Open letter to the Michigan Democratic Party

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said “The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.” For last several years Michigan Democrats have not seen the creation of plush and healthy forest.

Mark Brewer has been the chair of the Michigan Democratic Party for the last 18 years. His ability to win elections in Michigan has been at best unimpressive.  While it is important that Mark Brewer has been able to deliver all of Michigan's electoral votes in the last four presidential contests, he is not been able to deliver meaningful victories in state government elections.

During the last decade Jennifer Granholm (former Michigan Gov.) was able to win her 2 bids for Governor.

Unfortunately, her party was not able to take full control of the state legislature during her tenure in office. The only real majority that Democrats had in the state legislature at the time was a short-lived 4 year, when Democrats had control of the Michigan House of Representatives.

With the way politics are in Michigan unless a governor has control of both chambers the state legislature, it is next to impossible to move your policy or political agenda forward.  Things are even worse if your party is not in control of the much politicized Michigan Supreme Court.  

In 2012, Michigan Democratic Party nominated three very highly qualified women to run for the Michigan Supreme Court. This was a year where Republicans all over the country were busy trying to place more restrictions on women. Unfortunately, on election night only one of those three candidates was successfully elected to the state's highest court.

With Mark Brewer in charge this has become a trained they have all too familiar. In years where the Democrats should be able to run the board they don't.  Mark has been unable to create a sustainable path of victory for Michigan Democrats.

Sometimes change is necessary in order to achieve the kind of results that you are looking for.

 When former Gov. Howard Dean took over as the head of the Democratic National Committee he   implemented the new strategy with at the time was coined as his “50 state strategy.”  His new idea was a complete success, when in 2006 Democrats being able to win control of Congress. Then again in 2008 Democrats won the White House and Congress. It was simply icing on the cake when a few months later Democrats had a filibuster proof majority in the U.S. Senate.

After the 2010 election Chairman Tim Kane stepped down from leadership after Democrats suffered a blow in the house and much smaller majority in the Senate. With new leadership and Congressman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida Democrats were able to pull out a major win for President Obama in 2012.

It is safe to say that if that change did not happen in leadership inside the DNC it would be much more difficult for President Obama to be reelected with over 300 electoral votes.

Just like any job if you are not producing your asked to step down.  We have not seen the kind victories by Mark Brewer to justify his continued leadership of state party.

That is what is needed is the Michigan Democratic Party new leadership that can potentially lead to the election day victories for Democrats.  Politics is just like sports in that no matter who you are or what you've done the only thing that matters on at the end is that win and loss column.

If we expect to be able to pass the kind of agenda that is needed for the future growth of the Michigan is don't require that we take bold action to elect new leadership for our party.

“A real leader faces the music, even when he doesn't like the tune.” Anon 

Church and state

There has been a lot of discussion, the last few days about the separation between church and state. More specifically, about having prayer in public schools.

People should understand that there is a reason for separation. Nobody wants a politician or a bureaucrat telling them what Church that they can goto. We have to remember that prior to the founding of this country the Europeans had many wars over religion . We don't need to make that mistake.

While we mourn for the many babies that lost there lives, we should remember that much more innocent blood we'll be spilled once we begin to ask the government to promote one religion over the others.

Republicans Hearts are Made of Stone

A couple of years ago I called them Michigan Senate majority leader Mike Bishop coldhearted because he supported delaying unemployment benefits for needy working families and anything being Michigan promise scholarship for many deserving college students. Unfortunately, Republicans in the state legislature parts are made of stone because they have passed destructive legislation that would make George Bush say "damm". Earlier this month I spoke about how Gov. Rick Snyder and his wacko far right conservative allies in the state legislature passed legislation which strips the cities and school districts of their right to determine their own financial future. Now hear news that next year taxes are going up on those who have less in our society. Seniors will face increased taxes on their pensions also are unemployed or underemployed or face tax increases and those who make the most in our society will receive tax cuts. On May 14, 2011 the Detroit news reported that because of the improving economic situation in Michigan the House and Senate fiscal agencies report that the state see up to $700 million in additional revenue this year. But they also warn that because of the business tax cuts passed by the state legislature it would not make up a possible 1.8 billion dollar hole that would be in our state budget by 2012.

The Republican Party has signaled that they are the party rich and powerful and well-connected. Their budget reflects thet. Republicans have just about passed a budget that cut millions of much-needed dollars away from higher education would result in higher tuition and fee rates at just about every public university in the state. Which would make it almost impossible for possibly thousands of high school graduates to attend college this fall. They also passed major cuts in K-12 funding in which more public school districts will have to cut more teachers with the result in bigger class sizes with will diminish the education that thousands of school-age children will receive in the fall. Many special academic programs like advanced placement will have to be eliminated in order to try and bring the budget into balance. Many districts are even looking at eliminating many afterschool programs such as athletics, cheerleading and music programs.

But it's not just education that will feel the pain in some way every citizen of the state will feel the pain of these destructive far right policies. The governor has signaled that he plans to close over 20 state police stations. This will mean less police protection and more criminals getting away with their crimes. Our children, seniors and businesses we affected by streets that will now be less safe. Republicans plan to cut revenue sharing which will have a disastrous effect on municipalities across Michigan. The city of Detroit is already facing a $200 million budget deficit. With revenue cuts that are on the way that deficit will likely balloon to three or $400 million if not worse. This means that cities across Michigan will cut local police, fire, EMS services. Public parks in our communities will likely be sold to the highest bidder from our children will have less safe areas to play in.

Recently we've heard news that the crime, Detroit 187 has been canceled by ABC. This is because Gov. Snyder and his infinite wisdom decided that Michigan did not need any film tax credit which is stated in place would've helped to create hundreds if not thousands of jobs here in Michigan.

As I stated before Gov. Snyder promised voters in Michigan that he would create more jobs instead of keeping that promise he and his party have placed their hearts from cold stone. The lining the pockets of their rich friends and making life even more difficult for those who already having a difficult time. So it is fair for me to say that the GOP heart is nothing but a lifeless stone.

My Mistake

A few months ago I should've told this girl who are known for 13 years that I liked her. I finally got around to it in March of this year. By Christmas of last year she had gotten back with her boyfriend for high school. I am writing this note to all those shy guys out there, most of us are really going guys. We may not be athletes or the smartest folks the world but we do understand how difficult it is to attract the attention of women. I want to let you know that sometimes you are going to have to take a leap of faith when it comes to that special someone. Now of course you have to really be sure is that someone is really special to you. If they are U. cannot be scared or live in fear of what their reaction might be. If you wait too long you may lose your chance you just never know how many chances you are going to get. Some guys have plenty of ladies chasing after them there is no reason for them to fear rejection. As a shy guy you have to ask yourself the following question is the person that you're interested in worth the pain of rejection? If the answer is yes then you need to take a leap of faith. Don't have any regrets because you may have been too scared to take a risk. Especially, is that risk is a worthy one. Is that special someone is really special to you then maybe it's time to let them know.

Running Scared

Running scared is the lesson of the day for the GOP. On Thursday, May 5, 2011 Reuters reported that House Republicans were planning to back off their postal two genetically change the way Medicare and Medicaid works. They plan originally called for phasing out the program over time and replacing it with a program where future retirees would have to purchase a private plane. It seems as though Republicans are smarter than I thought. When you mess or even think about messing with Medicare or Medicaid the American people are going to come down on you like white on rice.

I don't understand why so hard for the GOP to get it. Republicans over the years has made multiple attempts to dismount Medicare, Medicaid, and during the Bush administration Social Security. They still think that completely eradicating these programs is good for the country. A better idea for the country is cutting government subsidies to oil companies. But when you are the party of the rich and big business you seem to want to do these things. The Reuters article pointed out that the Medicare and Medicaid proposal would never make it through the democratic controlled Senate and could be a potentially politically potent weapon for Democrats to use against Republicans in the 2012 election. Talk about stating the obvious, if I were a Democratic strategist I would tell the party that they should take the issue of Medicare and Medicaid and use it as a bat to knock the crap out of Republicans in the 2012 election.

The good news for Democrats is that they have already started according to the same article Democrats have been running ads pointing out that while the GOP opposes more taxes oil and gas industry they are more than ready to write major overhauls to Medicare and Medicaid. They are even referring to the GOP as the "gas and oil party." To me that sounds like a very good description of group of people who would rather eliminate taxes for an industry that is making record profits then protect those institutions that actually help people who are in need of dollars to pay for their prescription drugs and other medical needs.

As these last few weeks have demonstrated there is too much at risk for the American people not to keep the Republican Party in check. Left to their own devices as they have said they are more than willing to eliminate Medicare, Medicaid, and even Social Security. They are more than willing to cut other social programs which are critical to the revitalization of the American economy. Such popular programs like unemployment insurance, community block grants and funding for higher education. The GOP would rather give more tax cuts and other benefits to their friends on Wall Street and their masters from the oil and gas industry.

GOP So Far In 2011

We all know that the election of 2010 was not a very good day for Democrats. At the federal level Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives and the numbers in the Senate was severely reduced. Here in Michigan, Republican Rick Snyder a businessman from Ann Arbor was as the governor of Michigan. Also in Michigan Republicans clean house, Republicans took control of the Michigan House of Representatives and further increase their majority in the state Senate. Not to mention placings to justices on the Michigan Supreme Court turning the court back into Republican hands.

But now the consequences of that election are being felt far and wide throughout Michigan and the rest of the country. In Michigan Gov. Snyder and his far right conservative allies in the state legislature has passed budgets that want to tax pensions, increased taxes on low income workers and cut taxes for businesses in the wealthy in Michigan. In April Gov. Snyder signed into law an emergency financial manager law that gives unchecked authority to a state appointed bureaucrat that strip cities and school districts of the right to determine their own financial future. These state appointed bureaucrats which the governor calls "financial managers"had the authority to walk into cities that are facing budget deficits, and be able to make decisions about those cities budgets and these "financial managers" even have the authority to fire legally elected city officials.

In Washington DC House Republicans have voted to repeal the long overdue healthcare reform legislation signed by Pres. Obama. Republicans in Washington has even introduce legislation that would completely destroy and eradicate Medicare and Medicaid. They continued to work on legislation that would strip planned parenthood of all of its federal dollars of which they use to help women. I for one do not believe that this is what the American people voted for. The American people since 2008-very clear that our priority is getting the economy back on track. Since the beginning of the year no Republican in Michigan or in Washington have passed one piece of legitimate legislation that would create more jobs in America.

Republicans have made it very clear that they are more interested in rolling back laws of which president Obama signed into law which help prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial industry collapse. Republicans are more interested in eliminating all taxes for the wealthy and cutting much-needed programs that actually help create jobs such as funding for college education and other job training programs. These are the same old Republican policies of which they have been trying to pass for years. It is very true that elections have consequences that there is a big difference between consequences and outright war on the middle class. As soon as Republicans took office they declare war on every program of which the American people have seen it we want to keep. Republicans need to stop pretending like they represent the average American. We already know Republicans represent the average wealthy CEO.

Bellyaching from House Republicans

You know during the summer people like to do all sorts of things like go to the beach, play baseball it is have the time. Here Detroit it's raining today so instead of engaging in some fun summer activities I decided just to watch a little TV. So since I wanted to know what was going on the world of politics right now I turn to one of my favorite channels c-span. And I decided to watch the US House of Representatives. Now for the last two hours I have heard Republican after Republican come up and complain about the president's healthcare legislation. Now if we all remember during the Clinton administration President Clinton understood thin needed to be reformed. But because of the special-interest that control the Republican Party and some Democrats who were scared of a little political heat defeated Bill Clinton's efforts to reform healthcare. I say no more we need to reform healthcare now. The Republicans are not offering any realistic alternatives that are continuing to call healthcare reform socialize medicine, government run healthcare.

Now how did all of this bellyaching from House Republicans get started? Well the answer comes from a press conference that Michael Steele the chairman of the Republican national committee hailed yesterday. He basically called on all Republicans to attack president Obama on his healthcare plan and the stimulus legislation that was passed earlier this year. So the Republicans tagline is where are the jobs. Well I have an answer last ask former president George W. Bush. We lost some 3 million jobs during his last year in office. Because of his policies America was led into the worst recession since the Great Depression. Some economists are saying that we will possibly be out of recession by the end of this year. That's because president Obama began putting in the correct policies that will get this country back on track. But instead of Republicans working with the president and the Democratic majority in Congress they have decided to become the party of no. That's because Republicans continue to care more about the status quo and the rich, big business and special interests over regular everyday Americans.

And I think sometimes that Republicans forget that much of the economic turmoil that we're seeing now comes from the exact policies that they put in place when they had control of Congress and the White House. It is inaccurate to blame president Obama and congressional Democrats for current conditions when Republicans were the exact cause of the current conditions that we are seeing in this country. Instead of wanting to reform healthcare which we know will help drive down the deficit Republicans want to continue seeing more than 40 million Americans without health coverage even more Americans without adequate coverage. Republicans want to continue to spend billions and billions of dollars on healthcare while Americans continue to get sicker and sicker. I healthcare system is the laughingstock of the world it is a shame that the richest country on the face of the planet had taped his poor health care system. I know people in Detroit who has cancer, epilepsy, diabetes and many other debilitating diseases that if they were able to go see a doctor they could feel much better. Republicans think of themselves and their rich buddies instead of everyday Americans. That's why the American people put them on of office and elected a president and a Congress that eventually going to do the job. No more waiting reform healthcare now.