There they go again. Foes of term limits in Michigan complaining that they are just too dumb to do their job, which these days requires some diligent budget-cutting. Only if they were allowed to stay in training wheels for more than a decade could they possibly have any idea.
“We don’t know how previous legislators addressed the same challenges because we weren’t there,” whines Representative Doug Hart. So Hart wants a constitutional amendment to extend the House and Senate’s six and eight-year limits to 12 years.
Hart’s helplessness here is more than a little maddening. After all, we’ve had the tool of the written word available for thousands of years now. Surely there must be some documentation of Michigan’s recent legislative past? Transcripts or something?
But if reading through all that is too much to ask, perhaps Mr. Hart can pick up the phone and talk to some of the former legislators. Those who really want to get things done are, of course, not so helpless.
Representative Mickey Mortimer points out that many members of the House Appropriations Committee have business experience. Mortimer says: “We were working in the ’80s in Michigan when we were in the rust belt environment and we had to have tight budgets and business constraints. If you have to tighten your belt, you have to tighten your belt. You run it like you would a business. You run it like you would your home.”
Representative Mortimer is right and Representative Hart is wrong. So have a heart, Hart. Instead of trying to gut democracy, how about just earning your paycheck?
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.