Just Another Politician?

Really, Congressman Clarke? You're playing the race card? Really? This is truly a disappointment. We had a high opinion of you. We could never vote for you, but you had always seemed so sincere. We remember you going door to door in your first campaign for a seat in the Michigan Legislature: so excited, so emphatic, so believable. You didn't sound like a politician. You sounded like a man of conviction. And now you don't. Where is the breath of fresh air which you brought to politics? Where is the young man who breathed it? To be sure, we know nothing of robocalls and we do not care to know. Perhaps you are being slighted, and shame on those who do it. But where is the man who would rise above that and present himself as worthy of support? Where is the earnest American who we at least felt had what he thought the best interests of his community in his heart? Where has he gone? The youngster, whoever he was, who said so long ago, 'Say it ain't so, Joe', is now asking, 'Say it ain't so, Hansen.' Will you say that? Can you say that? Why not go to the debate in Southfield this afternoon and present yourself as Hansen Clarke, genuine and forthright. Maybe the fates have dealt you a cruel blow; you aren't the first to suffer such. But you can be one of the ones who rise above it. You are capable of that. Or are you indeed just another politician? Please do not be. You are better than that.

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.

No Minority Clout from Michigan?

The heat is on for the August elections in Michigan, and the most interesting races may just be in the new 13th and 14th Congressional Districts in and around the Detroit area. With the Democrats having been aced out of at least one seat as a result of the redrawing of districts based on the 2010 Census, Democratic incumbents Gary Peters and Hansen Clarke are facing a showdown against each other in the 14th. Meanwhile, the 13th features a battle between long time Congress man John Conyers and a Detroit State Senator, Detroit State Representative, and a Westland State Senator. Senators Bert Johnson of Highland Park and Glenn Anderson of Westland, along with Representative Shanelle Jackson of Detroit. Also facing off in the 14th are Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence and former State Representative Mary Waters of Detroit.

Gary Peters has the ability to outspend Clarke, and Mayor Lawrence is being called a tough campaigner. Representative Conyers may be facing the toughest challenge of his political career. But perhaps the most interesting possibility, with both districts being wildly gerrymandered, is that Michigan will not lose one but both minority representatives in Congress.

With the various voting rights laws in place, it was widely thought that Conyers and Clarke would be given relatively safe seats to defend. Yet with the 14th District wildly (and even absurdly) stretched narrowly along the Detroit River, through the Grosse Pointes then back across northern Detroit, and finally up into Oakland County before finishing in Pontiac, Clarke's fate is nowhere near certain. Especially with the minority vote possibly spread quite thin among three candidates for the primary, he appears more than vulnerable.

Conyers' district on the other hand is probably safer. He retains a huge swath of Detroit, from the southwest and central parts of the City through the northwest. But the new 13th also contains a large part of suburban Wayne County, through Redford, Westland and Wayne. If Senator Johnson can split the Detroit vote it might just open the door for Glenn Anderson.

Before blaming all this on the GOP, one should remember that it is the mass exodus from Detroit and the effective dispersal of the minority vote which is the real culprit here. A point is reached where mere statistical reality can make it impossible to create secure seats for any given person, let alone group. Demanding particular outcomes can never be certain anyway. Criticize the Republicans if you wish; the Democrats would have gerrymandered too, yet been subject to the same statistical realities.

In the end, expect Conyers to win and Clarke to lose. The seats themselves will stay Democratic, unless both Conyers and Clarke should lose. That won't happen.

But the GOP can dream, can't it?

Michigan's new 14th: Who gets it?

The fight over redistricting Michigan's congressional districts wasn't terribly exciting or eventful. It's a bit of a surprise, then, to find that the really interesting gyrations are coming in now.

Current Congressman Hansen Clarke has announced that he will run for the House again, but in what will be the new 14th District. Meanwhile, State Senator Bert Johnson has changed his mind about running in that district. He will instead run in the new 13th. Congressman John Conyers doesn't appear to know what he's doing next. He might run in the 14th, or he might run in the 13th.

Senator Johnson, we're sure, would like to see him run in the 14th, as Conyers will almost certainly win wherever he goes. But that isn't the most interesting point about the situation. What is fascinating is that when the new districts were drawn, they were drawn to protect Michigan's minority seats, as held by Conyers and Clarke. Now there's a chance that one of them will lose their job anyway.

Who'd a thought that the more interesting details about redistricting would come from the very congressmen they were drawn to protect? The scenario may not play ought. In fact, it probably will not. But the local 2012 elections are already interesting indeed.