Contacting Voters
Posted on Thursday, October 7, 2004 @ 8:34 pm
Filed Under Political Process, Stories
No responses
Been there. I helped run a county-wide voter contact campaign for the Kalamazoo Democrats in 1972. Part of the effort was coordinated by a student group whose only real interest was the presidential contest. A quick glance at the voter survey sheets returned from the campus made it clear that only the McGovern ratings could be trusted. Since we caught the fraud before passing the forms to other organizations, the faked forms mainly made my sister angry. Very angry.
Stopgap Solutions
Posted on Wednesday, July 28, 2004 @ 9:57 am
Filed Under Michigan, Political Process, Readings
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While I really dislike the short term limits we've put on the legislature, I don't see this connection. Methought one purpose of the term limits was to reduce the proportion of career politicians in office, thus reducing those officials' institutional commitments and freeing up the creative juices. That objective was certainly worthwhile, and ought to still apply.
Republican Primary
Posted on Monday, July 26, 2004 @ 12:26 am
Filed Under Joel, Michigan, Political Process
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The national gerrymander habit must die. The practice of routinely creating one-party election districts undermines political discourse, and subverts republican government. One party elections encourage extremism, and create a climate where debate, discussion, and compromise are impossible--on many issues, the practice permits folks to honestly believe that reaching a compromise is indecent. Few politicians, and few citizens, are naturally extremist, but we've created a system which encourages an extremist culture. Party advantage is not a healthy basis for defining political boundaries, and ideology needs to be tempered by honest discussion. We ought to do better than this. We must do better than this.
Smoke and Mirrors
Posted on Tuesday, June 29, 2004 @ 12:13 pm
Filed Under Michigan, Political Process, Work
No responses
American government is designed to accomodate disagreement, though the tension often makes folks uncomfortable. What we need, sometime soon, is a civil discussion about what Michigan's government is for, how we get to that point, and what tax structure we need to support that effort. The (less-than-complete) success of the Michigan budget efforts demonstrates that it's not necessary to continue talking past each other just because we've been doing so in the past. Discussion isn't helped when each side caricatures the other's positions. The habit many have of simplifying and dismissing the other party's position is really poisonous to the civil culture. It's time we stopped, and started finding solutions.
Bob Teeter
Posted on Thursday, June 17, 2004 @ 8:25 am
Filed Under Obituaries, Political Process
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A short note to honor the passing of a pioneer.
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