NOW WHAT? HERE'S WHAT!
Well, it's a week later. Now what? Let's take things one-by-one
The 2010 election is over; people fired the Democrats and hired the Republicans. Nationwide, the people fired Democrats and hired Republicans. But that doesn’t mean they all converted to the GOP. The people saw us Republicans as the better choice available. But being the lesser of two evils, still means you’re evil. We have to work on becoming good, or we’ll get fired in our turn, and deservedly.
Time to Get Off the Dime.
We have to get off the dime quickly because the people want action. They want change, not talk. They want a focus on solving the problem of jobs. When we’re all working and making money we can go back to improving the moral tone of our neighbors’ private lives.
I propose three things for Michigan right off the bat.
First: Budget Reform.
A) Budget reform. STOP SPENDING. Time to stop spending money we don’t have. Lansing can’t be all things to all people, and we have a limited amount of money. We’re going to have to decide between various good programs, and admit there are some we can’t afford.
We also need a new way of deciding how to spend money. First off, we need a multi-year rolling, line item budget. In Oakland County we used a two year one. We also need a new way to evaluate programs, other than by counting how many passionate advocates show up to Lansing wearing same-color T-Shirts and bringing along kids. All programs have passionate advocates, but we can’t afford to keep allocating public money by who cries the most committed tears. We need to define what state programs are supposed to accomplish, what delivery systems they use to accomplish it, and how we measure what those delivery systems accomplish, BEFORE we ladle out money.
Git'Er Done!
Finally, we need to get our budgets done in a timely manner. I’d like to start out by proposing the House-and challenging the Senate—to get our budgets to the Governor’s desk by June 1st. No more waiting around until the September 30th deadline. Leave that behind in the Granholm Administration.
Second: Tax Reform.
B) Tax Reform. We tax too much. “Michigan” has priced itself out of the market. We need to get the cost down so we can be competitive for folks who want to try and make money. Maybe they’ll be so successful, they’ll have extra work and extra income to be able to hire someone to help them do the work—and now you have a “job.”
Right now Michigan has a crazy, Rube Goldberg patchwork of taxes, surcharges, preferences, credits, grants and tax-subsidized loans. It’s a “Preference Regime,” where the connected and powerful can get a break from crushing business taxes, while others pay the freight for everybody. This must end. We’re going to have to get one low tax rate that everybody pays. Yes, this will be a “tax hike” for the folks who’ve gotten the Preferences. But for the poor schlubs without friends in Lansing who’ve had to support the system, and anyone coming to do business in Michigan, it’ll be a godsend.
Third: Regulatory Reform.
C) Regulatory reform. We’re tied up in red tape. One of my local businessmen told me he went to North Carolina to develop a project and got his permits in an afternoon.” Here in Michigan,” he said, “it would take me two years to get a shovel in the ground.” Guess where his investment capital is going?
The point of government is delivery of service. We want people to do things, and in a legally- compliant manner. The service concept—shocking news!!!—actually extends to bureaucratic regulators. Michigan can no longer sit like Old Lady Fussypants, and reject every suitor because none achieve perfection. Even less can we tolerate sheer ideologically-driven, bureaucratic bloody-mindedness, as the Environmental Quality regulators who became known for simply shutting off all economic activity north of Saginaw Bay. Poverty isn’t pro-environmental—look at Haiti. Heck, look at Detroit.
Here's the Agenda:
So here we go: three objectives for the new Michigan government.
1) Budget reform, with budgets out of the legislature and onto the Governor’s desk by June 1st.
2) Tax reform: lower the rate, broaden the base, end the Preference Regime.
3) Shred the red tape. Free the Michigan Economy!
Let’s get these done, and prove to the people that Michigan’s newly elected public servants aren’t just the less-evil ones—but the good guys who rode to the rescue.
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