Michigan Issues on a Saturday Morning

The state of Michigan has put off a decision about putting an emergency manager in charge of Detroit for another month. If Lansing did it to keep the heat off of Republican candidates stumping the state ahead of Tuesday's primary, then the action is rather silly. Detroiters won't vote for the GOP anyway, and outstate areas likely support an emergency manager. Nothing is served by the delay, except perhaps keeping at bay a liberal media which might pounce on the juxtaposition of Republicans kicking a city while its down. But the media will harp at the GOP just the same, so the move still seems, well, cowardly.

The Democrats, Barack Obama, and the UAW are going after Mitt Romney even though he hasn't actually sewn up the GOP presidential nod just yet. Protests and adverts attacking his stance against the auto bailouts in 2008 have been abounding in the days heading up to February 28th. They should be careful what they wish for, if a defeat of the former Massachusetts governor is their aim. A true conservative challenging the President this fall would hurt them more than help. Romney isn't that guy.

About 100 people attended a session seeking comments about cuts to Detroit bus services (which are scheduled to take effect March 3rd) at the Northwest Activities Center. Their feelings were widely expressed through stenographers or at easels where they could write their complaints themselves. While we acknowledge that stripped down bus service could be a hardship for many, what strikes us as most interesting and even unfair in itself was the lament of one bus rider that 'they don't care' about those who depend on the bus lines.

Why the presumption that the powers that be don't care? Why not presume that it bothers them to do it, yet they have no alternative? We're not saying that that is necessarily the case either, but we do wonder why officials in charge and especially the vague yet readily available and obviously evil 'they' always 'don't care'. Maybe you are in an unfortunate position, and maybe charity does ask the rest of us to help. But things are what they are, and if city cannot afford bus service as it is, it hardly makes the decision makers bad people. For charity is not the obligation of the haves only, and everyone at times must make adjustments to their daily lives which they would prefer not to face. At the end of the day, we're responsible for ourselves. That sort of dignity goes beyond local issues, and is something everyone needs to strive towards regardless of circumstance.

Freep Endorses Romney

It should come as no surprise that the Detroit Free Press has endorsed Mitt Romney for the upcoming GOP Presidential Primary coming up this Tuesday. The left does not want a clear choice for the White House; it wants someone not that unlike the current occupant. Or, as this is actually rather sinister and underhanded, they want the person most likely to lose to President Obama, and are conniving to get Republicans to pick a weak candidate.

The paper berates the changes in Romney's attitudes during the primary season, but offers the excuse that he probably had to appear to have a sharp rightward turn in order to win the nomination. Shouldn't this be a reason not to support him, though? How can anyone trust a candidate who veers in any direction simply to garner votes? The idea that such rhetorical lip service is all that someone needs to qualify for President certainly ought to ring hollow in the face of the serious journalism the Free Press ordinarily claims to practice. Further, as that newspaper will almost surely endorse Barack Obama, why should it deign to help Republicans select their nominee?

The editorial writers save the sharpest stick for the others: Santorum is 'zealous' (Obama isn't?), Gingrich 'impulsive' and Ron Paul 'backward thinking'. Yet it easy to see why Romney is their guy: he was Barack Obama lite in Massachusetts and they expect he'll be that way again if President.

It is important that conservatives are not swayed by such talk. The Detroit Free Press cares nothing about who would make a truly good Republican president. Indeed, the writers there care nothing about what makes a truly good conservative. They care about what will keep the folks they like in power. As such, they want the electorate to vote for the GOP candidate most like them. It's a fail safe, really. It is in no way objective. It is in fact the worst kind of selfishness: fatal conceit disguised as virtue. Do not fall for it.