Get out and Be Heard

I have in the last year attended several of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce legislative breakfasts. I'll admit to a selfish reason for it; many area VP's and CEO's attend these breakfasts to get a couple of minutes of unscripted dialog with State legislators. Since my job is fundraising for a non profit (as many of you know), it behooves me to go where the money is. I've met some great people and gotten to know the process of change in this area by listening to what our leaders are saying in these meetings. It was Nice to run into a couple fellow non profiters from the ARC this morning, as well as Carl Verbeek from Varnum, who I have gotten to know a little this last year.

A warning here for the left, the chamber leans hard right (a gasp from the crowd, I know), and some of these meetings can be filled with vocal Repubs calling for smaller government. But you generally get a sense of what is top of mind for the legislators. Today was interesting, Republican and Democratic alike, they were all united in calling for a solution, but none were gutsy enough to propose anything new.

A quick lesson in Economics as I know it. Any tax will pick winners and losers. When I government spends money it is saying: this is what the majority of people say should be our priority, some are winner by default, and some have life made a little harder after each decision. So if you hear of tax cuts to the state parks, it means things like: not that many natives care about their upkeep (makes sense, many parks are used by out of state visitors, etc), or someone is arguing more loudly about about what they want the money spent on. If you hear of tax cuts to education, there may be political stuff going on that is not explained because everyone knows that educational funding gets air time... If you don't hear of prison reform it might be because the legislators are too frightened to debate it for looking soft on crime...

Let me give you a dirty secret about politics. Most politicians only hear from very passionate people who feel that their "thing" is the only thing who matters. They very rarely hear from the people that they govern. Because the "loud people" (OK call them something like.... well... lobbyists) have money to back their passions up, sometimes these are the only issues that we hear about as well, as the media also tends to pick up the issue "of the day".

That being said, here is what I experienced this morning... Eleven legislators who are thinking of cutting health benefits received for life from only freshman senators after this cycle... Mounting health care costs for state retirees who get free health care for life.... Prison system that is bulging and costs that are through the roof... A constitutional convention which not many legislator support, because it puts the shooting match back in your hands...

From the guests here is my experience... Frustration that things continue to not get done. The usual talk about Michigan pushing business to other states with our tax laws. Government growing while population (tax base) decreases.

My Humble ideas:
1. the People need to talk to their legislators about what you want and need from our state.
Grand Rapids a few years ago did a survey of residents and then made budget cuts based on the survey results. That is when we lost the parks and rec and entertainment divisions of the City. (People did say the city would be worse off for this, but it seems that there are still some great things going on downtown...) This would give everyone some idea of the true priorities.

2. Education need to be a priority. My wife has made me again a believer in this. I am like many in GR who would drop my kids into private schools and let everyone else worry about the rest, but this does not make for a great well rounded safe crime free, drug free city. We need to give everyone a base of learning so that everyone gets a chance to try and succeed. Some will always take the opt out feature and we will always have folks who live at the poverty level, but the chance to succeed goes way up if a kid has a safe school and a great teacher.

3. Our prisons are over populated! Sorry law and order folks, we need to solve the prison budget problem, and that probably means a new way of looking at the issue. I feel much the same way as many do about law breakers, they get what they deserve and should face all the penalties they earn by trying to go around the law. But, when you look at real numbers, Michigan has the highest incarceration rate per capita in the nation! We need to figure out how to make it more worthwhile to be a productive citizen than to be a criminal. The prison budget has grown exponentially in the last ten years, and nobody in the legislature has the guts to address this issue, as everyone has to look tough on crime to get elected.

4. Part time legislature with modified term limits so legislators can do what we need them to do. ('nuff said)

5. A tax structure that treats everyone basically equally, with lower overall taxes to medium sized businesses, without huge givebacks to companies who should not need them if they are competitive. People will always live here, don't kid yourself, we have the natural resources that the entire world envies. We have the majority of the worlds fresh clean water outside our doors, some of the best, most productive farmland in the world, natural gas and oil deposits, along with mining and other natural resources. There is no way Michigan should be back of the pack on the world stage, we should be the model of how people wish they could live their lives.

So how does this happen?
Call your legislator, have a frank talk about what you want him or her to do for the people of Michigan. They call these guys leaders, but they follow the whim of the people like dogs on a chain. What do you want for Michigan?