up the corporate stranglehold on government and really represent the interests of working families.