Residents protest dismantling of democracy in 2012 in Flint, MI, two years before the disastrous water crisis. PHOTO / DAYMONJHARTLEY.COM
National, statewide, and local candidates deluge voters with the upcoming November elections. Yet not enough attention is given to the threat to our Democratic rights as we’ve known them.
Ask Michigan how Benton Harbor lost its precious public park, how Pontiac lost almost all its Public Services (Police, Fire Department, and EMS), how Detroit was forced into bankruptcy while its world class Municipal Water System was regionalized. Lastly, how Flint became a victim of the infamous water crisis, derived from the Michigan Emergency Manager (dictatorship) law. The Michigan Center for Public Policy designed the blueprint for that law. The seizure of public assets (aka privatization) was and is the end game. Governed by edict, this model has metastasized into the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.
While Michigan’s Emergency Managers were dispatched to reign supreme over targeted Michigan cities and school boards, Project 2025 proposes that the entire Federal bureaucracy be placed under direct presidential control. Now a President becomes Dictator in Chief, with already broad immunity, courtesy of the Supreme Court. With a roll back in protections from EPA, for example, how does one grieve the poisoning of water such as in Flint — which still does not have clean water.
The notorious Heritage Foundation uses a narrative of blaming immigrants to justify its dystopian agenda, just as the Michigan Center for Public Policy used African-American elected officials to pedal its corporate objectives.
All who care about defending and expanding our freedoms dare not avoid using the VOTE, while we can. This along with other social Justice activities is one tool in the toolbox to secure political power.
I think comparing the Michigan Emergency Manager to Project 2025 is so brilliant. It’s the horror in a microcosm that helps you see the bigger picture.