Detroit

I don't like the Emergency Manager law and oppose the appointment of one for Detroit.  I don't condone the way the city has been allowed to disintegrate right before our eyes, but the EM law and subsequent appoint hit me in very negative ways.

First, this is a democracy, a government of the people.  The first three words of the Preamble to the Constitution are "We the People...."  They aren't "We the states" or "We the government."  I know, I know, "we aren't really a democracy."  Baloney/Bologna!  Yes, we are.  A democracy is a government in which the people are sovereign, that ultimate authority for governmen stems from them.  Of course we aren't a direct democracy, but a representative or republican democracy (or democratic republic, if that doesn't offend anyone as sounding too much like a commie state).  The people of Detroit, not an EM appointed by a governor, should govern Detroit.  If they do so poorly, as they quite evidently have, well that's the gamble democracy takes.  If they ask for help, not have it foisted upon them, they should be helped--with conditions.

Second, EM laws and those who favor them and appoint the EMs smack far too much for my tastes of arrogant elitism.  I'm not a big fan of that, arrogant elitism, the idea that some people (and they mostly identify themselves) are smarter than the rest of us.  They know better what's best for us.  Maybe they do (although history pretty much shows they don't, although we'll never convince them of that; imagine trying to tell Woodrow Wilson that!).  But that's not the point, not at all.

I think Detroiters should protest.  Maybe that will shake them out of their bad habits on election days.  But I see Jesse Jackson has come to town, urging Detroiters to take some sort of action.  That's fine, but I have a question. Where was Jesse Jackson before this?  Where was he when the city was being dragged down?  Where were his eloquent words and scathing indictments then?  I don't remember anything coming from him when things were going down the drain.  Oh, he might lead a march, a demonstration, and get his picture on the front pages of the newspapers.  After all, isn't that how he's earned his living?  He'd have a lot more credibility had he been here 20 and more years ago.
I guess that's now how things work....