Category Archives: Supreme Court

From the Detroit News:

A controversial and far-reaching plan to cut the size of the Michigan Legislature and courts, reduce the salaries of top elected officials and impose many other changes on state government was blocked from the November ballot Wednesday by the Michigan Court of Appeals.

The court said the so-called Reform Michigan Government Now! ballot proposal, backed by Michigan Democrats and organized labor, includes so many provisions that it amounts to a “general revision” of the state constitution. And that, the court said, can only be done by calling a constitutional convention.

The backers of the initiative vowed to appeal the decision in the Michigan Supreme Court, but the mostly Republican high court is unlikely to review the decision.

So ends the Michigan Democratic Party’s attempt to take control of the state government by acting like Republicans. While it is true that the deck is currently stacked unfairly against the Democratic Party – with current congressional districts drawn by the Republicans and the state Supreme Court dominated by Republicans protected from defeat by the all-powerful judicial incumbency advantage – this was not the proper solution. By fighting dirty, even against a broken and unfair system, the Michigan Democratic Party acted less like the NAACP and more like the Black Panthers.

I, for one, am loathe to give up what many view as the Democratic Party’s biggest advantage – the inherent integrity of its members. Our party may not be immune to scandal, but the day our ends are used to justify our means is the day I start seriously rethinking my allegiance.

We do not need to reduce ourselves to this – there are still options available. We can reintroduce fairness into Michigan government without trying to skew the system in our favor as the Republicans have done.

We must begin the effort now to call a state constitutional convention in 2010.

The option will be on the ballot in 2010 – it is mandated by the constitution, and no court can remove it. Our constitution is broken. Years and years of ballot initiatives too easily making it into our state’s governing document have left our constitution filled with more potholes than a Michgan road in February. The list goes on and on: discrimination against gays and African Americans, ridiculous non-partisan judicial elections, crippling flat tax rates, insanely short term limits, etc., etc.

For the backers of Reform Michigan Government Now, this is the logical next step. Having failed at gaming the system, they should focus their energy and resources on what should have been their target all along: honest reform of Michigan’s constitution.

This can be done – but we need to make it happen. Talk to your friends about it. Help them understand how bent and broken our system of government has become in it’s old age. Starting November 5th, we have two full years to accomplish this goal, and we should waste no time getting started.

Our state needs us.

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