What's the answer to the feeling that Michigan is going down a rathole?

The case seems to be building that the state of Michigan is in a death dive that it can't pull out of.  That's not a good feeling when you live right in the middle of the state and you want to think that there's a future in living here.

Today's Detroit News story about a poll of 600 Michigan voters earlier this month shows our state is pretty much unified about what it thinks about the future.

The poll shows that 76 percent of the voters feel that the state is on the wrong track.  In metro Detroit, only 9 percent say that the state is headed on the right path. 

One of the state's big thinkers, Craig Ruff, a senior fellow at Public Sector Consultants, a public policy think tank, said the the results are "scary" and with only 1 of 8 people having confidence and belief in the state as "terrifying."

It's time for straight talk about all this and about Michigan's future.  If voters want to see our state provide economic hope for the future, then they need to be honest with themselves.

How much blame should go to us as everyday citizens for allowing all this partisan crap?  It seems that both political parties want only one thing and that's power.  They have lost their focus on serving the people and have put it on themselves where keeping or getting the majority is their main aim.

Should we demand more?  Should we reassert our power as voters and hold our public servants more accountable?

The answer could be that our public servants are just a reflection of us. Our state legislature could be nothing more than a reflection of the people in the state and their own self-interest. 

I realize the role that auto companies play in this state.  Our whole economy is muddling through the issue of globalization and not doing it very well.

By working together, couldn't we soften the jagged edges of ane economy that's wounding so many people?

It would be too easy to move to another state.

Actually, it wouldn't.  I like Michigan and I want to stay here.

Technorati Tags: michigan, economy, polls, craig ruff, auto industry, michigan republicans, michigan democrats

Powered by ScribeFire.