President Obama made an overdue point in Flint recently. He said, ‘I’m not here to go through the full history of what happened. Government officials at every level weren’t attentive to potential problems the way they should have been.” 
The larger problem, he added, is the “corrosive attitude that exists in our politics. It’s a mind-set that believes that less government is the highest good, no matter what.”
I know his words riled some, especially those who believe all government and all taxes are bad and terrible things. But can those people — can any of us — ignore the signs of government under-investment that are all around us here in Michigan?
Not unless you’re blind.
I drive to work every day on simply awful roads. So do you. A recent report said they’re worse than ever, by the way, with just 16 percent in ‘good’ condition and 39 percent of them ‘poor.’ (I’d like to know where those 16 percent are because I’ve never driven on them.)
After decades of putting up with it, the state legislature last year finally passed a bill to fix some roads, but even so it’s going to take years and still won’t be nearly enough, some say. Meaning: Five years now the roads will still be lousy, on the whole, and we’ll all still upset about them.
What good are half measures? Why do we do that to ourselves? More to the point, why do we let our elected leaders do this to us? We can have the state we want — it’s our state, our government. We treat government these days like it’s some monster out to get us. It’s not. This is Michigan. This is the United States. The government is us: We the people, remember? We can choose to have whatever collective benefits we want, as long as we’re willing to pay the cost.
Is the Michigan I see really what we want? Or are we just used to it? (If you travel to other states, you know what I mean.) Do we really want crumbling roads and impoverished cities?
Or how about schools? The schools in cities like Detroit are a complete mess. But schools everywhere else — unless they happen to be in wealthy areas — aren’t doing so well either.
Remember when schools could afford to pay for the marching band, the sports programs, classroom supplies and such? Neither do I. It’s been that long since the days when we spent enough on schools that there wasn’t a kid at your door every night selling fundraiser chocolate.
Is that how it should be? Is that the state we want?
How about college? I have two kids in college. Even with their grandparents and parents paying three-fourths of the cost, they’ll still graduate owning the equivalent of a new car. And they’re lucky. Most kids will graduate with what amounts to a home mortgage. They won’t be out of debt until their kids go to college, if then.
That’s patently, absurdly, completely wrong, and it’s probably going to cost us all more in the long run when student loan defaults create the next big economic crisis.
So why don’t we subsidize college like we used to by paying a bit more, especially when we preach to kids that education is the path to security and happiness?
To me it makes no sense. We’ve become a penny-wise, pound foolish state and nation that looks only at short-term cost but doesn’t take into account the real and clear benefits we receive in return or the need to invest long-term. That’s no way to run a household much less a state or a nation.
Someone needed to say it.
Image credit: Andy Arthur
Amen, Andy. And well said!
Thanks, Kathy.
The problem Andy is our government waste half the money we give them.
It’s hard to say. My cynical reflex is to agree, but maybe wasted money is just how humans roll. It’s nice to think we would all do better, run things more efficiently but it seldom happens, so I have to think it’s not sloth or intent but human frailty. The problem is we still need to pay more in this state. I don’t want to either but I’m sick of living in a run-down shack of a state.
Ditto Kathy!
Sigh!
Where are the legislators, the senators, the governors that care about
The roads, the schools, the bridges, the water, not only in Michigan, but the whole country?
Instead it appears they are more concerned about providing bathrooms
For transgender school kids. Really? How about cleaning up the schools in the inner cities. Just invest in a sign that says, “Unisex”. Priorities!
Exactly.
Amen!
Amen, you said it very well!
And there is still a huge waste of time, money, energy, etc. between the political parties. If the people we elected don’t step up to home plate, we have to unite and get them OUT! They should be accountable to us and not just at election time.
Absolutely! Our legislators are short sighted and vindictive, ready to micromanage issues that should be personal decisions, and ignoring the difficult issues like road conditions and infrastructure that they should really work to improve. Legislation has even made it more difficult to petition issues to get them on the ballot. What kind of democracy actively roadblocks issues important to voters? Didn’t we elect them to work for us instead of against us?
I lost a $300 windshield driving through Flint on I-69 and getting sprayed with debris! UGH. Enough is enough. And since I work in public education, you are preaching to the choir about school funding. Double UGH.
The unscrupulous methods of the Michigan Senate, led by Arlan Meekhof, is despicable. Arlan is an example of the pervasive mediocre leadership in Michigan.
Another “well-said, Andy”, and “ugh” to the non-support of public education~
Unfortunately, legislators who have seniority will not be voted out by their constituents because the people are afraid they will lose any power their area has (and also freebies!). Until everyone seriously looks at the whole and decides to vote to help everyone we are screwed!!
The state lawmakers have passed laws against motorcycle helmets, and in favor of giant firecrackers, rather than doing what needs to be done. We probably need to do things ourselves, with our own money and effort, rather than hoping our Michigan government changes. Volunteer to teach kids to read; clean up a park; buy asphalt and fill your own potholes (some Detroiters are doing this). Our hospitals and orchestras and old folks homes, even our politicians have private foundations for funding. We need many more such organizations to do the jobs governments refuse to do.
I never vote for right-wing ninnyhammers, but they have taken over, and we suffer as a result. Voting no longer is enough.
I am so frustrated with this bunch of (insert your favorite plural term for intestinal terminal area) in our state government, that I now believe we need a major change.
** Do away with term limits. Set all legislative terms at two years. (If they don’t do their job, don’t reelect them. But, don’t dump the good ones just on seniority.)
**Lower the legislative pay to no more than 150% of the minimum wage, but pay only for the six weeks each year they are allowed to meet. (Make them go out and live, and work, under the laws they make.)
** No special retirement. (If Social Security is good enough for the rest of us….)
**Complete redistricting by a totally disinterested third parties.
No, that would not solve all of the problems, but it would be a start.
Yes to redistricting! We almost certainly can make districts based on real existing boundaries.
Andy, you have been a penny wise and pound foolishish for as long as I have been reading and laughing at your Diatribes…..
If your too liberally blind to see what has happened to this country in the last 71/2 yrs. …far be it from me to explain it to you….. But allow me to try a little?
In the Great State of Mich. that I left 7 yrs. ago…Nothing, I repeat , nothing has changed….except the continuous repainting of the Mackinaw Bridge!
The welfare state of MICH. is Still in existence and In all reality will never change…so admit it – that portion of the budget Will NEVER DECREASE??…..and only grow.
JOBS? Where are they? Every politician over the last 40 yrs has run a campaign highlighting Job creation…….since when was it ever the Govts. Job to create jobs??…..and welfare increases!
Schools? They suck and so does the educational system. My sister was a ( for 34 yrs) vice principle in charge of discipline at a major high school in Mich….for gods sake, the belt and phones, and items she had to wear when walking around the corridors had he looking like a cop!…all she needed was a gun to fulfill the picture!!
And NOW bathrooms and locker rooms and showers used by both sexes??
Are we looking for a Problem that does Not exists?
Where were these types of facilities when You and I went to School??
Are you willing to accept the fact that your Daughter/son must Shower, locker room , share a bathroom with a member of the opposite sex??
The old cliche that we can please some of the people some of the time, most of the people most of the time, however Never all the people all the time is still a timeless cliche in my mind…. I don’t care WHO you think you are or what that little guy in your head states your sex is….if you have a penis and testicals – your male, so don’t piss on the toilet seat!…..and if you have a vagina – your female….
Sex education in school I belive explains this…..,
Well no one is arguing that government should not be taking care of infrastructure. One of the reasons that infrastructure is in such bad shape is because government resources are spread too thin. They are trying to do too much. College has run away tuition precisely because of government subsidizing it and distorting market forces that would usually control price. Over the last 40 years the federal government has exercised more and more control over local schools. yet they continue to decline. This problems are the direct result of too much big government. Smaller government and more local control are the answer to these problems.
The problem also exists on a local level. Recently the Flushing School System chose to put to the voters a 20 million dollar bond issue for basically sports related improvements to the high school. I just don’t understand their reasoning as you can’t drive down most roads and can’t get your road plowed in the winter. At least people went out and voted and turned it down. Waste of thousands of dollars for the election. The bad thing is they said they will be back in the fall. They just don’t get it. They also tried to tie a Senior wellness center to it . They been trying for years to ram this down voters throats for years and keep wasting money on elections. The problem is they don’t care what voters say. They have their pie in the sky ideas that we don’t want to pay for when there are a lot more important things to pay for.
It’s ROI, return of investment not RON, return of nothing. Good article, thanks for writing it!
Dennis
How brave of you to decide how best to spend the earnings of other. Even if you get a majority to vote for that it doesn’t make it ok. If I get a majority to tax columists at 100% is that ok? I would use that money for the public good. You think that giving people resources they did not earn will fix things? You have put good intentions ahead of reason…this has gotten us to the point we are now, nothing is stopping you from starting scholarships, grants, etc. just do it yourself, or are you looking to prove some Plutonian point or worse denigrate those who disagree.
Like it or not, Jeff, we pay for collective services. My point is we should choose to pay more if it’s worth it.
Like I said no one is stopping individuals from doing so, where does it end ? Sanders and Clinton could make the case it doesn’t end ever, the public good trumps all individual rights. This thinking has historically always ended badly, forcing others to do what you think is right…is wrong. We do all use things that were private then taken by govt for the public good this has only created an ever expanding govt federal, state , and local with decreased results and greater taxes. Do you really think turning over more control to politicians of any party is the answer?
Once again, your, “It’s Our State, why . . .” is incredibly “spot on” and articulates exactly what every Michigander should be enraged about! The question is, why do we tolerate this? Fact is, this whole debacle could be totally reversed in the next election! Why do we allow the rabid anti-tax, anti-government mindless minority to gerrymander all the legislative districts, and then, why do allow them to get re-elected time after time? Why are so many clueless about this reality and these facts? Why are so many too apathetic to make change happen? . . . Maybe the majority are getting what they deserve? What will it take?