Jack Lessenberry: The Real Stolen Government:

A bloodless coup has taken place in Michigan. Detroit now has an emergency manager, and there's a lot of rumbling, that as a result, government in our state has been stolen,and democracy has died. Greg Bowens, for example, had an eloquent column, arguing that in the Free Press last Sunday, "A bloodless coup of the largest democratically elected government in our state has occurred," he began. Well, let's leave aside, for now, the question of whether an emergency manager here, was legal or necessary. Regardless of that, here's the elephant we are all missing. Forget Detroit: A bloodless coup has taken place in this state, at a far higher level, state government itself. Fanatical right wingers first gerrymandered the legislature to make sure that it would always elect a majority of Republicans, even if, as happened last fall, more citizens voted for Democratic candidates. That would have been bad, but not that big a deal, back in the 1980s, say, when most Republican lawmakers were pro business interests, but not screaming irrational yahoos. But times have changed. The GOP itself has been almost entirely taken over by zealots, whose priorities are both irrational and totally at odds with the desires and interests of Michigan citizens, and they are destroying our state. That's no exaggeration. Greg Bowens, by the way, made an error, when he called Detroit the largest democratically elected government in our state. That's no exaggeration. Greg Bowens, by the way, made an error, when he called Detroit the largest democratically elected government in our state. In fact, that description would apply to Michigan itself, the governor and the Legislature. Like him or hate him, Rick Snyder was fairly elected by the people, winning a large majority, 58 percent of those who bothered to vote three years ago, but that can't be said for the Legislature. Seven years ago, 54 percent of voters chose Democratic candidates for the state Senate. That was meaningless, however, thanks to the gerrymandering in effect then, Republicans won a majority of the seats, something that has ballooned to a 25-11 super majority since. Since the last election, the gerrymandering has been rejiggered to make it even worse. Democrats last had a majority in the Michigan Senate 30 years ago. Unless there is some cataclysmic change, we may well not live long enough to see the day, when they control it again.