Three new books interrogate the premises of the Enlightenment. By Adam Gopnik The true élite of modern societies is composed of engineers, mechanics, and artisans—masters of reality, not big thinkers.Illustration by Leigh Guldig Of all the prejudices of pundits, presentism is the strongest. It is the assumption that what is happening now is going to […]
Does Tennessee Have a Lesson for Michigan?
There have been three Michigan governors who lay in state in the capitol rotunda in Lansing after they died (Stevens T. Mason, Frank Fitzgerald in 1939, and George Romney in 1995), but only one state legislator received such an honor. That would be Mo Hood (D-Detroit), who died in 1998 at the end of his […]
Bloomberg: Democrats Strike Back in the Redistricting Wars
By Albert R. Hunt Kelly Ward is determined not to bang her head, politically, against the wall. She spent four years running the Democrats’ House Campaign Committee where, thanks to the Republicans’ prodigious gerrymandering of congressional districts, she made little progress. Convinced that under the current structure Democrats have little chance to win a majority in […]
A Strange Confluence: Statehood, Education and Michigan Politics
Puerto Rico, Gov. Rick Snyder’s 21st Century Education Commission, and a long-forgotten Michigan Congressman — what could they possibly have in common? The answer: Alvin M. Bentley of Owosso, whose widow, Billie, endowed the University of Michigan’s famous Bentley Historical Library. Bentley was the only man ever elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from […]
In Flint, a Squeaky Wheel Doesn’t Get the Grease
Two of the most outspoken activists in the Flint water crisis have seen no effort by government authorities to replace their allegedly lead-tainted pipes under Mayor Karen Weaver’s “Fast Start” program. Melissa Mays and LeeAnne Walters have testified repeatedly at various public forums over the past two years, claiming their families have been exposed to […]
Split decision? Not Really. Big GOP Win!
President Donald Trump seems to have limited regard for the judiciary, but maybe that’s because his main experience so far has been with the “Notorious Ninth” on the issue of immigrant/refugee “travel bans.” Trump should be pleased to know that, closer to home, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals is a lot friendlier. Maybe […]
Can State House Dems Break Through?
Between 2010 and 2016, for the first time in Michigan history three out of four straight general elections for the state House of Representatives wound up with exactly the same 63R/47D split. Only in 2012, when Republicans managed only 59 seats and the Democrats climbed to 51, was there anything different. That means that Republican […]
Michiganders in Congress
Campaign 2018: Are Changes Likely in Michigan Senate?
State Senate Democrats are buried in a minority so feeble (Republicans hold a 27-11 edge) that it’s hard to imagine it could get any worse. To be sure, everybody thought the same thing leading up to the 2014 general election, when the Senate GOP surprised us all by winning all the key contests and thereby […]
Campaign 2018: Can Michigan Dems Gain Members in U.S. House?
Michigan Democrats have been able to score a net gain in their representation in the state’s U.S. House of Representatives delegation only once in the past two decades.. That was in 2008, when Mark Schauer (D-Battle Creek) and Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Twp) knocked off a pair of Republican incumbents in the Barack Obama landslide. Schauer […]