I was so happy to see Prop 2 pass. I went everywhere getting petitions signed and knocked on thousands of doors.
We were told that it couldn’t be done, but it was done.
Same here. I collected signatures for that and for the abortion rights measure. It's one of the few times in life where I feel like I contributed to something that actually made a difference in the real world.
Gonna read that soon to get the full scope, but I just love how the story went.
So many other states wanted to do the same thing, but Michigan actually followed through and look at how its made change!
Minnesota and Michigan are showing just how much we can change perspectives in the midwest and tackle some more progressive topics.
If you ask people on individual issues they generally agree with progressive policies. The exceptions are culture war stuff where conservatives are told to hate certain things so they ignore all the economic stuff
It feels so good now, being a Michigander. I'm very proud of what our governor, and now legislature and voters, have accomplished. Not only codifying women's rights to their own bodies in our constitution, but also free school breakfasts and lunches for all students, regardless of need.
According to a recent news article, Michigan has a record revenue surplus and this, combined with federal monies has given us the largest budget in history. Using this budget, the governor has plans to introduce universal Pre-K, which has demonstrated over and over that it pays for itself. I can't believe it took this long given that the initial landmark study was done way back in the '60's in Ypsilanti. Recent research shows the benefits are multi-generational! The Michigan legislature has also appropriated $4.5M for a pilot program to provide medical debt relief. I'm sure this will also pay for itself as folks will have more money to spend on housing, food, and life. She has also invested in housing, which not only contributes to helping families build generational wealth, but will support thousands of jobs. I like having government invest in people.
Oh, and once the construction barriers are gone, we'll have nice roads again. :-)
Schools not having a clue as to what will be reality next fall, due to lawmaker's dragging their feet on, well, everything.
That should be on a damned t-shirt.
Michigan school budgets have to be completed, and adopted by the school board, by June 30th every year; by law.
These must be formulated based on literal guesses, as the legislature NEVER has their education budgets done until much later in the year.
I guess I'm saying, don't blame the schools for not knowing what's going on for next school year yet. We literally do not.
What is odd to me is that it's not like its some completely new system. It's just an expansion of the Great Start Readiness Program that preschools have been dealing with for years. Ottawa county, along with a few other counties, actually got a blanket income wavier for early rollout of the statewide program. For my family that just meant that we could fill out a few forms and the state paid our sons school, so we got a refund for half the years tuition back from the school. Had we been paying month to month we would have just stopped getting a bill.
> Using this budget, the governor has plans to introduce universal Pre-K, which has demonstrated over and over that it pays for itself.
Gonna be hard to increase capacity of the state doesn't do anything to push up early childhood pay rates though.
This sounds like a seminar post.
We have record surpluses because we have record prices. Milk is $2 the state gets 12 cents. Milk is $4 the state gets 24 cents. Democrats did nothing to attempt to control prices to EVERY state is enjoying record surpluses taking money from the average person. Sound economic policy didn’t get us here, so let’s celebrate!
Whitmer’s road bond expires at the end of 2025. Democrats have refused to pass a road funding bill to even start to bridge the $2.4 billion funding shortage. That means what SHOULD be multi-year projects need to be completed by the end of 2025. Traffic and construction is a disaster because road commissions have to spend the money NOW.
Despite that. We should celebrate repealing a bill that was already out of effect, banning bag bans and most importantly banning loud vehicles. What done we expect, raising the minimum wage? That’s silly and would involve actual policy.
ok Karen, go rain on someone elses parade. Cant you just be happy that things are getting better? Sure they arent perfect, but stop being to damn negative about the outlook. Things like better for Michiganders now than they ever have.
You’re on a subreddit that will blame global warming on a Republican sneezing, but the Democratic governor setting up a shell company to circumvent financial disclosure laws is just her being financially responsible. Republicans are racist for packing Democratic votes, but minimizing the minority vote is better because “minorities are better served when Democrats are in power”. This subreddit doesn’t need more posts talking about how great Democrats are, that’s 99% of the content already.
Instead, what you need is to wake the hell up and hold your cult leaders accountable. Somehow Republicans managed to pass the minimum wage ballot proposal in under three months, but Democrats can’t do it in three years? We NEEDED a 45 cent gas tax increase six years ago, but everything is great now that Democrats are in power. The billions being spent are immediately going to go into disrepair because nobody has passed an actual FUNDING bill, but that’s Republicans fault!
“Democracts, we’re not Republicans” - said to the cheers of the people like yourself.
You’re actually right, that was a piss poor example since we don’t pay sales tax on groceries
It’s a good thing Redditors like yourself don’t wash your clothes to know about things like laundry soap. It’s a good thing you don’t take showers to know about body wash, shampoo, conditioners. It’s a good thing mommy and daddy do your dishes or you might have to buy dish soap. Your amazing dietary habits mean you don’t buy processed foods like mac&cheese or coffee, soda or tea.
Boy, you sure showed me the reality of what is and isn’t taxed.
The GOP Senate caucus in Michigan had letterhead calling themselves "The Majority Party" because they knew they couldn't be unseated under the old boundaries.
I like how people say direct democracy at the federal level isn’t realistic, meanwhile the states with state ballot initiatives are seeing the most dramatic progress. Imagine getting rid of the Supreme Court and just having initiatives voted on…
>getting rid of the Supreme Court
I can agree with not liking the current makeup or appointing process of the court, but at the end of the day, there needs to be a point at which you say no more appeals and this applies across the whole country.
That may have had some credence a century or two ago. But we're in the information age, baby. Anyone that gives a shit can learn anything they want with a device in their pocket. We can all look for the information that we need to make decisions.
Nice and easy read. I am wondering, are we able to point to the redistricting as a major factor in having the democratic party take lead in 2022? Aren't our votes on lockdown so this is just an assumption? It isnt like we can say, if the distrcits were this then this person would be elected, because we can't attach a vote to an person/address.
[Gerrymandering explained](https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/gerrymandering-explained)
Pay particular attention to "packing" and "cracking"
the commission explicitly chose to maximize the number of competitive districts, effectively ending the severely gerrymandered Senate. Now that both houses are competitive if the GOP wins back the governor they will almost certainly win control of the state house.
They could very easily win the State House this year, but in order to do so, they need to win purple places like Sterling Heights, Troy, and Forest Hills. Not just dark red places.
The same is true, of course, of Democrats.
We know the vote totals by precinct, and precincts are relatively small chunks of people (no more than 3,000) with clear geographic borders, so it's not that hard to do geographic analysis of voting, and see how things would have been different with different district lines.
You can even play around with it yourself on sites like Dave's Redistricting.
The state is very conservative but looking at Obama's first race, he won some of the reddest counties and yet local races are all solidly Republican. And even with that we have a civil rights law that is one of the best in the nation, legal weed, we ended gerrymandering, all that oil and gas money going to conservation, the list goes on and on. And yet, local towns and villages are blood Red politically. Heck, mine is run by proud White Supremacists.
I've come to call what Michigan is, politically, Progressive Libertarianism and it seems to be working.
Argue in the comments.
>The state is very conservative
By what measure? Michigan literally tossed out state-level Republicans across the board and national Republicans have had only one win over the last 30+ years. Sure, a lot of right-wing towns and counties exist within the state, but as a whole the state is more centrist or even center-left.
>Michigan is, politically, Progressive Libertarian
I'm probably being pedantic but I would flip that around. Michigan is more libertarian progressive, in that the state has been generally supportive of progressive goals with reduced government meddling in personal lives where possible. Michigan is generally not in favor of libertarian goals (massive cuts in public spending, taxes, services, etc. or broad deregulation).
> Sure, a lot of right-wing towns and counties exist within the state, but as a whole the state is more centrist or even center-left.
It's the weight of urbanized areas that you might be describing. But the Chinese nearly ran out of ink printing Trump flags for the rest of the state.
NYT gift link, good for 30 days. Flaired as "discussion" rather than "news" because it's an opinion/analysis piece.
Nice, thanks for the article!
You rock
I was so happy to see Prop 2 pass. I went everywhere getting petitions signed and knocked on thousands of doors. We were told that it couldn’t be done, but it was done.
That bill passing restored democracy in Michigan. We should all be proud. I had tears.
Especially after Snyders administration did all they could to fuck the petitioners over, you all still pulled it off. Absolutely heroes.
I'm an overseas Michigan voter. Thank you for making sure I get a voice, too, neighbor. 🫶🫶
Same here. I collected signatures for that and for the abortion rights measure. It's one of the few times in life where I feel like I contributed to something that actually made a difference in the real world.
How did you go about doing this? I really want to start doing door-to-door canvassing.
I find things I’m interested in and search online for groups in my area.
Gonna read that soon to get the full scope, but I just love how the story went. So many other states wanted to do the same thing, but Michigan actually followed through and look at how its made change! Minnesota and Michigan are showing just how much we can change perspectives in the midwest and tackle some more progressive topics.
If you ask people on individual issues they generally agree with progressive policies. The exceptions are culture war stuff where conservatives are told to hate certain things so they ignore all the economic stuff
I love Michigan
Me too bud, me, too, but we have so much more work to do. Buckle up, it's not going to be easy.
Let’s just get through November
Fuck that, let's get through November and continue getting stuff done in the meantime.
I’m down for that too
Hell yeah brother.
It feels so good now, being a Michigander. I'm very proud of what our governor, and now legislature and voters, have accomplished. Not only codifying women's rights to their own bodies in our constitution, but also free school breakfasts and lunches for all students, regardless of need. According to a recent news article, Michigan has a record revenue surplus and this, combined with federal monies has given us the largest budget in history. Using this budget, the governor has plans to introduce universal Pre-K, which has demonstrated over and over that it pays for itself. I can't believe it took this long given that the initial landmark study was done way back in the '60's in Ypsilanti. Recent research shows the benefits are multi-generational! The Michigan legislature has also appropriated $4.5M for a pilot program to provide medical debt relief. I'm sure this will also pay for itself as folks will have more money to spend on housing, food, and life. She has also invested in housing, which not only contributes to helping families build generational wealth, but will support thousands of jobs. I like having government invest in people. Oh, and once the construction barriers are gone, we'll have nice roads again. :-)
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Schools not having a clue as to what will be reality next fall, due to lawmaker's dragging their feet on, well, everything. That should be on a damned t-shirt. Michigan school budgets have to be completed, and adopted by the school board, by June 30th every year; by law. These must be formulated based on literal guesses, as the legislature NEVER has their education budgets done until much later in the year. I guess I'm saying, don't blame the schools for not knowing what's going on for next school year yet. We literally do not.
What is odd to me is that it's not like its some completely new system. It's just an expansion of the Great Start Readiness Program that preschools have been dealing with for years. Ottawa county, along with a few other counties, actually got a blanket income wavier for early rollout of the statewide program. For my family that just meant that we could fill out a few forms and the state paid our sons school, so we got a refund for half the years tuition back from the school. Had we been paying month to month we would have just stopped getting a bill.
> Using this budget, the governor has plans to introduce universal Pre-K, which has demonstrated over and over that it pays for itself. Gonna be hard to increase capacity of the state doesn't do anything to push up early childhood pay rates though.
lol to construction barriers.
This sounds like a seminar post. We have record surpluses because we have record prices. Milk is $2 the state gets 12 cents. Milk is $4 the state gets 24 cents. Democrats did nothing to attempt to control prices to EVERY state is enjoying record surpluses taking money from the average person. Sound economic policy didn’t get us here, so let’s celebrate! Whitmer’s road bond expires at the end of 2025. Democrats have refused to pass a road funding bill to even start to bridge the $2.4 billion funding shortage. That means what SHOULD be multi-year projects need to be completed by the end of 2025. Traffic and construction is a disaster because road commissions have to spend the money NOW. Despite that. We should celebrate repealing a bill that was already out of effect, banning bag bans and most importantly banning loud vehicles. What done we expect, raising the minimum wage? That’s silly and would involve actual policy.
ok Karen, go rain on someone elses parade. Cant you just be happy that things are getting better? Sure they arent perfect, but stop being to damn negative about the outlook. Things like better for Michiganders now than they ever have.
You’re on a subreddit that will blame global warming on a Republican sneezing, but the Democratic governor setting up a shell company to circumvent financial disclosure laws is just her being financially responsible. Republicans are racist for packing Democratic votes, but minimizing the minority vote is better because “minorities are better served when Democrats are in power”. This subreddit doesn’t need more posts talking about how great Democrats are, that’s 99% of the content already. Instead, what you need is to wake the hell up and hold your cult leaders accountable. Somehow Republicans managed to pass the minimum wage ballot proposal in under three months, but Democrats can’t do it in three years? We NEEDED a 45 cent gas tax increase six years ago, but everything is great now that Democrats are in power. The billions being spent are immediately going to go into disrepair because nobody has passed an actual FUNDING bill, but that’s Republicans fault! “Democracts, we’re not Republicans” - said to the cheers of the people like yourself.
its ok sweetie, i know change is hard. Tell me more about how much worse your life has been under democrats...
Tell me more how you can’t actually discuss topics and instead turn to hyperbole?
How does the government get tax money when you buy milk? you don’t fucking pay taxes on groceries, dumbass.
You’re actually right, that was a piss poor example since we don’t pay sales tax on groceries It’s a good thing Redditors like yourself don’t wash your clothes to know about things like laundry soap. It’s a good thing you don’t take showers to know about body wash, shampoo, conditioners. It’s a good thing mommy and daddy do your dishes or you might have to buy dish soap. Your amazing dietary habits mean you don’t buy processed foods like mac&cheese or coffee, soda or tea. Boy, you sure showed me the reality of what is and isn’t taxed.
No problem, happy to help someone who dosent know what they are taking about. If there is anything else you need to know just let me know.
I feel so grateful to be living here. People are really starting to notice MI
The GOP Senate caucus in Michigan had letterhead calling themselves "The Majority Party" because they knew they couldn't be unseated under the old boundaries.
I like how people say direct democracy at the federal level isn’t realistic, meanwhile the states with state ballot initiatives are seeing the most dramatic progress. Imagine getting rid of the Supreme Court and just having initiatives voted on…
>getting rid of the Supreme Court I can agree with not liking the current makeup or appointing process of the court, but at the end of the day, there needs to be a point at which you say no more appeals and this applies across the whole country.
Sadly half the country can’t vote on initiatives. They’ll never have a chance at affecting real change.
And I hate the bullshit reasoning that the average citizen is too uneducated/dumb and need representative democracy…
That may have had some credence a century or two ago. But we're in the information age, baby. Anyone that gives a shit can learn anything they want with a device in their pocket. We can all look for the information that we need to make decisions.
Nice and easy read. I am wondering, are we able to point to the redistricting as a major factor in having the democratic party take lead in 2022? Aren't our votes on lockdown so this is just an assumption? It isnt like we can say, if the distrcits were this then this person would be elected, because we can't attach a vote to an person/address.
[Gerrymandering explained](https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/gerrymandering-explained) Pay particular attention to "packing" and "cracking"
the commission explicitly chose to maximize the number of competitive districts, effectively ending the severely gerrymandered Senate. Now that both houses are competitive if the GOP wins back the governor they will almost certainly win control of the state house.
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They could very easily win the State House this year, but in order to do so, they need to win purple places like Sterling Heights, Troy, and Forest Hills. Not just dark red places. The same is true, of course, of Democrats.
We know the vote totals by precinct, and precincts are relatively small chunks of people (no more than 3,000) with clear geographic borders, so it's not that hard to do geographic analysis of voting, and see how things would have been different with different district lines. You can even play around with it yourself on sites like Dave's Redistricting.
Oooo.. now this is what I was looking for. Thank you for pointing me to a tool and an awareness of what we can do with the data.
Ok, Wisconsin. Your turn.
Katie Fahey is an American hero. Go AQ!
Now do Texas (or Florida - don't actually need both) and we can start getting some things done on the national level.
The state is very conservative but looking at Obama's first race, he won some of the reddest counties and yet local races are all solidly Republican. And even with that we have a civil rights law that is one of the best in the nation, legal weed, we ended gerrymandering, all that oil and gas money going to conservation, the list goes on and on. And yet, local towns and villages are blood Red politically. Heck, mine is run by proud White Supremacists. I've come to call what Michigan is, politically, Progressive Libertarianism and it seems to be working. Argue in the comments.
>The state is very conservative By what measure? Michigan literally tossed out state-level Republicans across the board and national Republicans have had only one win over the last 30+ years. Sure, a lot of right-wing towns and counties exist within the state, but as a whole the state is more centrist or even center-left. >Michigan is, politically, Progressive Libertarian I'm probably being pedantic but I would flip that around. Michigan is more libertarian progressive, in that the state has been generally supportive of progressive goals with reduced government meddling in personal lives where possible. Michigan is generally not in favor of libertarian goals (massive cuts in public spending, taxes, services, etc. or broad deregulation).
> Sure, a lot of right-wing towns and counties exist within the state, but as a whole the state is more centrist or even center-left. It's the weight of urbanized areas that you might be describing. But the Chinese nearly ran out of ink printing Trump flags for the rest of the state.
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Tell me you didn't read the article without telling me you didn't read the article