Last week I spent several days at the Mackinac Island Policy Conference, the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce’s annual bash for those who consider themselves movers and shakers. Lots was said up there … some of it well worth paying attention to. Here’s a selection of comments, plus a few remarks of my own.
John Rakolta Jr. (CEO of Walbridge, the big construction firm, and a blunt-talking flame thrower): “Michigan’s economy has been dominated by oligopolies – the auto companies and the big unions – which are economic units that react to each other’s behavior rather than to the forces of the market.” Big John nailed it. We’re still struggling with an immobile political system that has been persistently in denial about just how much economic trouble we’re in — and therefore still unwilling to make the tough choices required.
Mark Gaffney (President of the Michigan AFL-CIO): “Business and labor are working on ways to meet in the middle. This is not reflected in Michigan’s political culture.” How true. Talk to Gaffney and you see an educated guy with a sophisticated understanding of how business and labor must collaborate to get the state off the dime. But our rigid, hyper-partisan political culture still refuses to recognize how important this is.
Mary Kramer (Publisher of Crain’s Detroit Business): “Why can’t we all hold hands and jump off the cliff … and get something done right now?” Mary’s right, of course — about getting something done. Rigidity, denial, unwillingness to take a chance, fear to reach out – all these have for too long characterized our unhealthy political culture. After listening to the 10,000 people who took part in The Center for Michigan’s community conversations over the past couple of years, I’m convinced that what frustrates citizens most is the inability to get something – anything – done about our state’s problems.
Newt Gingrich (Former Speaker of the House of Representatives): “How serious are you guys to actually make change?” Gingrich, who gave the conference’s keynote address, observed that “There is no middle ground between big change and no change. Real change is very hard, takes a long time and demands real courage.” Right again. I wish the debate between the seven guys running for governor had been scheduled right after Gingrich’s speech; perhaps they would have been inspired. Instead, much of that debate was spent rehashing who exported the most jobs to China instead of talking about what big changes are required to fix Michigan.
Newt, again: “In Michigan, we’ve spent the last 25 years trying to apply small solutions to big problems. We should start applying big solutions to big problems.” Gingrich is a genuine radical, i.e. somebody who’s quite willing to cuff aside all the stuff encrusted around problems and get down to the heart of the matter. The great thing about such folks is they often produce blindingly good ideas. The big problem, of course, is to distinguish what’s good from what’s rubbish. In this case, he’s correct, big time: We’ve wasted enormous amounts of time, energy and money trying — and failing — to apply small solutions to big problems.
Mike Flanagan (Superintendent of Public Instruction): “There’s an old line talks about how hard it is to keep your head when all those about you are losing theirs. … Or, maybe they just don’t understand the damned problem!” The state school chief added: “Vision is important, but you’ve gotta keep it from becoming hallucination.”
Doug Ross (Founder and Superintendent, University Preparatory Academy): “We now know how to construct schools that graduate urban minority kids at levels that equal suburban schools … if we bring it to scale, we can revolutionize Michigan.” Indeed, what Ross and his colleagues are doing may well be the most important work now going on in Michigan, from the standpoint of our state’s future. It will take a long time and a lot of money (not to mention courage) to take his concept statewide. But it’s worth pursuing, because it is one of the few things actually aimed at the next generation, not at the adults who are battling over an increasingly small piece of turf.
Next Time: Some quotes from the debate among the seven candidates for governor that you didn’t see in other media coverage of the Mackinac Conference.
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Editor’s Note: Former newspaper publisher and University of Michigan Regent Phil Power is a longtime observer of Michigan politics and economics and a former chairman of the Michigan chapter of the Nature Conservancy. He is also the founder and president of The Center for Michigan, a bipartisan centrist think-and-do tank which is sponsoring Michigan’s Defining Moment, a public engagement outreach campaign for citizens. The opinions expressed here are Power’s own and do not represent the official views of The Center. He welcomes your comments at ppower@thecenterformichigan.net.
6 Comments
Per Newt Gingrich above: “We should start applying big solutions to big problems.”
Great idea. Big solutions are only going to be debated and advanced from a forum like a state constitutional convention. The status quo amendment process has obviously failed.
Vote Yes For Michigan on ballot Proposal One in November, 2010. Call for a state constitutional convention to propose potential solutions for Michigan voters to decide whether or not they should be adopted.
Visit: http://www.EnergizeMichigan.com
From what I read, Newt’s “big idea” was to make Detroit a tax-free zone. I guess he thought that would spur investment.
Unfortunately, we’ve tried that with our Renaissance Zones. When Michigan first created them, they were simply tax-free, without any development agreements or requirements. While I was in Jackson, we took several pieces of rotten property, mostly abandoned industrial property and Brownfields at that and made them tax-free.
What we found was that those property owners decided that their property was now extremely valuable, since it was tax free, and since it was delapidated, it did not show very well. We took lots of potential investors around to look at the property, and they all walked away, too ugly, too expensive.
Without some sort of process in place (which Michigan now has for their Renaissance Zones) development does not magically happen. Good idea, but it doesn’t work.
Now if Newt had other big ideas I didn’t hear about them. He is a very sharp guy!
There are a few quotes I remember from men I worked with or things I read.
1. Ray Kennell ex marine when all is said and done more is said that done.
2. Henery Hultburt why be nasty when it so easy to be nice.
3. Albert E Imagination is more important that education.
Take all three of these quotes and think about them and then do something even if it is wrong. The important thing is to spend the money doing it like it belongs to you not the taxpayers.
Between the candidates for governor and all the delegates to the Mackinac Policy Conference I do not get a sense that we can get agreement on anything that is priority one to do.
I can see why we cannot get anything done in Michigan if we cannot agree on anything that is very important to do.
Scenic Michigan’s big solution to the big problem of a struggling economy is to capitalize on MI’s unique shape and scenic beauty. Get a mover and shaker who will take down the commercial billboards, make sure every city, town, and countryside is clean and green, and tourists will flock to MI to enjoy our scenic beauty.
good luck with that plan Pam