Governor Says My Life is in Danger- really?

Governor Rick Snyder and a host of politicians, both republicans and democrats paraded to podiums Thursday to kick off the push for the May 5, 2015 referendum on roads, schools, tax breaks for the poor and a few other things.

The Governor, a Republican recently elected to his second term issued the most ominous warning telling voters 'Your life is in jeopardy.’ Which frankly seems a bit over the top considering the state legislature failed to solve the problem and punted the issue back to voters. Voters have already selected the team to solve such problems but those state representatives, senators and yes the Governor himself have failed the people of Michigan badly on this one.

During one event highlighting the “Safe Roads Yes” campaign Snyder held up a chunks of what he said was from crumbling roads and bridges. "Can you imagine one of these coming through your windshield?" he said for effect.

It seems disingenuous and a bit silly at this point to be preaching doom and gloom and telling us frankly we could die- I mean how long have these people been trying to fix the roads anyway? And when they finally arrive at a $2 Billion dollar tax hike solution they lack the political courage to figure it out themselves. No, instead they send it back to the people… you know the ones that elected them to solve tough problems in the first place. At first I thought that was a good idea. Of course that was when I thought they actually intended to put the money, all of it, toward roads. That is a long way from the reality.

In fact only about $1.2 billion is actually intended to be used for roads and that won’t happen until at least 2018. The rest is why so many people despise politics and politicians because it is a pile of other spending that has exactly nothing to do with saving our lives from concrete falling out of the sky. According to the House Fiscal Agency $600 million a year would go to schools, cities, mass transit, the state's general fund and tax breaks in the form of more earned income tax credits. With a debt far north of $75 Billion dollars it seems more likely our financial house will crash in on top of us before a stray piece of concrete gets us.

Scott Hagerstrom a spokesman for one group formed to oppose Proposal 1 put it simply, "They see it as ransom to get their roads fixed. They see it as threats."

Those in favor of the $2 billion dollar tax hike will be out spending their opponents considerably but at this hour I still believe it will be an uphill battle to win in May. I stick by my prediction that the proposal will lose 2 to 1. Meaning we all lose again and might want to consider that the next time we choose the people we send to Lansing to get things done.