October 28, 2004
Dear Governor Granholm,

I am writing this letter in response to your position on proposal 1. I understand your position to the point that the State of Michigan is in need of money. How we achieve this on a long-term basis is what concerns me.

In my opinion gambling is not a long-term solution. It only provides instant gratification to a lot of people and also the dream that they will become rich and will not have anything to worry about. Once we have raised as much money as we can from gambling, do we in the future legalize the oldest profession known to man to make even more.

I personally feel that we can do better and feel that we owe it to our children and grandchildren to make an honest and concerted effort to give them communities build on sound principles that they can be proud of. I happen to feel that the more citizens of this state chase the dream of being rich by gambling in order to provide for them instead of doing something meaningful the future of our state is very questionable at best.

I am enclosing an idea that I had when this whole shortage of money and jobs came about.

Michigan Operation Imagination.

How it works.
Michigan residents will summit ideas for getting the economy up and running. (If this proves to be a good system other states might use it as a model.) It might be a new service that is provided or a new product that can be built. It might also be something that will improve an existing product so as to expand the market for it. When it is implemented, the person or persons that came up with the idea would be rewarded with a reasonable amount of reward. This could be a patent provided them with a certain percentage of the profits. It might also be something that needs to be developed and if it is determined that it is a worthwhile venture a certain amount of money would be allowed for developing a prototype. But the underlying idea behind it is to provide living wage jobs for the people in Michigan.

Most people have ideas but don’t have the expertise or money to implement them so they do nothing with them. I feel that the more people that get involved in building a real future for Michigan the better chance of its success.

(Place your bet of the people of Michigan. I feel your chance of success is better)

Sincerely
Dale Westrick Sr. Ph# 517-626-2256

Entrepreneurs find ways to get it done, not excuses for why it can’t happen, can’t be changed or can’t be done. I think we are all looking for the same from our leadership in Lansing, reasons to collaborate, obvious action and behavior that talks to the best interests of the state first-not a single constituency, party, etc. Quite frankly I think the collective entrepreneurial community has little time for that type of petty nonsense. It comes across exactly as what is is, selfish. I know I have little time or interest in that.

Create the environment of a reasonable business tax structure that supports success, an incentive to get and stay educated, work to gain the same type of efficiency and effectiveness in government that we all strive for in our own businesses (e.g. – results) and we will supply the ideas, enthusiasm and energy. This IS a great place to live, no one needs to be sold on that. What we need is some behavior that represents the best of what we can be in the future, not the worst of what we have been in the past. Leadership should not be confused with popularity and Lansing should know that we are smart enough to know the difference.

I can’t think of a better line to sum up this entire article. The entrepreneur world will always live at a pace that the politician will never understand. Entrepreneurs don’t have constituents that they must please, they only have to be successful. Entrepreneurs aren’t afraid to fail, as long as they fail fast – and aren’t afraid to start again after they fail. These two groups live completely different lives and it’s no surprise that they had problems connecting.

Would he like to run for the legislature?