I am mourning the death of democracy in Detroit.
Once again Snyder has thwarted democracy by nullifying over 230 years of democracy by demolishing the will of the people and appointing an Emergency Manager" who will now destroy public unions in the city amongst other atrocities in the name of "fiscal responsibility." He will probably sell the Ren Cen for a song then go into business with the people who buys it just like the Pontiac EM did with the Silverdome. Now half of the African Americans in the state of Michigan are without representation. And this is AFTER we voted to repeal the EM law last November. We mean nothing to these tyrants.
My state is dying and tonight I am in mourning for my Once Great Lakes State.
Diane
= new reply since forum marked as read
The whole nation is mourning for your state
People - do not think - it cant happen here(wherever you are)
Resistance will not be tolerated. 
...but the foreign competition was hurting Detroit back in the 70's, after the oil shocks.
The US government allowed the auto industry to be consolidated into the Big Three, which ossified the industry and left them vulnerable to imports. Japanese imports, in particular, were forged in the highly competitive Japanese market, which had less than half the population being fought over by over a dozen different car companies.
Once fuel economy became important, Japanese cars gained a foothold. And the superior ergonomics and reliability of the Japanese car companies won over a lot of customers from Detroit as the years went by.
When Reagan lowered the tax rates in the early 80's, it also made location-shopping important. When the tax rate was higher and plenty of federal money flowed to the states, the state taxes were low or non-existent. Facing a flatter tax geography, the automakers were less inclined to move to other states.
After the tax rates plummeted, state and local taxes became proportionally more important, and the car companies began planning moving across the country... or out of country entirely.
I remember vividly after failing to stop the 2000 (s)election that everyone got those cute mailers asking opinions on what was important to us Dem voters and overwhelmingly we said stop them from packing the courts with partisans. I believe we called faxed and wrote. "But that wouldn't be polite, or nice" they said "they would just do it to us." Guess what. They did it to us anyway and worse and we are still supposed to support anyone with a D by his or her name.
ITYS.
I throw the surveys in the recycling and keep my checkbook shut except for those handful who remember what freedom, justice and democracy looked like or was at least a hope in out future.
The dictatorial Michigan government taking over Detroit? Is this not UNCONSTITUTIONAL? If not in the Michigan Constitution, then the Federal Constitution? This reminds me of one of GWBs preemptive wars of invasion... only they seem to be getting away with it scott free. If a city or county has a hard time in a state, does this mean it needs to be shut down? Why doesn't the state just find a way to back Detroit, financially? Next thing we know, after they gut the place, the vulture capitalists will come in and parse up the place, and for good measure change the name of Detroit to Snyderville. Looks to me like this is a job for Attorney General Holder. I think Eric Holder is probably the worst AG we have ever had, because he does nothing!
I think the highway protesters have a good idea going... Remember when France truckers went on a strike in the past? They shut business down in the entire country for many days. Maybe that's what the Detroit protesters need to do. Pack up bottled water, non perishable foods, etc., etc. etc..., and hit the road,
and then park it!
Srsly. There were rumors that Mittwit was being considered. Y'know, 'cause the trees are the right height and all. 
Or have our Corporate Owned Media fooled into thinking Kevin Orr is a Democrat because HE SAID SO. What ever happened to INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM, like checking his VOTING RECORDS?
What is wrong with the People regressing their grievances as they can according to OUR U.S. CONSTITUTION and the City Council acting in its authority to subpoena the Mayor according to their rights granted by the City Charter? This is how Democracy looks like. Don't like it, move to a country where plutocracy or fascism is the mainstay
.. is working on making Pa. suck as we speak 
I'm kind of surprised some of the political "royalty" in the deep red states haven't long ago enacted laws similar to Michigan's, effectively making themselves kings and queens, not to be further bothered by the pesky rabble believing they're entitled to a vote and self-rule. Bosh!
WTF?
I think this is just the beginning of a right-wing plan to destroy democracy because they can't win fair elections anymore. Mich. may be getting some of the worst of it now, but they're not through by a long shot. The voter ID thing backfired on them somewhat but the gerrymandering worked wonders in helping them hang onto the House. So far MSNBC is the only place you can get real coverage of this story. Everyone needs to email, blog, and send links to other news channels/shows demanding they cover the story more thoroughly. Or before you know it we're all going to wake up in a plutocracy with the Koch brothers standing behind whoever's sitting on the throne.
This country needs to wake up!!!!!!!!!
