Michigan needs to elect a leader
The horse race to replace term-limited Gov. Jennifer Granholm is off to a fast start with "The Angriest Mayor" on the outside with "The Nerd" galloping along the rail.
It will certainly be a nasty race and if the primary was any indication, we will see lots of mud kicked up along the track.
Let's judge the two horses in this race -- Rick "The Nerd" Snyder and Virg "The Angry Mayor" Bernero -- not by the color of their jockey shorts but the sensible ideas they are riding on that will put our state back in order and to work.
Tom Watkins: The anger is at a boiling stage. Yet, there is also a powerful yearning to try to create something positive out of this mess. The people of Michigan realize anger with no direction and forward movement is like a pogo stick - lots of jumping up and down without going anywhere. While it may feel good, it accomplishes nothing.
The voters do not need to be wandering through the political horse dung, watching out for the various messes made by the campaigns. We need the candidates to break out from the pointless, partisan paralysis that prevents bringing about required change to move our state forward.
Many of my friends and colleagues from around the state are unemployed or underemployed and can't afford another lost decade where their 401(k)s and home values plummet faster than their unemployment checks, homes and jobs disappear.
Ordinary people are rightfully angry and fed up with a financial and political system that seems to have economically abused the working stiff.
The anger is at a boiling stage. Yet, there is also a powerful yearning to try to create something positive out of this mess. The people of Michigan realize anger with no direction and forward movement is like a pogo stick - lots of jumping up and down without going anywhere. While it may feel good, it accomplishes nothing.
The people of Michigan are not expecting either of the gubernatorial candidates to be a miracle worker.
The people are worn down yet realistic. They have shown time and time again - from being "the people that put the world on wheels" to saving the world as the "Arsenal of Democracy" - when the people of Michigan are called on, they deliver.
Yet, like these historical efforts, the people want to be part of the solution.
The next governor must be able to convince Michiganians to believe in and to again invest in ourselves.
As the candidates trot to the election day finish line, they have to find ways to bring the voters along.
Which of these two candidates is capable of inspiring people to join him in the necessary shared sacrifices for the common good and a better tomorrow?
Clearly the top four issues in this campaign are jobs, jobs, jobs and more jobs.
The leader able to develop a shared vision and common agenda action plan that will help all citizens of this great state share the glow of the "winner’s circle" wins.
Tom Watkins is a business and education consultant in the U.S. and China. He served as state superintendent of education from 2001-05 and was deputy campaign manager, deputy chief of staff and state mental health director for Gov. Blanchard from 1982-90. He can be reached at tdwatkins@aol.com.
Comments
OutsourcedU
Sun, Oct 24, 2010 : 5:05 a.m.
sigh..... Politics and economics have been made complex no doubt intentionally to keep us arguing. Here is the simpleton truth: When all of the money is in few pockets it is bad for the people When all of the money is spread thin in the populous it is bad for Business. If it were not for Human nature (greed) Supply side economics would work other than on paper. When all of the money is sucked out of the population it we need liberals. When all of the money is sucked out of business we need neocons. Carry on.
David Briegel
Mon, Aug 30, 2010 : 4:01 p.m.
Bragg, you are correct. We have seen the largest increase in the wealth of the few in the last 30 years as any time in history as the victors of the class warfare have solidified their victory. They rented our govt and they won! If you are in the topl 3% or so we now wish you to pay less than you paid under your hero Reagan. If you make less than $250,000 I certainly hope you enjoyed your tax cut. If you made more; To whom much is given, much is expected! The wealth of our nation has been stolen by the banksters, the Perpetual War Profiteers, the insurance industry and the Titans of industry who have picked the carcass of our once proud middle class. Bankruptcies and foreclosures are rampant. Nary a complaint from the righties! Speechless, YOU, keep up the good fight!
braggslaw
Mon, Aug 30, 2010 : 12:36 p.m.
The only thing I am angry about is that people feel entitled to take the money that I earned and give it to themselves because they somehow deserve or are entitled to it. This clash of philosophies comes down to money. People who want to take money from others. Nobody ever gave me anything in my life, that is why I have a huge problem with people trying to redistribute wealth. My parents gave me three hots and a cot and told me to go make my way in the world.
Speechless
Mon, Aug 30, 2010 : 11:51 a.m.
"... I have deep suspicions that he [Snyder] would be far more conservative than he appears, even radically so. The Republicans are the angry and radical party these days. Maybe the Democrats need to get more assertive, like Bernero." Many who live in the general orbit of the Republican Right have spent much of the last 20 years majoring in Angry Studies. They tutored early on in the '90s under the likes of Pat Buchanan, Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh. Their joint undergraduate thesis was called 'Contract on America.' A degree of success achieved during the Contract years allowed them to ascend to the grad level. During the past decade, they've attended high seminars under the auspices of Dick Cheney, Sean Hannity and Matt Drudge, where they developed sophisticated, practical skills such as swiftboating. Those with creative talent learned how to play the Diebold. Now, under the direction of Glen Beck and tea party graduate advisors including Sarah Palin, they've moved on to doctoral thesis. Today they express great anger toward the powers that be, something they were somehow unable to do throughout the Bush years. This minority is so angry, in fact, that they wish to destroy the remaining well-being of the poor and the lower middle class just to demonstrate how mad they really are. Between the tea party and the Mackinac Center and GLEP, I don't know how a Gov. Snyder will find ways to manage his party's soon-to-be Doctors of Anger without caving in regularly so as to avoid an internal GOP meltdown.
katie
Mon, Aug 30, 2010 : 6:07 a.m.
Roadman it is tempting to think that Snyder would be a middle of the road guy like Blanchard. Unfortunately, since the Blanchard era, politics has become increasingly polarized. I remember how Bush, jr. was portrayed as a moderate Republican, as a compassionate conservative. He turned out to be a neocon. You have to factor in the influence of others in his party on him. I have deep suspicions that he would be far more conservative than he appears, even radically so. The Republicans are the angry and radical party these days. Maybe the Democrats need to get more assertive, like Bernero.
braggslaw
Mon, Aug 30, 2010 : 5:59 a.m.
only in Ann Arbor would people think it was efficient to raise taxes and higher more public sector employees.... Man in the sky help me.
Roadman
Sun, Aug 29, 2010 : 11:34 p.m.
Ann Arborites should support Rick Snyder. There's little difference between him and a moderate Democrat such as Jim Blanchard was as Governor.
Dan Stevens
Sun, Aug 29, 2010 : 10:47 p.m.
I agree with the general tone of this article. Our state is in sore need of serious reform, especially when the costs of doing business here exceed our counterparts in other states by 3 to 4 percent. The first item of business is repealing the horrible surcharge on the Michigan Business Tax, and after that repealing the personal property tax. Learn how we can find the savings in govt to make this happen without impairing core government services @ http://www.michiganturnaround.com.
Mark
Sun, Aug 29, 2010 : 10:30 p.m.
Not to mention those "successful" corporations that moved all their manufacturing to outside the US. The purpose of a corporation is to make money for their stockholders and owners. Period. It is not anything else. If a company could get by without paying a dime in wages, it would. The idea that corporations are some benevolent force in the universe is misguided. They don't create jobs for the sake of creating them -- they will create jobs if they have something to sell and make money, and need bodies to perform those actions that ensure that the company will be profitable. Now, if the way to make more money is to move those jobs away from our state, or the USA, the company will do so. So what if the CEO makes 10 million a year, and the employees making the widgets that actually creates the wealth for the company get $10 an hour, that's all fine. But, hey, let's move those jobs to China where the employees make $10 a day! If you think government is heinous, take a look at the corporatocracy that has strangled our democratic process. Business in of itself isn't bad. We have to have free enterprise to allow innovation and trade. Somewhere along the line, though, success has been confused with how many points the stock has risen in the past week. The top wealthiest people in this country make insane amounts of money. Because why? Are they smarter than some person that invents a vaccine to cure a disease? Are they a better machinist than the guy that worked at Ford for 30 years? Are they a better engineer than the person that just made the company millions? No. But somehow, they have convinced boards that they are worth every million. I'm not saying that business acumen isn't worth something. It is. Corporations can be highly complex organisms. But I see something wrong with a society that is losing its middle class. It's not because of taxes. Where we used to have 500 companies making food items, now we have a few multinational corporations. It just looks like we have 100 different brands. Let's "merge" this company (a euphemism for a hostile takeover) with ours. Oh, too bad about the shutting down of your plant, as it was redundant, but we'll still call your product by the same name. This has happened so many times in so many places that it's just a part of doing "business." Meanwhile, the CEO gets a big raise. Look at what used to be Warner-Lambert. We no longer have a pharmaceutical industry in Ann Arbor. Why is that? Pfizer. The anger people are feeling towards the government is misplaced. Yes folks, the pablum that News Corp feeds you on the evils of Washington are a smokescreen. Keep the populace confused and misdirected so that the anger is focused on Washington, not the companies that are profiting handsomely off their ignorance. This is nothing new, but it has gotten worse.
David Briegel
Sun, Aug 29, 2010 : 9:13 p.m.
Mr Watkins, Duuuuhhh! Ghost, Northside, excellent posts. Bragg and Stun, that is why nothing ever gets done! "Pollyanna-ish pablum for thoughtless lemmings", indeed!! Mark, excellent! And you didn't even mention our bloated, overpriced, inefective military which is not making us safer while destroying our ability to fund anything civilized! Perpetual War Profiteering! Great govt jobs there, eh? Nary a complaint from the radical right. Progress will never occur when so many can't even agree on basic and obvious facts. Govt is people coming together to advance the common good. Remember? While so much effort is spent on behalf of the very top 1%, 2% that shared sacrifice is forgotten! Most people believe that those who benefit the most can afford to pay their share. Only the radical extremists from the right disagree!
gsorter
Sun, Aug 29, 2010 : 9:11 p.m.
If it were true that government really created jobs, couldn't we all just wish away our 13% unemployment here by all government employees? The fact is that for the government to "create" a job, it first must "take" resources from a person or corporation. Usually there is some friction in that transaction, as with any transaction. Sometimes that transaction will creates wealth, as with the highway system, and sometimes it just transfers wealth with some vig going to the house. The real wealth is created by the individual or the successful corporation.
braggslaw
Sun, Aug 29, 2010 : 8:42 p.m.
wow Mark, All those jobs you mentioned are paid with tax dollars. Trying eating different parts of your body when you are hungry.. that is until you run out of body parts. If you really believe what you posted, we can't have a discussion because you are way too far off the reservation.
Mark
Sun, Aug 29, 2010 : 8:14 p.m.
I'd like to know why this "businesses create jobs, not government" pos statement keeps being brought around, when in fact, it's not true. Let's see, teachers, police, firemen, UofM employees, city hall clerks, librarians, public sanitation workers, DEQ employees, MSU employees, air traffic controllers, EMU employees, WCC employees, Wayne State employees, Cooperative Extension agents, train inspectors, etc. Shall I go on? In one way or another, "government" (in the broad sense) creates many, many jobs, which in turn, provides business to other companies that may provide services, materials, or supplies. Would business just jump in and create an infrastructure? When we need new water systems, who funds and plans these systems? Government. Business provides the materials, machinery and manpower to accomplish the project. Such simpleton ideas are one of the reasons we can't get things done. The world, and our state is a complex place that requires our leaders and our elected officials to be better able to convey that to the public. To put aside partisan bickering for a change, and actually accomplish something. No turnaround is going to be quickly done. Anyone promising such is full of beans.
braggslaw
Sun, Aug 29, 2010 : 3:29 p.m.
Mr. Bernero will drive away businesses.. period. Businesses create jobs not govt. Snyder is the only real choice if we want growth in this state.
sbbuilder
Sun, Aug 29, 2010 : 1:35 p.m.
Ghost Did we actually agree on something? I'm gonna record this on the calendar...
sbbuilder
Sun, Aug 29, 2010 : 9:06 a.m.
I'm looking for a sound 8 - 10 year turn around plan. Anything less than that is pie-in-the-sky. Our State has to stem the outflow first, before rebuilding our manufacturing base, and that takes a lot of time. I'd be suspicious of either candidate if they offered a quick fix to the endemic problems we have. Great leaders have a way of keeping you focused on the future, and the promise it holds. We'll see who that turns out to be. Oh, and by the way, good morning.
northside
Sun, Aug 29, 2010 : 7:40 a.m.
Methinks Mr. Watkins is angling for a position in the Snyder administration.
stunhsif
Sun, Aug 29, 2010 : 7:22 a.m.
Could not disagree more with the previous poster. I wish Mr. Watkins was running for Gov., he would have my vote in a New York second. By the way ERMG, you did exactly what Mr. Watkins is saying we need to stop doing.