You know what I enjoy?
County fairs.
I like elephant ears and carnival games and pig barns and silly little art projects that 3rd graders made in their art classes.
You know what else I enjoy? Little league baseball, community picnics, going to the library, taking a boat out to fish, and doing yardwork.
Those things don't necessarily seem connected, but every one of them was either shuttered completely or severely altered in Michigan over the past two years, largely due to choices made by Gretchen Whitmer.
If I had to state my major complaint about what is happening in Michigan right now, and I had to do it in five words or less, I think I could do it in three:
Local autonomy interference.
See, if Branch County or Allegan County or Huron County or Monroe County want to host a county fair, I think the people of those counties should make the choice whether they do so or not.
The notion that some random group of state officials who reside hundreds of miles away and have potentially never even visited these counties would make such decisions seems foolish to me.
Let's look at a famous hypothetical. I'm not the first person to use the example but I think it is apt.
Suppose there were only ten people in Michigan. Just ten of us, roaming around, making our way in the world. If this were the case, how much government would we need?
Probably not much. Most issues could be solved locally without the need of any greater power intervening.
As the population grows, I admit more government is needed. Things complicate when you start to get into a situation that requires schools and roads and hospitals and police departments.
But to me, any time federal or state governments interfere with local autonomy, the degree to which they interfere must always be supported by indisputable evidence of the need for the interference, and it must ALWAYS be fully curtailable by the will of the people at any given moment.
It goes without saying that I don't believe Covid-19 is is or ever was the indisputable evidence needed for the type of big government interference the state of Michigan has endured recently. But that's not my biggest complaint about what's happened to the state I love.
You see, it bothered me that Gretchen Whitmer sat in Lansing dictating how local communities live from hundreds of miles away. It bothered me that she dictated policy without legislative support until her ability to do so was struck down by the Michigan Supreme Court. It really bothered me that she manipulated the MDHHS and its leaders to do her bidding and then forced certain health officials out and replaced them with her own as soon as they stepped out of line. But despite all of this, my biggest issue is still the simple fact that during the aforementioned nonsense, there was no way for the voice of the people to be heard and drive the actions of the state.
It literally became a situation where even law officials seemed resigned to the fact that they'd "just have to wait until 2022 to get her out."
Are you kidding me?
If the only response available when the Governor decides to unilaterally shut down schools for months without a vote, or close down businesses without a vote, or force two-year-olds to wear masks in order to attend daycare so their parents can go to work without a vote, is to "wait for the next election" because there's nothing we can do about veto power, we've got problems. Big problems.
And don't start in on me with your direct democracy vs representative democracy lecture. I get it. I know what America is and I'm all for elected representatives setting laws. Our current system is not one where people vote on every little thing that comes up every week. But wildly unique times necessarily call for wildly unique measures, and the way Gretchen Whitmer was allowed to run amuck for two straight years under the guise of a purposely misrepresented pandemic was totally unforgivable.
In situations like those that Michigan faced in 2020 and 2021, local autonomy must reign. Ideally, when an entirely new concept poses a threat to a state, there needs to be a peaceful means by which the desires of the people are determined and then dictate how the state responds moving forward.
Unfortunately, we don't work within the ideal. I fear with the way our current laws are set, the only way to change the underlying issues causing these problems is to overwhelm the government with elected officials who believe in local autonomy, and will immediately work to implement legislation which protects it.
That's why it's so important that you vote. More importantly, that's why it's so important that you get others who you know support local autonomy to vote. Don't just ask your friends to vote. Don't just talk about it on your porch while having a beer. Ensure they vote. Drag them to the booth yourself if you have to. Force them to never forget what has happened, even if they aren't currently feeling the effects of it. Do whatever you can to make sure the politicians who have neglected their duty to freedom face the consequences of their actions.
Remember, it's not just Michigan's future that is at stake.
It's county fairs.
Comments