{"id":8874,"date":"2011-11-08T10:17:33","date_gmt":"2011-11-08T14:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=8874"},"modified":"2012-01-18T18:12:11","modified_gmt":"2012-01-18T22:12:11","slug":"gop-debate-the-michigan-lesson-the-michigan-view-11-08-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2011\/11\/gop-debate-the-michigan-lesson-the-michigan-view-11-08-11","title":{"rendered":"GOP debate, the Michigan lesson ( The Michigan View 11.08.11)"},"content":{"rendered":"

he Republican candidates should hold\u00a0every<\/em> debate in Michigan. Under its attractive-Harvard-trained-lawyer-with-no-executive-experience-who-wanted-to-transform-Michigan-to-a-Green-economy (sound familiar yet?) Gov. Jennifer Granholm, the state from 2002-2010 was a blueprint for everything Obama has tried as president.<\/p>\n

Before the federally-subsidized Solyndra scandal, there was the scandalous, Michigan-subsidized RASCO fiasco.<\/p>\n

Before Obama’s $800 billion stimulus there was Granholm’s 2006 $2 billion stimulus (It will “create tens of thousands of new jobs. We’ll invest. . . public and private funds to develop new sectors of our economy. In five years you’ll be blown away,” she said).<\/p>\n

Before there was a debt ceiling showdown threatening a government shutdown there was Granholm’s 2007 budget showdown that shut down government.<\/p>\n

Before Obama’s proposed tax hike in the middle of a recession, there was Granholm’s 14 percent recession tax hike \u2014 all the revenue from which was immediately spent, leading to an even larger $2 billion deficit.<\/p>\n

Before Obama’s stubborn 9 percent unemployment, there was Granholm’s stubborn 11.4 percent unemployment.<\/p>\n

Before Standard & Poor’s Obama downgrade, ratings services during Granholm’s reign downgraded the Wolverine State from “AA\u2212 with a stable outlook” to “AA\u2212 with a negative outlook.”<\/p>\n

And so on.<\/p>\n

And like the GOP presidential primary field on display at Oakland University Wednesday night, Granholm’s disastrous tenure brought a flood of GOP candidates for governor who ran a hard \u2014 often contentious \u2014 race for governor that resulted in a businessman being elected governor. Mitt Romney and Herman Cain, meet Governor Rick Snyder.<\/p>\n

The ultimate lesson of “Michigan’s Lost Decade” (as we call it here) for the USA is that demagogues like Granholm and Obama do not change their spots. They do not compromise. They must be defeated at the polls.<\/p>\n

Only then will things change.<\/p>\n

Snyder’s election in 2010 \u2014 and the Republicans that rode in on his coat-tails \u2014 reversed Michigan’s course overnight. Within six months, a gaping state deficit had been erased. Special tax breaks \u2014 except those grandfathered in \u2014 for politically-connected corporations were eliminated. An impossibly complicated business tax code was simplified \u2014 and flattened. And the ratings agencies upgraded the state’s bond outlook.<\/p>\n

Yes, Snyder has made political miscalculations as a rookie pol \u2014 as will businessmen Romney and Cain if elected. But in Washington \u2014 unlike Lansing where the GOP legislative leadership is suspect \u2014 Republicans have veteran, serious leaders like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell who will add starch to the executive spine.<\/p>\n

As hopeless as Washington may seem today, Michigan is evidence that the country can survive arrogant zealots \u2014 and begin to rebuild.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

he Republican candidates should hold\u00a0every debate in Michigan. Under its attractive-Harvard-trained-lawyer-with-no-executive-experience-who-wanted-to-transform-Michigan-to-a-Green-economy (sound familiar yet?) Gov. Jennifer Granholm, the state from 2002-2010 was a blueprint for everything Obama has tried as president. Before the federally-subsidized Solyndra scandal, there was the scandalous, Michigan-subsidized RASCO fiasco. Before Obama’s $800 billion stimulus there was Granholm’s 2006 $2 billion stimulus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8874"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8874"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8876,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8874\/revisions\/8876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}