A New Year, A New Start in the Michigan Legislature

Keeping with my “too busy to saddle everything down  a lot of opinion” streak I’ve been having, I wanted to share the opening remarks from MI House Speaker Andy Dillion (D).  There were some very notable bits of information and some lofty goals involved.  Only time will tell whether it is all rhetoric and words, or if there is actually strength behind those words.  Hopefully with a newer and stronger  Democratic majority, we can move some progressive legislative forward!

Some excerts (and one bit of disgreement) are included below the fold:

However, meaningful tax reform can only come through a ballot initiative so we can address constitutional provisions that prevent us from legislating comprehensive reform. For this reason, I ask the Senate and the Governor to join us in crafting a job-creating, comprehensive tax reform measure that we can put before the voters.

…

We must live within our means while at the same time protecting education, investing in job creation and worker training, assuring access to health care for our most vulnerable citizens, and maintaining police and fire protection for our communities.

 

Research shows that the new economy thrives in areas that provide access to a quality education, skilled workforce, first-class infrastructure, and a great quality of life. These values must be reflected in our legislative priorities.

…

That is why we must, once again, send the Senate the plan to cut our own pay and end free lifetime health care benefits for legislators after just six years of service. I ask the Senate to join this chamber on these measures. If we are going to ask others to sacrifice, we must lead by example.

They all sound like reasonable goals.  Some of those priorities were passed last session in the House, but died in the Senate.  With the Senate not up for election in 2008, nothing changed there on a member level; but hopefully some got the message that we’re ready for progress and we won’t allow them to stand in our way any longer.

Of course, I do have issues with some of those goals them, but that is for another day.

I did have one issue with a particular statement as well.  The speaker is a businessman, and I can respect that, but following quote doesn’t belong in this speech, espcially during a time when people need government more than ever:

If we can’t run government more like a business, then we have no business running government.

I wholeheartedly disagree Mr Speaker.  Yes, Government does need to be more efficient and we have a heavy workload ahead in that regard.  But a business is in it to make a profit, government is in existence to protect our property and give the people the means to improve their lives.  We can take some lesson from business models, but government sure doesn’t need to look like one.

Any other opinions on the speech?