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Primary Colors:
As Red & Blue Candidates Square Off on August 8th, the Issues Assume Many Shades of Grey By Robert E. Martin On Tuesday, August 8th, Republicans and Democrats will be voting on which candidate within their respective party is best suited to represent the interests of Saginaw, Bay, and Midland Counties in several key races. Additionally, in Saginaw County, there is a very significant 'No Boundaries' Public Safety Millage on the ballot.
Over the past few issues The Review
has presented various Candidate Forums on what we feel are the most
critical primary contests. With this Pre-Primary edition, I would like
to frame the election season in terms of key issues, unpleasant truths,
and stark realities that each candidate, regardless of party, will be
forced to cope with, should they become elected.
But mainly, as the stakes escalate and
Michigan's problems accelerate, I wish to concentrate upon facts and
realities that the 'mainstream' media conveniently avoid.
Dante said that the hottest place
in Hell is reserved for those who in time of crisis remain neutral, so
while there may indeed be two sides to every coin, the differences in
shading between party rhetoric make all the difference in the world.
This year, as in the past, Republicans
will portray Democrats as embittered academics, whacked-out hippies and
communards, and people who talk to telephone poles. Democrats, on the
other hand, will portray the party of Lincoln as one of swamp developers
and corporate shills, faith-based economists, fundamentalist bullies
with Bibles, tax cheats, freelance racists, and shrieking morons that
populate talk radio.
But the reality is that both our State
and Country need defending this year. This is a great country and angry
people in government, unwilling to work together, did not make it that
way.
The status of our political landscape in
a nutshell is this: all the candidates in each and every race are
running on a platform of predicament. Wild swine crowd around the public
trough, more eager to feed the public pension system that bankrupts our
coffers and makes our streets unsafe than they are to provide meaningful
solutions to public problems.
While 43.6 million Americans are without
health insurance, elected officials enjoy Cadillac health plans well
past retirement.
Ironies abound in the harsh light of
reality, where pocket lining is conducted on a massive scale and paid
lobbyists sit in committee rooms to write legislation alleviating the
suffering of billionaires.
The concentration of wealth and power in
the hands of the few is the death knell of democracy. Currently there
are 365 well-heeled individuals that make more money each year than the
entire population of the United States combined. No republic in the
history of humanity has survived this, and the mid-term elections of
2006 will say a lot about what happens to ours.
Having said this, let's look at the
realities behind the key issues Republicans & Democrats are
debating:
Money Management.
This year's deficit will be the biggest in our nation's history. By
2008 the current national debt will be $6.84 quadrillion dollars.
Meanwhile, the national debt increases an average of $1.58 billion
each day. The average amount of each U.S. citizen's share of the
national debt is $23,396. Who will pay for this and how? An
important question to ask of each potential candidate.
The Environment.
58 million acres of public lands have been opened by Congress for
logging & drilling (the majority of the mineral rights given away to
large corporations at a fraction of their value to the American public.
Hmm? Could recouping this value be one way to reduce our national debt?
In our own backyard, a dredging project
on the Saginaw River project threatens to open Saginaw taxpayers to
liability for the adverse health effects of the site. In the past week
after seeking assurance that this project was for navigational purposes
only, it's clear that no agency or government body will commit that this
dredge site will not be used by a third party. With the DEQ's blessing
construction is proceeding absent a construction plan or an operational
management plan, proving politics trumps science and planning every
time. Yet another significant question to ask of your potential
candidate.
Gas Prices & Energy Payoffs.
The Institute on Money in State Politics, a consumer oriented
non-profit investigative research group, recently completed a study for
the election year that shows the energy industry has put more than
$134.7 million into state-level candidates and party committees in
the past decade.
Almost 70 percent of that money
was given to winning & incumbent candidates who decided public-policy
issues in legislative sessions that followed the elections.
During debate on the recent Energy
Bill passed by Congress, an amendment was presented to suspend
deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until the price of
oil falls below $40 per barrel for 2 consecutive weeks. With
prices per barrel doubling in recent weeks, the suspension of oil
delivery to the SPR would put additional barrels of oil into the market
to stabilize the world's oil supply and provide relief at the pump to
consumers. However, this stipulation was not included in the final
version of the bill.
Profits for refineries went up 250%
between September 2004 and 2005 and 75% of the multi-billion-oil futures
industry is completely unregulated. This is ENRON all over again. What
does your potential candidate intend to do about it?
Michigan Jobs & Salaries.
Both Republicans & Democrats have ideas about putting Michigan back to
work, but why don't we start with the notion that we need to reinforce
the Michigan infrastructure with innovative technologies and plain old
common horse sense.
A little told episode in the major media
is something that happened last July when Congress approved an
Export/Import Loan that in essence gave $5 billion to a
state-subsidized British utility (Westinghouse) to build up the
infrastructure of China, undeniably our biggest trade competitor, while
also sharing advanced nuclear technology along the way with a Chinese
conglomerate that had, in the past, shared nuclear know-how with Iran
and Pakistan.
Yes, you heard me right. So much for the 'War on Terror'.
Meanwhile, can we get both political
parties to agree that it is not in the best interest of Michigan to
outsource jobs at $2.00 per hour to China, India, and Mexico?
The Ugly Side of Race Politics.
As a member of the City of Saginaw Charter Commission, recently
we passed a unanimous resolution that city elections, both August
primaries, and November General Elections should be held in even
numbered years.
By doing this our beleaguered city would
save $64,000 every two years for election costs, because
the way things are currently done, odd year elections involve only
city officers.
Moreover, by holding the primary in August and general in November, the voter participation would be increased 2.3 times the current odd year election year average.
Unfortunately, PA116 of 1954, as
amended, currently prohibits the City of Saginaw from changing the
current odd year elections. Consequently, the Charter Commission asked
certain members of the Michigan Legislature, including Democrat Carl
Williams and Republican Roger Kahn (both running for State
Senate this year) to amend this public act to allow for 'even numbered
year' elections.
Recently The Review learned that
one of the reasons this Amendment has not been forthcoming is because
the NAACP is lobbying vigorously against it. Why should
our representatives be so hesitant to enact a measure that would not
only save the City of Saginaw money, but also engender greater
voter turnout is a question voters should definitely be asking all the
candidates this election season.
And While We're At It . . . On June 22, 2005, and without much hoopla, the House of Representatives passed a resolution 'Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States authorizing the Congress to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.'
Up to now, this been a relatively
harmless political ritual that's been going on ever since the Republican
Party took control of House eleven years ago.
As was pointed out in a recent issue of
The New Yorker, the ritual goes like this: in every odd-numbered
year (1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, and 2005) sometime around Flag Day
or the 4th
of July, the House gives the nod to a constitutional amendment
purporting to protect the American flag from the menace of burners,
stompers, shredders, and suchlike miscreants.
With this most recent attempt, the
Amendment died in the Senate by one single vote, while a recent
CNN poll shows that 56% of Americans support such an amendment.
This latest attempt won the backing of 286 representatives, with
the Senate logging 66 votes, one shy of the needed 2/3 majority.
All 50 states have passed resolutions
endorsing such an amendment, and one might ask if this is really such a
terrible thing? It doesn't prohibit flag burning; it just authorizes
Congress to pass a law prohibiting it.
As opponents pointed out, that would put
the United States in the company of China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea,
pre-invasion Iraq, and other tyrannies.
At a time when our government regards
itself empowered to monitor telephone calls without a warrant, it would
appear protecting the right of a few protesters to engage in guerilla
theatre may not seem that high of a priority.
Yet, the prospect of our Constitution
being altered in this way is eminently dispiriting. If you think about
it, a flag is merely a representation - an abstraction, if you will - of
an 'idea'; and the idea, in turn, is a symbol of something else.
The 'something else' is not the
government of fashion, nor even 'the people' but of an 'idea'. The idea,
in this instance, being 'liberty' which is made real by institutional
arrangements protecting citizens to think and speak, as they will.
This lofty notion of liberty ultimately
exists because we in this country believe in protecting expression,
regardless of whether or not we agree with the ideas.
If such an amendment were to ever pass,
it would be the first time that the 1st
Amendment, which is the Constitution's crowning glory, has itself been
amended - not to expand, but to constrict it.
Granted, the flag is not merely a piece
of cloth any more than the Constitution is a piece of paper, but the
U.S. Constitution would indeed be damaged by something so inimical to
its spirit.
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