Gretchen Whitmer on election night. (Photo: Michael Lucido)
Greg Bowens is a former journalist, who is a public relations specialist, executive committee member of the 14th Congressional District Democratic Committee and co-founder of the Grosse Pointe-Harper Woods NAACP Branch.
By Greg Bowens
Time to start a Governor Gretchen Whitmer support group. We’ll need it.
Our Democratic governor-elect is positioned to do what Democratic governors always seem to do – capitulate to the right. Instead of advancing the Democratic values that got them elected, they stick a finger in a hole when the dam is already breached with right wing laws destroying collective bargaining, eroding women’s rights and undermining civil rights.
The next four years of a Democratic governor and Republican legislature will look like a bad movie, political scientists forecast.
Greg Bowens (Facebook photo)
And we have seen this movie. The GOP operates like the Borg in "Star Trek," who's noted for saying: Resistance is futile. Negotiation is irrelevant.
For decades, from the national level on down, Democrats have given in to GOP demands on free healthcare – still they demand more. Democrats bend over backwards looking for common ground on privatization, civil rights, corporate taxes and schools. Still they demand more.
Republicans have gerrymandered their way to victory and like the fictional Borg consuming entire worlds – the Michigan GOP has swallowed county after county even though more people vote Democratic in the state. They are a minority party with a majority in the legislature.
And still they want more.
Forget appeasement with Borg
A day after the election, incoming GOP state leadership said they will not compromise on repealing laws. No repealing right to work. No getting rid of the tax on senior pensions. No tax raise on corporations. No. No. No.
Meanwhile, our governor-elect wants to hire Republicans for key positions to build bridges and work with Republican legislators. Appeasement won’t work. They are Borg.
Hiring a Republican is irrelevant. They will ignore her/him for not being part of their collective. Building a bridge is irrelevant. They will not use it to come around to her way of thinking. Working together is irrelevant. They will ignore her unless they think she’s a threat.
We’re a long way from that. Whitmer says in the Detroit News, the election is a “clear mandate the people want, expect and deserve leaders who can work together to solve problems.”
We couldn’t get that when the entire state and federal government was controlled by Republicans. No ma'am, this past election is a clear mandate the people want leaders who can stop efforts that destroy our roads infrastructure, harm children with the Flint water poisoning and crush opportunities for minorities, the poor and working-class families of all colors.
Ludicrous and laughable
Then there’s this bit of Lansing theater: The GOP legislature is committed to “results and not resistance.” The idea is laughable.
GOP resistance has given us a Republican federal and state-controlled government for more than 10 years. Why would they do anything else? History has taught them when it comes to Democratic leadership, resistance is not futile -- it is necessary.
Voters have given Gov.-elect Gretchen Whitmer the opportunity to push back and say to the recalcitrant GOP: The line is drawn, you will go no further. The march to advance women’s rights, gay rights, public education, workers, the poor and minorities is moving forward. Policies weakening the middle class, health care, senior citizens and higher education are over.
This last election was about fighting back not compromising. People voted for leaders who are not afraid to blow up the damn ship to “fix the dam roads,” by shutting down state government and mobilizing everyone to resist if necessary.
But that probably won’t happen right away. We've seen this movie before, and even though the Borg lose in the end, that could be a long time coming.
In the meantime, we’ll need a Whitmer support group to deal with it all.
