"Suppose that there is someone out there with the soul of Abraham Lincoln reincarnated, but as poor as Lincoln was at the outset of his career. Suppose some wealthy patron saw his own convictions better advanced by this younger man. Something very like this launched the careers of Calvin Coolidge, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan. Surely, we do not want to exclude the very rich from presidential politics, but neither do we want them to constitute a unique political class."
-- Conservative Harry V. Jaffa in Why Special Interests (And the Constitution) Are Good For You
Jaffa goes on to line out the class warfare such as is now infecting Michigan politics:
"What about those infamous 'special interests'?
"Do not those who invest in candidates and parties expect a return on their investments? (We know Betsy Prince DeVos does. She bluntly told us so).
"Do not lobbyists spend untold millions shaping the laws in their own private interests? (These questions are perfectly appropriate).
"What is amazing is that today no one seems aware that they were the subject of the most profound consideration by those who framed, and those who ratified, the Constitution. The Constitution is indeed, in large part an answer to these questions, an answer of which our present politicians seem largely ignorant."
"In the famous 10th Federalist, James Madison framed the problem of dealing with 'FACTIONS,' a word which was a virtual synonym for what we call 'SPECIAL INTERESTS."
{Parenthesized notes added}
This well-know conservative scholar goes on to point out that "factions" are a natural result of liberty and equality-in light of the constitution. Professor Harry Jaffa explains:
"According to James Madison, however, faction is an inevitable by product of liberty, and to try to cure the evils of faction by abolishing liberty would be a 'remedy' 'worse than the disease'
"Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire. But it could not be a less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, than it "would be to wish the annihilation of air.' 'The latent causes of faction,' writes Madison, 'are sown in the nature of man.'"
"But the most common and durable source of factions, has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold, and those who are without property, have ever formed distinct interests in society. Those who are creditors, and those who are debtors, fall under a like discrimination. A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a mercantile interest, a monied interest, with many lesser interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and views. The regulation of these various and interfering interests form the principal task of modern legislation, and involves the spirit of party and faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of government."
Jaffa would be loud proud of Michigan. Here we have honed the "spirit of party and faction" to a blazing, tempered, razor's edge.
The beguiled TeaPublicans have sought to give themselves and their very well-heeled and influential elites, both in-state (and even more pointedly, outstate), great advantage by attempting to take down any opposing organization via crude legislation and unbending obstructionism. Unions and other citizen groups are a distinct and dangerous impediment to this KOCH BROTHERS kind of corporatist free reign, intent upon shaping all aspects of government to serve and enrich themselves and their first love, business.
The Faux Populist Tea Party: Koch Industry/Corporate Sockpuppets
Crying "freedom, freedom, freedom" the Corporatocracy, pushing its secretly developed and BIG money-backed A.L.E.C/ prepackaged legislation (via the Koch Brothers/Karl Rove's militant hayseed foot soldiers) has co-opted many citizens for corporate benefiting purposes . "
Replete with sharp pitch forks-loud disruptive voices and vicious signs this raw element is on a jag. Honest compromise and/or cooperation are anathema in this rowdy crowd.
The Teapartisans have hijacked the Michigan GOP and the state legislature. TP'ers have put Michigan in a choke hold which is detrimental to the very survivability of a middle class and the state's workers.
LAZY-BRAINLESS LAWMAKING
We now have a NO-BRAIN SUPER LEGISLATIVE MAJORITY which simply funnels corporate-designed, corporate-benefiting legislation right from the CEO's into law. No need for lobbyists, the A.L.E.C. members are the LOBBYISTS facilitating directly the introduction (some cases feature word-by-word copy from an A.L.EC. prepared "Model") and fast-track passage of legislation produced by and designed to directly benefit a long list of SUPER SPECIAL CORPORATE dominate members of the AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL via the A.L.E.C. direct pipeline from the board room to the citizens' living room and pocketbook.
Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson revealed how he moved A.L.E.C. models he got at A.L.E.C. conclaves as "models" directly into Wisconsin law:
"I always found new ideas and then I'd take them back to Wisconsin, disguise them a little bit, and declare that it's mine."Likewise Koch Bros and A.L.E.C "models" are CONTINUOUSLY being inserted into Michigan Law by willing members. No straightforward place is left for Mr. Smith who goes to Lansing!
More on ALEC in Michigan can be found here and here.
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