You know why nothing gets done in Lansing? You know why nothing ever really changes in that nest of vipers?
It’s because of us.
Yes, ‘We the People? are to blame. We’re suckers and the Lansing politicians know we’re suckers.
Only a sucker would continue to support paying 148 legislators more than $80,000 a piece annually (base salary combined with expense account), plus benefits, to do what is essentially a part-time job ? and do it in the lousiest, most embarrassing manner possible, I might add.
Forty other states, some with populations larger than Michigan, have part-time legislatures and it seems to work just dandy for them. To my knowledge, none of them have reverted back to territories or been absorbed by Canada or Mexico.
Make no mistake, Michigan doesn’t have a full-time legislature because our issues are just so darn complex or because we have such unique needs. We’re nothing special.
We have one because we’re stupid and we’ve been too lazy to change things.
Being a state legislator was never meant to be a full-time job.
The idea was for state representatives and senators to go to the capital for a little while, make a few decisions for the good of all, then return home to tend to their crops, run their stores, see to their patients and represent their clients in court.
In other words, work for a living. Contribute to society, instead of just being a bloated parasite who makes long-winded speeches, votes on bills, plays golf and has secret sex with fellow legislators.
Being a state legislator is not and should not be a full-time job.
Representing the people should never be a profession or a career. It should be a duty. It should be a privilege. It should be a responsibility. It should be an honor.
When politics becomes a full-time profession, it ceases to be about serving the public. Politics as a profession is all about self-interest and self-preservation, nothing else. Keep your snout down at all times and ignore anything outside the trough.
By going part-time, the hope is shorter legislative sessions would force lawmakers to focus their attention on issues that really matter like, for example, our crappy roads, instead of pushing their pet projects, engaging in ideological crusades and constantly trying to grab the media spotlight.
A big part of the problem with having a full-time legislature is lawmakers have way too much free time on their hands, so they tend to spend a lot of it crafting and pushing for reams of useless legislation designed to make themselves look busy and justify their overpaid existence.
A part-time legislature would have the added bonus of saving a good chunk of tax money if we slashed legislator salaries by 50 to 60 percent and eliminated all benefits.
We the people need to band together and get a petition drive going to finally put this issue on the 2016 ballot and hopefully, end the reign of the professional politicians.
Let’s work to create a legislature where the main concern is us. What a novel idea.