Not a Laughing Matter

Democratic state Rep. Jim Ananich intends to introduce today a bill which would mandate that employers give employees up to eight hours of unpaid leave per year in order to help them attend academic activities, such as parent teacher conferences, at their child or children's school. Rep. Paul Scott, R-Grand Blanc, who chairs the House Education Committee, apparently has no intention of putting it on the fall agenda of his committee.

That is how it should be. This is nothing more than grandstanding by a lawmaker trying to bring attention to himself. It is feel good legislation of the worst kind, and it cannot come at a worse time for the state of Michigan. Michigan faces problems far more important; this is a non-issue not worth the time of day.

Have legislators been swamped with complaints from parents who cannot find or get the time to attend legitimate school functions? Are the editorial pages or the blogosphere overrun with allegations of mean old employers viciously forcing their workers to miss important school events, cracking the whip and laughing as they sit on their piles of cash earned by sweat of the employees for them?

No. This is exactly why so many citizens think of politics as a joke. Indeed, it is what make politics a joke. Only the people actually being laughed at don't get it.