Sunday, July 20, 2008

Give Reform Proposal A Chance!

We've heard a lot from Republicans for years about the need to shrink the size of government. So you'd think that when the Reform Michigan Government Now proposal came out, they would be at least a little happy.

But no. They're all for shrinking the size of government as long as it doesn't touch any of the jobs held by Republicans.

That's the only way to interpret the editorial in the Livingston Press and Argus for Sunday (July 20, 2008) about the proposal.

Sure you want to change state government, the editorial concedes, but let's not do it so it hurts Republicans!

It changes too much all at once, the editorial complains, not stopping to think how difficult it would be to enact even one of these changes on its own. Sometimes, the only want to bring about change is to make multiple changes that can create a broad-based coalition of support.

It's ripe for misrepresentation, the editorial complains. Well, when you run a newspaper, can't you write articles that explain each of the sections and their ramifications? There are several months between now and the election. Shouldn't journalists be busy interviewing people about the impacts instead of throwing up their hands in dismay that it's too hard for them to understand?

While the editorial focuses on Republican impacts, if fails to acknowledge that a lot of Democrats are unhappy about the proposal, too. Democratic lawmakers will lose their seats, as well as some Republican judges. Yet the only thing the editorial focuses on is the way it will impact Republicans.

This proposal would save millions of dollars a year for taxpayers who are hard-pressed right now. Yet the editorial wants voters to overlook that in order to save the jobs of a few highly-paid Republican judges.

There is plenty of time to explain this proposal to voters, if journalists would get to work instead of whining about having to do it.

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