Battle lost. War on to be Lansing's biggest But!
Friends,
I am no longer in Lansing. The battle to prevent a massive tax increase has already been lost and the tax hike will happen. Hanging out in Lansing is now a waste of my time.
I am now spending time every day preparing to support recall campaigns against key legislators who allowed this tax hike to happen. Successful recalls will change the way policy and tax questions are answered in Lansing.
Speaking of answering questions, the question that I hear most frequently asked by 'regular' people outside of Lansing is; "Don't they know what they are doing? Don't they understand what these tax increases are going to do to the economy? How can they not understand the obvious?"
The answer is that they do understand. When I served in Lansing, I frequently asked colleagues if they thought reforms, like eliminating the state's prevailing wage laws or becoming a right-to-work state, would help Michigan. Nearly every Republican and a few Democrats told me that they knew such reforms would help the economy, but they could not vote for them because the unions would harshly punish them in an election. Privately, legislators support education reform BUT fear the teacher union would punish them. Shrinking government spending is also supported BUT government employees would target legislators caught enacting such cuts.
I soon realized that the problem in Lansing isn't that politicians don't know solutions to our state's woes, the problem is the Buts. The Buts are the excuses politicians give for not supporting what they know is good public policy.
At first, I thought that I could beat their Buts by arguing that my colleagues could still win reelection even if they voted their conscience. Or that enacting solutions was more important than angling for easy reelection. But their Buts couldn't be beat.
So how can we, those who support reform and restrained government, prevail in Lansing? By joining the Buts. We need to change conversations in Lansing so that politicians are telling spending and special interests that they wish they could support the status quo, But they are afraid of the wrath of taxpayers! Organized taxpayers who successfully recall politicians who have increased taxes would make taxpayers real players in Lansing - positively impacting policy decisions by lawmakers.
"I want to keep up spending, But I am afraid of the taxpayers," are words that equal real change in policy.
So, fellow taxpayers, let us join together now in a unified quest to become Lansing's biggest But!
Leon Drolet
MI Taxpayers Alliance
www.mitaxpayers.org
I am no longer in Lansing. The battle to prevent a massive tax increase has already been lost and the tax hike will happen. Hanging out in Lansing is now a waste of my time.
I am now spending time every day preparing to support recall campaigns against key legislators who allowed this tax hike to happen. Successful recalls will change the way policy and tax questions are answered in Lansing.
Speaking of answering questions, the question that I hear most frequently asked by 'regular' people outside of Lansing is; "Don't they know what they are doing? Don't they understand what these tax increases are going to do to the economy? How can they not understand the obvious?"
The answer is that they do understand. When I served in Lansing, I frequently asked colleagues if they thought reforms, like eliminating the state's prevailing wage laws or becoming a right-to-work state, would help Michigan. Nearly every Republican and a few Democrats told me that they knew such reforms would help the economy, but they could not vote for them because the unions would harshly punish them in an election. Privately, legislators support education reform BUT fear the teacher union would punish them. Shrinking government spending is also supported BUT government employees would target legislators caught enacting such cuts.
I soon realized that the problem in Lansing isn't that politicians don't know solutions to our state's woes, the problem is the Buts. The Buts are the excuses politicians give for not supporting what they know is good public policy.
At first, I thought that I could beat their Buts by arguing that my colleagues could still win reelection even if they voted their conscience. Or that enacting solutions was more important than angling for easy reelection. But their Buts couldn't be beat.
So how can we, those who support reform and restrained government, prevail in Lansing? By joining the Buts. We need to change conversations in Lansing so that politicians are telling spending and special interests that they wish they could support the status quo, But they are afraid of the wrath of taxpayers! Organized taxpayers who successfully recall politicians who have increased taxes would make taxpayers real players in Lansing - positively impacting policy decisions by lawmakers.
"I want to keep up spending, But I am afraid of the taxpayers," are words that equal real change in policy.
So, fellow taxpayers, let us join together now in a unified quest to become Lansing's biggest But!
Leon Drolet
MI Taxpayers Alliance
www.mitaxpayers.org