by Warren Liverance

For the majority of my life I have watched, helpless, as the Wizards of Smart and the compassion fascists have experimented with American society and government. Welfare, Social Security, ADC, Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, Homeland Security, HUD, HEW, HUBBA HUBBA, and a host of other federal intrusions with no basis in the Constitution,  have been conjured and foisted upon us. We are always told to judge the good intentions, not the disastrous results. Even as many of these programs have been proven ineffective, if not outright destructive, they continue to exist, and like Dracula, suck the country’s life blood away.

What I propose is that each new attempt at “fairness” (I don’t know about you, but my parents taught me that life isn’t fair) be subjected to gedankenexperiment. For those of you with little mathematical/scientific background, like most Obama voters, gedankenexperiment is “an experiment that considers some hypothesis, theory, or principle for the purpose of thinking through the consequences.” Given the structure of the experiment, it may or may not be possible to actually perform it, and, in the case that it is possible for it to be performed, there need be no intention of any kind to actually perform the experiment in question.”

While I abhor the actual experimental tinkering that our public masters do, it is fun to think of the unintended consequences that might occur from the implementation of one of their schemes. What follows is purely fictional, if not a bit frightening. For those of you that are confused, a quick read of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie will help.

WARNING!!    WHAT FOLLOWS IS POLITICAL SATIRE!!   DO NOT PANIC!!

McDonald’s restaurants deliver clean tasty food, at a reasonable price, to millions of satisfied customers. Thousands of young people have their first working experience there and learn about promptness, customer service, and basic kitchen and counter skills. The owners pay millions of dollars in taxes to all levels of government. They are, at the local level, a shining example of the efficiencies of the free market.

Certain politicians, wishing to deflect the Press from the latest Congressional scandal, (insider trading anyone?) decide that McDonald’s is the perfect target. It occurs to them that not everyone has the means to afford this “All American Treat.” They decide to proclaim a Constitutional “right” to fast food. The government, at the federal level, decided to make sure that all Americans are protected from “fast food disenfranchisement.”

The President’s chief adviser, David Axelrod, whips up a Facebook and Twitter campaign that demonizes McDonald’s for making obscene profits through the “foodsploitation” of America’s youth in “fast food sweatshops.”  This has the effect of mobilizing the population in the 100 or so counties that vote 90 percent Democrat. While this accomplishes the administration’s goals, it has the inadvertent effect of depriving the locals of access to said tasty treat.

The corporate leaders of McDonald’s, in a flash of brilliant insight, realize that they should have been donating equally to both parties and immediately donate millions to the DNC. McDonald’s Executives, including Ronald McDonald, quickly arrange for secret meetings with several Obama czars (Russian for Caesar) and frantically attempt to cut their losses by swinging a deal. The Obama administration is only too happy to make them, “an offer they can’t refuse.”

Out of this mud puddle comes the “Public Fast Food Option.” Under this plan, the 45.5 million Americans who use foodstamps are given cards allowing them to avail themselves of McDonald’s, at no charge.

Representative Nancy Pelosi calls a press conference after “winning” a House vote 216 to 219. She declares that all hard-working Americans may now avail themselves of their “Constitutional right to fast food.”  Railing against the racist, sexist, homophobic Republicans who always stand in the way of the working poor achieving the culinary American dream, she has to be led away for multiple McScotchandSodas. In the Senate, three elderly members are injured when they mistakenly get between Senator Chuck Schumer and a camera during a press conference denouncing the Senate Republicans.

Several hours before the new law guaranteeing all Americans access to the “Public Fast Food Option” goes into effect, every McDonald’s in the country has a ten block long line of Americans clamoring for their free fast food. By mid-afternoon there’s not a single French fry in sight, and the rioting begins. On the six o’clock news shows, it is reported that fifty percent (CNN), sixty percent (MSNBC), seventy percent (Rachel Maddow) and eighty percent (Stephen Colbert) of the McDonald’s in America are immolated.

At eight o’clock President Obama pre-empts the three national networks and gives a speech, in which he calls for order, and nationalizes all the McDonald’s restaurants in the United States. He then proclaims the company “too big to fail” and guarantees $20 billion in federal support (just as soon as the check from Bank of America clears). The Obama administration immediately fires all current teen and elderly employees and apportions the new hires according to their connections to Acorn, ALEC and George Soros.

The destroyed restaurants reopen after being rebuilt with money apportioned by Congress, at a cost of $50 million dollars per unit. The recently appointed executives award themselves gigantic bonuses for their record cost-cutting measures. The new McDonalds’ feature large waiting rooms with dozens of comfy chairs for the people waiting for their free food. The single counter person and two cooks in most of the franchises are recent immigrants who don’t speak English well. The fact that they cannot be fired due to their “protected status” as government employees further enhances the dining experience.

After several years, the O’Donalds (renamed in the federal take-over) chain is losing billions of dollars, in spite of massive government subsidies. Even the millions of dollars spent on public service announcements extolling the patriotism inherent in spending money at O’Donalds cannot entice taxpayers to experience “fine government dining.” To insure the survival of this slice of the American dream pie, Congress passes the “Privileged European Origin” tax. This consists of a 12.5 percent surcharge levied on all income derived by American citizens, who because of privileged ancestry, have benefited from the fruits of the labor of repressed minority groups.” New York’s 400 families and Elizabeth Warren move, en masse, to Canada in protest.

The historic “Privileged European Origin” tax excludes Hollywood celebrities, Silicon Valley moguls, union members, Jews, and gays, due to their propensity to fund Democratic candidates.

The end result of this meddling by the Wizards of Smart is the same as it has been for well over two hundred years: Once again, those who refuse to learn from history force the rest of us to repeat it.

Einstein defined insanity as, “repeating the same experiment over and over and expecting different results.” Political utopians have been experimenting with the ability to “mold” human nature for two hundred years and the result has been the deaths of a hundred million innocent souls. It may be that the mental health process is superior to the political process in dealing with political ideologues.

Anyone have a white coat and a straight jacket, or maybe an order of large fries and a Big Mac?

by Warren Liverance

Of late, our legislature and governor have set their sights on the reform of the public education system. According to a February 22, 2011 Free Press article “more than 50 percent of high schools have fewer than 10 percent of their students ‘college-ready’ with 230 high schools having 0 percent ready.” (I find this hard to believe.) It seems that large chunks of the public school system are failing, and this “crisis” provides another opportunity for our government overlords to once again “fix” everything.

Already forgotten is the last “fix” foisted upon us, good old Proposition A. That boondoggle resulted in hoodwinked voters trading local control of their schools for 30 pieces of silver, oops, I mean reduced property taxes. Before Prop. A, local districts were able to spend whatever they wanted. This liberty led to (surprise!) fiscal inequality between districts. Some districts spent more than others, some had administrators who stole so much that there was no toilet paper in the johns. Rather than arresting and jailing the local criminals, governor Engler instead, sold this proposition A idea of centralization, so that the state could go in and “fix” the mess that “those people” had made of their school districts (gee wiz- sound familiar?).

Even casual observers of history know that the only way to “equalize” inequalities is to drag the top down. So the top districts were guillotined (think French Revolution) to provide cover for cowardly and crooked “reformer” politicians.

At the same time the idea of “educational accountability” became popular. Those darn teachers were not on the job, and we needed to keep an eye on them. This resulted in the MEAP test—the single stupidest idea ever to come out of Lansing. Anyone with a any intelligence could see the naked power grab here. He who controls the test controls the curriculum. Ask the Chinese how testing worked for them. Let’s all wonder how well Thomas Edison and Henry Ford would have done on the MEAP.

Back in the 80s I taught with a gentleman whom I considered to be the finest Chemistry teacher in the state. He was asked to be on the team that made up one of the early MEAP tests. He quit after one meeting and when I asked him why, he responded that, “They are all crazy and none of them knows anything about Chemistry.” This is anecdotal, but you get my drift. The political parties take turns re-writing the test, according to party in power, and educational success becomes a secondary consideration. Thus, “more than 50 percent of high schools have fewer than 10 percent of their students ‘college- ready’ with 230 high schools having 0 percent ready.”

Concurrent with the consolidation of State control over the educational/governmental complex was the rise of union-controlled school boards. The hustle works like this—teachers’ unions give money to school board candidates who then end up neg0tiating big contracts for union members. In the fat years of the 80s and 90s, no one noticed the snow ball gathering mass at the top of the hill. No one ever thought of the ramifications of paying teachers $100,000 dollars a year plus full medical benefits. You cannot pay retired teachers $40,000 a year plus full medical to not work, for a period of time almost equal to as long as they have worked.

The incestuous relationship between the Democratic party and teachers unions cannot be denied and I guarantee you that, at the top, what is best for the children is seldom considered. In the same manner that one can live in a “police state,” we in Michigan live in a “teacher state.” So now, local school boards, rather than determining local issues relating to local educational needs of local student populations, spend their time arguing over how to comply to “dictates” from the wizards of smart.

The solution our current gang of political mucketymucks conjure is to bring in corporations (corporations are people too—or are corporations soylent green?) and encourage “competition” as a means of improving educational choice. Rather than the simple, obvious, logical, and rational solution of letting the state-provided funding amount (around $7,000 per child) follow the child to whichever school the parents decide to send her to—gasp—even a religious school, the state sets up a byzantine labyrinth of charter schools, run through the university system, that allow private enterprises to profit from tax dollars.

This move provides the smooth transition our government/educational complex leader worms need to get into the private sector apple. The newest and most prominent government/educational complex leader is Michelle Rhee, the ex-chancellor of the DC schools, and founder of StudentsFirst, who wants even more emphasis on standardized tests.  In a December 29, 2011 USA Today article about her Rhee is quoted as saying, “Her non-profit’s 1 million members in 2012 will lobby for a re-authorization of No Child Left Behind that places even more emphasis not less, on the results of standardized tests.”

The federal government is not the answer—it rarely is.

Why do I bring Ms. Rhee into a discussion concerning education in the state of Michigan? In a word: money. Ms. Rhee has inserted herself into Michigan politics to the tune of $951,000 dollars spent lobbying our elected officials in 2011, even ponying up over $ 70,000 for State Rep. Paul Scott’s recall election (The MEA contributed $140,000 to the effort). The StudentsFirst PAC spent the most money lobbying in the state in 2011. According to Mother Jones’ Andy Kroll, Ms. Rhee was instrumental in writing parts of legislation regarding teacher tenure reform and schools of choice. I think people should understand who is crafting our state’s laws—the newest of which, SB 618, will radically alter the way in which charter schools in Michigan are created. Included in this law is a provision allowing existing K-12 districts to apply for charters. When you combine this with the fact that these new schools do not have to adhere to existing union contracts, and can be located in almost any district, I can predict with fair certainty that these schools will be used to bust the teachers’ union. Rather than having the will and the guts to ban public sector employees from unionizing, our representatives are playing a sneaky underhanded game.

Until the 60s, when President Kennedy waved his magic pen and legalized public sector unions, they did not exist. Even Democrat Franklin Roosevelt (King of the 1%) was against public sector unions. Local school boards used to decide how much their community could afford to pay teachers, and that was that. Teachers were a respected part of the community and considered professionals. With the advent of unionization, each new contract negotiation pitted teachers against taxpayers. People began to look at teachers as “union” types and not professionals. Republicans learned that demonizing teachers is an easy way to garner votes [A2P Notes: Check out this widely shared piece about the demonization of teachers in Michigan by the GOP written by A2Politico writer Chris Savage]. Teachers, by unionizing, have made themselves into a political football. So much of modern education comes down to political posturing and money grubbing, with teachers and education being punted from side-to-side.

The answer, I believe, is to go back to local control. I fully understand that this means the deconstruction of a massive system that was a hundred years in the making, but a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Go to your child’s school; watch the school board meetings on television if you can’t attend; pay attention to the government/education complex. Having spent  ten years in the classroom I can tell you, with fair certainty, that the further you get from the student, the less the student matters to the people in charge. There is a whole industry built to sop up tax dollars in the name of the children, and until we deal with it, we’ll just shuffle from one boss to the next.

In the final analysis, the education of your children is, and has always been, up to you. Just as Prop. A was not the fix, SB 618 is not going to be the “fix” either. As for the expansion of charter schools in Michigan, the MEA had better hold on, because despite the fact that Governor Snyder has said he does not want a work-for-hire state, or to bust unions, their ride is about to get very bumpy.

by Warren Liverance

Several weeks ago, my not-so-benevolent editor and I had a chat about how and where we get our news and information. We agreed that the way we access the written word has changed radically over the past decade. So, I decided to devote a column to this issue. Since the thought processes of a “conservative” are as inscrutable to a “liberal” as calculus, I wanted give you all a little insight into just how the whole package (yes, I know) comes together. In other words, where do I get my peculiar ideas?

In the late 90s and early 2000s, I gleaned 99 percent of my information from four sources: newspapers,  magazines, books, television, and talk radio.  I subscribed to the Free Press,  The Wall Street Journal, The Investors Business Daily, and the Sunday New York Times. I received both Human Events and The Nation on a weekly basis. I picked up and read Metro Times and Orbit (my favorite) locally. Monthly, I read Reason, Liberty, National Review, American Spectator, and Tikuun. Don’t think for a moment that I read all of it;  I usually skimmed headlines in the papers and read the articles that interested me. The editorial page and opinion columns have always been my main interest. I am always on the lookout for the modern manifestation of Ayn Rand’s Ellsworth Toohey, of whom I think Al Hunt and E.J. Dionne have done a great job of channeling. I spent a fortune in time and treasure (my own personal Iraq) on this stuff and the piles grew and grew.

During this period I listened to talk radio. I worked as a contractor and liked to have the radio on to pass the time. Mark Scott, Rush, and David Newman during the old WXYT days. I might be a year or a couple off, but you get the drift. I used to love to call in to the local shows and even got on Rush a couple times. I think that many “media types” underestimate the role that callers play in talk radio. I have always gleaned just as much information from callers as I have from the hosts on these shows. Many on the left do not understand that us “mind-numbed robots” are shouting at the radio as much as we are listening. For years, I have been screaming at Rush to stick to politics and stay out of science, although lately he is much better. When I did attempt to listen to lefty talk radio I found more of a monologue than the dialogue that many conservative hosts have with their listeners. I believe that the left uses images much more than words to make a point, and that this explains why there are no really successful talk shows from that side.

Back at the turn of the century I also consumed much more television. The Clinton impeachment show provided endless hours of entertainment, but I never figured out why Bubba was impeached for sex with the chick, rather than taking campaign money from Chinese nationals. A liberal can never understand the joy that a conservative experiences the first time she hears Rush or sees Fox News. I often wonder what it must be like to be a liberal and have movies, television, music, art and literature confirm your world view and reinforce all of your stereotypes and prejudices. I imagine the Eisenhower years were something like that for Republicans. For a long time I used to flip between Fox News and messNBC- red pill/blue pill/red pill/blue pill- until my wife, who could care less about politics, threatened divorce. She was right, of course, and my mental health improved considerably.

My consumption of books at this time consisted of my normal steady diet of science fiction paperbacks and dozens of historical, scientific, philosophical, and political titles. From 7th grade on I have been a voracious consumer of pulp science fiction, reading over a thousand of the little buggers. For me, science fiction serves a purely recreational purpose. The stories are not usually political in nature an

d I am a space nut. I find it interesting that political hacks from both sides lack the imagination to enjoy the form.  Three of the non- science fiction books that I read during this period: Radical Son by David Horowitz, Vision of the Anointed by Thomas Sowell, and Darwin’s Black Box: The Biomedical Challenge to Evolution by Michael J. Behe are in my top 25 “life changer” list.

As you can see, my consumption of news and information fell well within the normal parameters of the last 50 years—nothing going on that Walter Cronkite wouldn’t recognize.

Fast forward to a normal day circa 2011. After making my morning coffee, the first thing I do is check out The Drudge Report. Drudge collects news stories from all over the world and posts them on a fast paced, ever changing site that also contains dozens of editorials from writers across the spectrum and online versions of newspapers from all over the world. I read the stories that interest me, often “link surfing”into territories unknown. I routinely visit the English Language versions of Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Xinhua, Kyodo, Pravda (my favorite), and Yonhap, often link-surfing deep into some really wild stuff. I actually find out more about what is going on in the U.S. from Pravda than I ever did in the New York Times. I never understand the aversion some of my leftie friends have for the site. Drudge is a collector and compiler of news — he produces very little content. Certainly he filters it to suit his own world view, but then again doesn’t every editor?

After Drudge I like to check into what is going on in the matrix, so I pull up the Huffington Post or Politico. A quick spin and I’m into my e-mail. This is where the fun really begins. For the last five years I have been building a network of “interesting people who send me stuff.” I get “stuff” from police and firemen, a retired general, an investment banker, dozens of my father’s WWII buddies, and even a retired secret service agent. Some days I get dozens of things to read; it really can be overwhelming. I read Stratfor and Stansberry Research and get “blasts” from Townhall.com, Frontpagemag.com, Worldnetdaily.com, and even the Obama campaign. While I can’t say that I read it all, I do spend a good two hours in front of my computer each morning, and not a tree dies in the process.

I try not to think about the starving lumberjacks and their children.

As far as television goes, there is very little I watch. About five years ago I wearied of paying money for the cradle of filth that modern television has become and canceled the cable. This effectively ended my television viewing. I do not miss it. If my wife wants to watch a show, one of my sons gets it off the Internet. My local saloons appreciate the extra business during football season.

My consumption of books has also radically changed with the arrival of my son’s Kindle, which I instantly snatched. I have not purchased a real book, other than from a used book store, since I grabbed the Kindle.  My newest purchase The Fruits of Graft—Great Depressions Then and Now, by Wayne Jett. The book only cost me ten bucks, as opposed to $30 and a dead tree. Don’t get me wrong, the Kindle is not that pleasant to read on, but it’s so damn convenient. I have also begun to fill it with public domain books such as “Poverty and Progress” by Henry George—the most widely read economics book in history. There are thousands of free books for the Kindle. In addition I have loaded some of my “go to” volumes, such as Oswald Spengler’s Decline of the West and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Now I don’t have to leave home without them.

My radio consumption has also moved almost totally to the Internet and become subscription. I buy from Beck and Limbaugh and get their stuff on the Web now. Slag me if you want, but Rush is a genius and invented the format, and Beck is the Willy Wonka of conservatism. I watched Oberman for years and always head to the reptile house as soon as I get to the zoo; I have an affectation for lizards.

I have a visceral dislike of computers and the Internet but find myself “caught in the Web” more and more often. If a Luddite like me can be sucked in, anyone can. I would suggest that the days of the “dead tree” local paper are numbered, and the need for sites like A2Politico increases daily.

I’m interested to know, of course, whether your reading habits have changed over the past decade. Oh, and give Pravda a read. Then let me know whether you still think the New York Times should be called “the paper of record.”

A2P Notes: Recently, ProgressMichigan sent this Tweet to the organization’s several thousand Twitter followers: “Strong progressive voices in Michigan: @Eclectablog @bloggingformich @NathanTriplett @A2Politico @gretchenwhitmer.” ProgressMichigan is headed by David Holtz, who served as the Clean Water Action Michigan Director for four years, during which time he built the state environmental community’s largest online community of more than 80,000 members. The group’s mission is to “provide a strong credible voice that holds public officials and government accountable, assists in the promotion of progressive ideas and uses state-of-the-art web based new media to creatively build grassroots support for progressive ideas.” You may recognize some of the Twitter addresses in the ProgressMichigan list. @Eclectablog is A2Politico writer Chris Savage and @gretchenwhitmer is Gretchen Whitmer, the Minority Whip in the Michigan Senate. @NathanTriplett is a Democratic City Council member in Lansing who, often, makes me wish he lived in Ann Arbor so he could show local politicos what being a strong progressive voice is all about.

Chris Savage and I met to talk about his work for the site. In answer to my question of what A2Politico could do better or change, Chris suggested that presenting a conservative perspective would improve A2Politico’s balance. This is a news site that has always been progressive enough in its editorial mission to welcome a variety of viewpoints. A2P readers think, then comment on the issues.

I searched for a writer who could approach state politics, education and Detroit politics from a conservative slant. It was a long search, slogging through hundreds of blogs written by self-identified Michigan conservatives simply not up to the intellectual and editorial standards of A2Politico and its readers. Lots of conservative bloggers in Michigan are more about thanking the Good Lord than asking the good questions and crafting the good prose. Warren Liverance delivers just that in his column “Deliverance.” Look in on Thursdays to read Dub, as he calls himself, on state politics, Detroit and, now and again, education.

I had a high school history teacher who loved the idea of a benevolent dictator.  He’d bought into Plato’s concept of an educated elite raised from childhood and given dictatorial powers. These educated elite would then exercise power for the greater good. I must say that for a good while I bought in hook, line, and sinker. Of course I never imagined myself as anything but one of those elite Plato wrote about in the Republic, helping “the folks” with my carefully considered laws and regulations. When I had aged a few years, gained a few pounds, and had actual experience with the kind of people who were in charge of the government, I began to reconsider.

Public Act 4, is an expanded piece of post modern legislation built on the chassis of a law passed by Democrat Jennifer Granholm. Public Act 4 had to be passed, so that we could find out what was in it.  Have you read it? You must. It’s a riff on Plato that should make everyone yearn for limited government, or a Roman invasion force to oust the Greeks in Lansing.  It’s clear that many of the state’s political talking heads who’ve been writing about it haven’t read it.

The husband of a Democratic State Senator, a Democratic County Commissioner, told the newspaper where he lives this about Public Act 4: “We absolutely need it. When we have cities that are in crisis, they have to get some oversight, they need to get some new tools. This legislation includes empowerment of city councils and existing city managers to tools that they don’t have.”

I’m willing to bet this guy never read the Public Act 4 law.

Some of the more interesting  points of the EM law include Section 12 r—in which the review process can begin if “The existence of other facts or circumstances that in the state treasurer’s sole discretion are indicative of municiple financial stress.” Or Sec. 17 1 and 2 in which the financial manager develops an “academic and education plan” for the school district, and can ban elected officials from their offices.

What does financial ineptitude have to do with academic and educational instruction? How do you ban an elected official from access to her/his workplace if no legal charges have been filed? Is this the “empowerment” that Democratic Washtenaw County Commissioner is referring to?

Section 18 c and 1 k give the financial manager the power of “rejection, modification, or termination of any contract.”

This is the kind of “new tool” this Democratic County Commissioner thinks we need?

In Section 19 s, t, and z we come to what I call the “Grand Poobah” clauses, whereby the financial manager may authorize the FINANCIALLY DESTITUTE CITY (my caps) to borrow money from the state to pay himself and any other cronies he/she deems necessary. The financial manager can also order millage elections independent of local requirements and most despotic of all, is given the power to “take any other action or exercise any power or authority of any officer, employee, department, board, commission or other similar entity of local government, whether elected or appointed relating to the operation of the local government.”

As old Tricky Dick used to say, “That’s the whole enchilada.”

Toward the end of this “carefully crafted” legislation are almost the best clauses of all: they grant the financial manager immunity, and make the destitute city or school district pick up the financial manager’s legal tab if she/he is sued.

When you combine all this, with the power to subpoena, and require testimony under oath granted in 26-1, it is plain to see that the old boy who taught me about Plato and the Republic would be mighty pleased, because the educated elite are hard at work helping the regular folks along.

Although the concept of the law in itself seems prudent, the actual written document just serves as another brick in the wall of tyranny. Our country and our state is in a cycle of “crisis-loss-of-freedom/crisis-loss- of-freedom.” In Public Act 4 we have a law hundreds of lines long when all that is needed is one sentence: “The financial manager shall be Viceroy of said city until he/she chooses to leave, or is recalled by the their most regal Majesties in Lansing.”

Pages and pages of jabberwocky hide the real intent: dictatorial control over money and privatization. I find it hard to believe that the state’s media “wizards of smart” did not anticipate that the law would, in most cases, be used against majority African American cities such as Benton Harbor, Flint, and now Detroit. Send the crew to inspect a city’s finances, and the caterwauling begins almost instantaneously—wolf, wolf, wolf— I mean—racist, racist, racist. Regardless of what the Ann Arbor Democrat above would have us believe, Public Act 4 disempowers people. State officials go in, and the cycle of intimidation, one upmanship, and the naked power grab begins.

Have you heard the Governor is “exploring” the idea of a emergency financial manager for Detroit? That’s like saying the Pope is sick. The Pope is dead, my friends, when the Curia issues the press release that says he’s gravely ill. The Governor is not “exploring” the idea of an EM for Detroit. Snyder is talking to the guy who’s getting the job. Detroit will have a financial manager, regardless of what Representative John Conyers tries to pull out of his political hat.

Meanwhile, in the state’s largest city the usual motley crew of race hustlers, opportunists, and haters sing the same old song, but with a different meaning now that the population is half of what it once was, and the Detroit Public Schools and the City of Detroit are the two single largest employers. In case no one has noticed, several hundred thousand Detroiters have decamped to the burbs. Here’s a good piece in the New York Times about the phenomenon. If you want to know where Detroiters have moved, just check out the new gerrymandered voting districts. The power of the Detroit Democratic voting block has been reduced, and the votes of these freshly-minted suburbanites are cast in districts immune to Detroit vote count conjuring.

For years it has amazed me that the wizards of smart who oversee elections see nothing peculiar with the fact that Detroiters vote Democrat in the same proportion (96 percent) that the citizens of Iraq voted for Hussein. I guess single party elections be they communist, baathist, or democratic ring up the same number. For years a compliant if not condescending media have fed the American people the pablum that African Americans are some kind of Democratochek monoblock that takes its marching orders from its “leaders.”

To paraphrase King Théoden,”How has it come to this?” How has one of the world’s great cities fallen on such hard times? The trifecta of 67 riots, busing, and Mayor Coleman (“I issue a warning to all those pushers, to all rip-off artists, to all muggers: It’s time to leave Detroit; hit Eight Mile Road! And I don’t give a damn if they are black or white…Hit the road.”) Young, are often mentioned, but the 800 pound goldfish in the room remains the 3 percent income tax, a political monoculture, and high property taxes.

Do we value our big cities? Just take a drive in the vicinity of I-94 and VanDyke and tell me that this kind of urban blight should exist in the United States. Public Act 4 is supposedly about political bootstraps. However, people without boots can’t pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

The City of Detroit owns thousands of acres of land—sell it or give it away. The city is sitting on thousands of abandoned homes—forgive the back taxes and give them away. The 3 percent city income tax should be eliminated, and the State should cover the revenue lost. Instead of an emergency manager, there should be a ten year moratorium on state income tax for Detroit residents. The result would be dynamism. Detroit became a manufacturing center for a reason, and those reasons still exist. If Lansing or the U.S. Congress really cared about Detroit and other cities like it, politicos would push for legislation cutting Federal and state tax rates in the most disadvantaged cities.

The sad truth is that the politicos like things the way that they are. Tax dollars buy power and influence and cutting taxes cuts political power. Emergency Managers consolidate political power and cut the political influence of voters to just about nothing.

The Pope is sick, and Detroit’s pols just don’t get it. When you read the commentary on the “possibility” of an Emergency Manager for Detroit you get the same old hand-wringing about reductions in services. Detroit City Council member pro tem Brown seems to get it when he says,”It’s unacceptable to expect taxpayers to fund more than 140 city departments.” Taxpayers are funding 13,000 jobs for city workers; Detroit has become a giant public trough.

John K. Bennett, in a piece on the HuffingtonPost.com Detroit channel, wants change at the top in Detroit, and an emergency manager in the meantime. That’s not the answer. As long as Detroit has a single party Democratic monoculture there will be no change. The answer is the liberals’ favorite answer for all our social, economic and political problems—diversity. Detroit must become more diverse politically, economically, and culturally. The Emergency Financial Manager who will soon be named to lead Detroit is straight out of Plato — a representative of the educated elite. Unfortunately, the EM will do little but slosh the 800 pound Democratic goldfish swimming in the tub from one end to the other. What Detroit needs is more water and different fish in the tub.

411onthe313 is on Twitter. Click here to follow Dub.

A2P Notes: Just a few days ago, ProgressMichigan sent this Tweet to the organization’s several thousand Twitter followers: “Strong progressive voices in Michigan: @Eclectablog @bloggingformich @NathanTriplett @A2Politico @gretchenwhitmer.” ProgressMichigan is headed by David Holtz, who served as the Clean Water Action Michigan Director for four years, during which time he built the state environmental community’s largest online community of more than 80,000 members. The group’s mission is to “provide a strong credible voice that holds public officials and government accountable, assists in the promotion of progressive ideas and uses state-of-the-art web based new media to creatively build grassroots support for progressive ideas.” You may recognize some of the Twitter addresses in the ProgressMichigan list. @Eclectablog is A2Politico writer Chris Savage and @gretchenwhitmer is Gretchen Whitmer, the Minority Whip in the Michigan Senate. @NathanTriplett is a Democratic City Council member in Lansing who, often, makes me wish he lived in Ann Arbor so he could show local politicos what being a strong progressive voice is all about.

Chris Savage and I met to talk about his work for the site. In answer to my question of what A2Politico could do better or change, Chris suggested that presenting a conservative perspective would improve A2Politico’s balance. This is a news site that has always been progressive enough in its editorial mission to welcome a variety of viewpoints. A2P readers think, then comment on the issues.

I searched for a writer who could approach state politics, education and Detroit politics from a conservative slant. It was a long search, slogging through hundreds of blogs written by self-identified Michigan conservatives simply not up to the intellectual and editorial standards of A2Politico and its readers. Lots of conservative bloggers in Michigan are more about thanking the Good Lord than asking the good questions and crafting the good prose. Warren Liverance delivers just that in his column “Deliverance.” Look in on Thursdays to read Dub, as he calls himself, on state politics, Detroit and, now and again, education.

“Who am I? Why am I here?” These words of Admiral James Stockdale from the infamous ’92 Vice Presidential debate seem an appropriate way to begin my tenure at A2Politico.com. Stockdale’s simple words point out the main differences in perception held by members of the two major divisions of the national political zeitgeist.

As a “conservative” I understood, philosophically, exactly what the good Admiral meant.  Having read Epictetus and other stoics, I knew exactly what point he was trying to make. I remember my excitement. I then had to watch “liberal” comedians, who having only read Alfred E. Neuman, made Stockdale’s questions, and the subsequent failure of his hearing aid, into comedy routines for the next month. They turned a highly decorated Medal of Honor hero into a buffoon, while turning an actual buffoon (Al Gore) into a man of honor.

Thus goes the life of an American “conservative.” I use the quotes because labels are arbitrary and loaded with disinformation. Personally, I have no desire to “conserve” the behemoth of the federal government. The beast must be starved—the price of liberty being rejection of phony “shared sacrifice”— another name for coercive redistribution.

Who am I? According to the intellectual mavens of the left, I am the problem,  a middle-aged white guy, a bitter clinger, racist, sexist, homophobe, who has surfed white skin privilege into a nice house and a secure life. I have benefited from the institutional repression of various and sundry minorities and women—without which repression I would never have amounted to anything.

Who am I actually? Well, I was raised by a single mother, have worked from the time I was nine-years-old, put myself through college, spent a decade as a teacher and administrator — five of them in the inner city of Detroit. I have been hired, fired, laid off, downsized, and now run my own business. I have reinvented myself many times, from student, to assembly line rat, to coach, to teacher, to musician, to principal, to house painter, to househusband, and am now a self-employed luthier.  I work with my hands and find a dignity and satisfaction that no other job has ever provided. In my maturity, I fully appreciate and understand what Voltaire meant when he said, “Hell is people.”

ProgressMichigan recently recognized A2Politico as a “strong, progressive voice in Michigan.” So why am I here? I am here to look at state politics, education and Detroit politics from a perspective that is somewhat different, shall we say, than A2Politico writers Chris Savage and Pete Nicely. I have been reading two or three books per week since I learned to read. I have been hired and fired from dozens of jobs. I have been dirt poor and occasionally flush. I have devoted my life to learning. I am a curious self- learner. As anyone who suffers from insatiable curiosity knows, the universe of people who care is small. I am a big fish in a small pond who dreams of swimming in the ocean.

When I used to watch political debates on television, I would scream at the moroons representing the various positions, knowing I could do better. I think my opinion matters.

I want to be a member of the chattering class.

I want the President to kiss my ass.

Unlike my liberal friends who don’t tend to congregate near geographic areas of actual diversity, I  lived in Detroit for seven years and currently reside a mere four houses away from the city. I taught Physics and Chemistry in the DPS (it was chaos) and also was principal of a small church school (slightly less chaos). I have played gigs all over the city (bass). What I have found is that in some ways Detroit is worse than people think and in some ways it is better.

In 1988 I began a 20 year study of the philosophies and policies that have turned one of the world’s great cities into a monochrome graveyard. I would like to share some of my stories and experiences with you — all the while writing about state and Detroit political decisions that will either exacerbate, or begin to cure this sickness.

I am neither Republican nor Democrat. In my opinion there is a stupid party and an evil party. I will leave it up to you to guess which is which. What I have noticed is the consolidation of power in this country into fewer and fewer hands while the government expands exponentially. I am not smart enough to know for certain if corporations control the government or government controls corporations, but I do know that the last time I peeked into the dining room window of the White House, all the pigs at the table looked just like humans.

I am a disciple of Spengler and Adam Smith. I love Greek philosophy and have read through the King James Bible several times (I did skip through the begats). I believe Lord Acton was correct when he wrote, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  In my lifetime I have seen the growth of both government power and corruption. I sense that people in this country are nervous and don’t know the reason.  I think that I do.

Back in the 70s I was an atheist. Over the years I have been an agnostic, an anarchist, and even a Republican. I have been dissuaded from these positions by personal research and argument with people more knowledgeable than I. Yes, I did say argument; respectful informed disagreement is the foundation of a healthy intellect. The tendency of the modern chattering class to favor personal destruction over defending positions has made Americans intellectually soft and political correctness has made us moral cowards. The Emperor has no clothes – The man behind the curtain is pulling the levers – There is no spoon.

The fact that I am overweight, drink too much, and smoke cigars (Cubans if I can get them) has nothing to do with the intellectual positions I hold. I am so tired of the constant beating of the “hypocrisy drum.” To call a politician a hypocrite is to call a fish wet. I don’t care about gotcha. I want to write about what our public masters are up to. What are they doing to enrich themselves and limit our liberty this week?

I am anti-abortion, anti-war, anti-death penalty, anti-draft, and anti-federal government. Which party represents me? I think that the voting franchise should be much more difficult to obtain.

“Who am I? Why am I here?” Let’s talk about why all school children should be required to memorize President George Washington’s farewell address. In it, Washington warns the people that political factions who seek to obstruct the execution of the laws created by the government, or prevent the constitutional branches from enacting the powers provided them by the constitution may claim to be working in the interest of answering popular demands or solving pressing problems, but their true intentions are to take the power from the people and place it in the hands of unjust men. Sound familiar? Can you say Emergency Manager?

I’ll write about how the corporate entertainment complex has desensitized our children to violence while the union/government complex teaches them to willfully obey orders from “Public Servants.”  It all adds up to bad tidings for the future.

The Occupy Movement seeks to take back power from the 1 percent. This country is ours and we can take it back but not through Washington D.C. The more local government is, the more responsive it can be.

You can look forward to reading and commenting on my pieces on Thursdays.

P.S. — I am sorry for the 75-plus uses of  the pronoun “I.” I was not trying to write an Obama speech. I was asked to write about myself and I eschewed the royal we.