Just because you have checks in the checkbook doesn't mean that you have money in the bank, and Washington has failed to understand that.
Although the reasons for Michigan's malaise are varied, one big reason is our state's almost uniquely uncompetitive tax structure, which one General Motors official called the costliest of all jurisdictions where GM operates.
No legislation is going to stop a criminal from getting a gun, and anybody who says it will is wrong. Criminals will get a gun no matter what they have to do. They'll steal it. They'll borrow it. They'll have someone else buy it for them.
As Ronald Reagan understood, the difference between a good tax structure and a poor one has a very real impact not only on how much money we have in our pockets every April 15th, but whether we have a job to support our families in the first place.
That tax relief can spur the economy and thereby benefit all Americans is something that Washington Democrats used to understand. President Kennedy, for example, aggressively cut taxes after being elected to stimulate the economy as a means of helping all Americans.
I am a true constitutionalist, and whether it is our state's rights, personal property rights or the right to bear arms, the federal government will know if they come to Michigan trying to trample our rights, it will have a fight on its hands under a Bouchard administration.
I don't believe in college admission or any other venue that we should pick one race or sex over another in college admissions. My philosophy and reaction is that I would not support a program that by race or status alone elevates someone over another in a competition of sorts.
If people knew every transaction of a gun was going to be recorded somewhere, I think they'd be more responsible with who they transferred their weapon to.
Our whole society controls how much you can drink, how many pills you can buy; we have controls we accept on everything else in this society - except guns. Those things are all acceptable to us. But with guns, most people will not even discuss restrictions.
