|
Dear Shirley, Dana, and the rest, The proposal to mandate a part time legislature is one of those Alice-in-Wonderland ideas where up is down. First, clearly Michigan faces a crisis that goes beyond dollars and sense to include leadership and vision. If anyone thinks cutting taxes will solve Michigan's problems, you need to go hang out with Betsy DeVos who sits in a multi-million dollar mansion criticizing Michigan workers for making too much money. What Michigan needs, in my opinion, is an informed, representative legislature that has the experience and resources to tackle ecological, economic and human challenges before us. We pay our legislators well to enable ordinary people to represent us, not just the rich and powerful. If the only people who can run for public office are the rich, then the vast majority of Michiganders are truly buggered, to use the English term for it. Moreover, in this time of ecological crisis, no one regardless of their income or wealth, is going to survive unless the community pulls together, to work together with nature and each other. I propose that we eliminate term limits so that we can have elected representatives with the experience necessary to actual debate and resolve the problems before us. Right now, term limits empowers mainly lobbyists who represent the collective memory in Lansing. I propose that we continue to pay our representatives enough money to enable ordinary people to serve. And I propose we realize that a return to the 13th Century with the rich hiding in their gated community castles, hoping the serfs in the surrounding land don't organize to take them down is the surest way to destroy our state and our society. My thoughts on Christmas morning before everyone awakes. Chris Bedford Chris Bedford Center for Economic Security #6543 Hancock Road Montague, MI 49437 231-893-3937 231-670-4817 (cell) www.center4economicsecurity.org www.chrisbedfordfilms.com The Center for Economic Security produces programs, media, and campaigns to build ecological understanding among consumers and to promote ecological intelligence in private and public decisionmaking. On Dec 25, 2007, at 9:04 AM, dana wrote:
|