Jessica Kelton/Guest blogger/Progress Michigan
Michigan Republicans are exemplifying their favorite talking point: Government has the unique ability to be incredibly ineffective while also demanding we pay outrageous fees for their services to do so.
The propaganda being played out now is in the Michigan House and Senate, where the final stages of passing legislation to ban so-called “partial birth abortions” are in the works, a procedure already banned federally in 2003 and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007.
As the law of our land goes, if the procedure is banned federally, it is also banned here in Michigan - no action is necessary on the part of our state legislators.
And if you take a closer look, you will find that our legislature has examined many nuances of abortion in an attempt to restrict access to it on the taxpayers’ dollar, yet again with the outcome of doing little and often times nothing to negatively affect the demand for it.
The laws do, however, redefine legal jargon to put women at a disadvantage in the future as the fetus slowly garners more civil rights than the vessel that carries it. Just look at the 39 times this year alone our government has worked on rewriting laws about such pressing issues as the disposal of an aborted fetus, something already settled long ago in our laws.
At a total planned cost of over $280,000 a day for the Michigan Legislature to run, ideological Republican leaders have made a mockery of governance.
Considering any legislation requires a great deal of public resources as bills bounce back and forth between committees and the amendment butcher board process, what is fiscally responsible about spending precious government funds writing ineffectual legislation governing morality when we have a jobs crisis exacerbated by a high school dropout crisis in this state?
What is certain is conservative lawmakers are getting a return thanks to taxpayers in the form of political points and donations they score for their political grandstanding.
It explains elected senators and representatives focusing on cultural issues more often than the unemployed, who have only been mentioned 21 times total in legislation this year by both chambers. I guess the unemployed don’t have as deep of pockets as the extreme right-wing lobby.
As long as we let it happen, Republicans will press on with their distraction of inciting cultural warfare as a substitute for a real plan to upgrade Michigan for the economic rigors of today and the future, but at least your legislature will have the full faith and support of the extreme right next election cycle, funded in part by you.
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