Link Detroit: Wasteful Spending

There are certain things which people either fail to understand or simply ignore when it comes to government spending. The most pressing point is that it isn't really the big tickets items which do the most harm but, rather, the nickle and dime projects which in fact lead to budget overruns. An easy example is the $10 million dollar federal grant Detroit has been given for bike paths and walkways.

The money will be part of a $25 million dollar project to link areas of Detroit and Hamtramck with bike and walking paths. The project is called Link Detroit, and is intended to help folks get around between Midtown and the Eastern Market, Hamtramck and the riverfront and things in between. The plan, says Congressman Hansen Clarke, is "a crucial step toward a more sustainable and livable community."

In other words, if you build it, they will come. It does not strike us as rational government policy. It makes us think more of the huge empty cities in China, built solely to make work and glorify Beijing.

How many walkers and bikers are there on Detroit streets right now? A very few really. Most people get around by car or public transport, and most in fact by car. Shouldn't government spending policy, so far as it is the business of government to direct traffic, come in response to a need rather than in attempting to manufacture a need? Why are we building biking and hiking paths when there is no actual demand for them?

For the sake of make work projects, and the appearance of caring about Detroit. Remember too that this comes after the whole idea of nickles and dimes. How many $10 million dollar grants have been handed out to how many other groups nationwide for much the same reasons: as appeals to the local communities about how much Washington can help them?

This why Washington is so deeply in debt, more so than the defense budget. Too much money is going to too many small projects simply to influence the voting public to keep voting for a government which will see to their needs. Even if the needs are imaginary rather than real.

Michigan Senators Oppose Michigan

Today, New Year's Day 2011, marks a turning point of historic proportions. The State of Michigan and many other states in the coming days will usher in newly elected Republican office holders. What this will mean in terms of politics, in terms of the coming Presidential races for the 2012 election season, is not completely certain, but will undoubtedly be significant. Yet through it all, Michigan will have no real representation in the United States Senate. Indeed, what we shall have is, more or less, the State fighting itself.

The reason is that we have two Senators, Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin, who will not be seeking the best interests of Michigan while in Washington. They are liberal Democrats supposedly representing what is currently an overwhelmingly Republican state. Republicans hold majorities in both State Houses, indeed an overwhelming one in the State Senate, as well as the Governor's chair. Stabenow and Levin cannot truly be seen to represent Michigan as they are diametrically opposed to the obvious will of Michigan residents as expressed in the November 2010 elections.

This is why we need to return to the days when state legislatures selected the representatives to the upper house of our national legislature. This is why we need to repeal the 17th Amendment and at least let the states select senators as they see fit, to best represent the entire state rather than a certain, and in this case liberal, constituency. For clearly Stabenow and Levin do not speak for the majority of Michigan residents.

The Senate was originally supposed to represent the states as states. We must remember that the states are political entities in their own right, and as such merit a certain independent representation at a national level. These days, a run for the Senate is no more than a popularity contest without regard for what may be in the best interest of the entire state. Indeed, without concern for the will of the whole state.

In the end, we get what we pay for. For Michigan citizens, at least until 2013, that means we have no one accurately speaking for us in DC. Remember that, Michigan voters, should health care reform not be repealed. Your Senators do not speak for you.