Issues

The legislature considers many, many issues each legislative session. I will be discussing many of these issues here and in my blog, Sharing Ideas for a Better Michigan as the campaign progresses. However, I can tell you now that my focus will be on making Michigan more competitive again in the world economy, and special focus on what we can do for our small business job providers to prosper, grow and create jobs.

For a general discussion of some of my underlying beliefs, see The Role of "Democratic" Discussions and "Public Voice" from my site Coming Together: Reaching Common Understanding which I use to promote more bi-partisanship by moderating National Issues Forum "deliberative dialogue" forums.

I have many posts on a wide variety of topics on my Facebook Page.

Issues Discussed: MP3 recordings of answers to issues questions

What issues are you most interested in or concerned about? Let me know!

“What one sees depends on where one stands.” This surely has meaning to an exceptionally short or exceptionally tall person in the physical sense, but also has meaning in one’s outlook in life. That is, our past experiences color how we see the world today. Two people with different backgrounds can see the exact same thing and interpret the occurrence entirely differently.

Because of this, Peter Senge in “The Fifth Discipline” promotes dialogue to explore such differences in backgrounds and perceptions, with the goal to more often arrive at collaborative solutions to problems and issues. He also advises exploring our own perceptions and their origins, and scrutinizing them to see whether they square with reality.

This phenomenon of how external stimuli are filtered by our past experiences to create our current perceptions partly explains our political differences. In the hopes that my views can be better understood and thus make finding common ground more possible, I have given some thought to and hereby share My Origins and How They Affect My View of Public Policy Issues of the Importance of Education, the Welfare State and Poverty, Medical Care as a “Right”, Our “Dependency Culture” and Immigration.

If I had to pick one group of ideas proposed by any one group, it would be the Business Leaders for Michigan, with its Michigan Turnaround Plan: (in great measure along the lines of Rick Snyder's Reinvent Michigan: Rick's 10-Point Plan)

Five Steps For A Better Michigan

• Changing the Way We Manage Our Finances

• Right-sizing & Enacting Structural Budget Reforms

• Getting Michigan Competitive To Attract & Retain Jobs

• Making Investments That Create A Great Job Environment

• Accelerating Job Growth Through Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Of course, the devil is in the details. For example, in the point of "Getting Michigan Competitive to Attract & Retain Jobs" is the notion of drastically reducing or eliminating the Michigan Business Tax and its 22% surcharge. One way to do that is by adopting the Michigan FairTax (which I happen to like in general, but need to learn more of the specifics), but there may be other ways. For the National Issues Forum style Issue Guide on this topic, see Reforming the Michigan Tax Structure: Putting Michigan Back to Work, which is my site for conducting civil, informed discussion forums on serious, complex and difficult subjects, with the goals of reaching better understanding of others' perspectives and hopefully find some common ground.

But, one thing I am very much in line with the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business is that we must have restructuring of state spending concurrent with reforming the tax structure. We cannot leave in place a bloated bureaucracy and excessive spending on salaries and benefits for public employees and simply fund them better. We must cut state spending to live within our means!

Responses to Candidate Questionnaires from MANY groups

Posts on my blog:

State Issues:

• Manufacturing: The Missing Element in the Policy Discussions
• Why Focus on Improving the Environment for Small Business Job Providers?
• Reinventing Michigan for Our Future vs. Protecting the Past and Special Interest Groups
• Embryonic Stem Cell Research and Answering Questions on the Fly
• State and Local Governments Fiscal Issues Intertwine – No Quick Fix on the Horizon
• Double Dipping Permitted Under New Retirement Law and Should be Stopped
• Public Employee Benefits? "That's where the money is."
• Dismal Forecasts and Possible Light on the Horizon
• My Origins and How They Affect My View of Public Policy Issues
• Quick Hits Regarding Unions
• Reform of MPSERS Retirement System Necessary – But Only Wisely
• Were home based child care workers unionized against their will? The controversy continues…..
• Improving the Business Climate to Create Jobs
• Posts to Facebook re Michigan's Budget Crisis
• Taxes and Spending – the Perennial Issues
• Defending the Constitution
• Lowering the Cost of Public Safety Services
• Is the Name of the Michigan "FairTax" a Sham?
• Bureaucrats Should Not be Picking Winners and Losers in Our Free Market Economy
• "Cool It" Changes the Climate Change Debate
• Bipartisan Reforms Would Strengthen State Education
• 10 Republican Principles Proposed by RNC Leaders
• Gas Tax Increase Acceptable Only if Coupled With Change in Allocation Formula
• Controlling Public School Employee Benefit Costs
• Repeal PA 312 to Eliminate Binding Arbitration for Police and Firefighters?
• Consolidate School Services? Districts?
• Washtenaw County ISD Millage - There are Better Options
• Michigan Laws that Impede Greater Efficiency through Collaboration
• Detroit News Editorial Hits a Home Run on What Needs to be Done
• Kids short changed in considering number of days of instruction
• Five Step Program to Kick the Tax and Spend Addiction and Grow Jobs
• How to Fix Michigan - Business and Political Leaders Weigh In
• Democrats Confused About Business Taxes. Or are They?
• The Michigan Fair Tax Looks Fairly Good
• Funding for Public Employee Retirement Plans and Post-Retirement Benefits Under Pressure...
• The Mackinac Center Weighs in on the Idea of a Statewide Health Insurance Plan for State Employees.
• Michigan House of Representatives Republican Caucus Plan
• The Michigan Legislature’s Balancing Act – or Not
• A Statewide Health Insurance Plan for Michigan's Public Employees?

Local and Federal Issues:

• A Tribute to Our Veterans, May 30, 2010 (PDF)
• The Ann Arbor Airport Expansion Is Not Justified Now
• News Release in Opposition to Closing the Temperance Secretary of State Office
• Parliamentary Procedure Interactive Workshop Available
• Lifelong Learning
• Consumer Confidence, the Paradox of Thrift. Is it all a Hoax?
• The Dow Reaching 10,000 is a BIG Deal
• Activists' Dilemma: My Party's Candidate and I Don't Agree!
• Can We Defend Ourselves? The Heritage Foundation says, "No."
• How to Influence Public Policy
• Robbing Peter to Pay Paul?
• National Value Added Tax Considered - Tax Increases Ahead
• Federal Budget: Spending and Taxing Revisited
• Nuclear Power Tidbits

National Health Care Reform Legislation:

• Can the Federal government require anyone to buy anything, or is there some Constitutional limit?
• The Actual Number of "Uninsured" in the US
• The Fight Over a Health Care Reform Bill is not Done
• Constitutional Limits Tested by Health Care Reform?
• Capitol Hill Switchboard Used For Partisan Purposes
• Comparing Health Care Plans - Focus on Costs Still Needed
• The "Public Option" in the Health Care Reform House Bill 3200
• Republicans Support Health Care Reform - Just not the President or Democrat Congress's Proposals.
• Another View on Controlling Health Care Costs
• Looking at France's Universal Care Program
• Controlling Health Care Costs
• More from the White House on Health Care Reform
• I received an e-mail today from David Axelrod, Senior Advisor to the President
• Who Can You Believe? Part 2
• Who Can You Believe?
• Will Health Care Reform Result in Rationing of Services? Of course....
• More Concerns about Health Care Reform
• Health Care Reform Forum Materials