Reflections on the Blue Wave: MSPN on 2018 and its aftermath
By: MSPN Organizers
As with most states since the election, Michigan has been very busy in the past 6 months. There was a lot of very strong, positive and optimistic energy coming into the 2018 election pushing 1 million more voters to turnout than in the previous gubernatorial election. Some of what’s happened gives the Michigan Student Power Network hope, other things seem to continue many of the same policies and problems that have hurt our communities for years. Considering our past, the current crisis, and the limited change now being offered by Democrats, it seems clear that to see the change we need in Michigan it is time to challenge our leaders and the power structures that hold them up, not just the faces in the office chairs. This means understanding the Democrats as a stopgap at best, while focusing on building bases of power beyond their party.
Recap since November
First off, a quick review: 2018 ended with the passing of all 3 of the proposals on the ballot. Proposal 1 sees to the legalization of recreational marijuana and how it will be regulated similar to alcohol. The passing of Proposal 2 will see to the end of gerrymandering and redistricting in Michigan. Proposal 3 adds 8 voting policies to Michigan’s constitution. These new policies include allowing straight-ticket voting in future elections, automatic voter registration, and same day voter registration.
With midterm elections and the pushing out of old state senators comes last minute lame duck voting for Republican State Senators who are leaving behind their seats to attempt a few last acts of evil before they lose their power. These included various attacks on public education and labor unions that were for the most part shut down in legislature or vetoed. But also included the gutting of the paid sick time and minimum wage ballot initiative that had been adopted by the legislature to keep them off the ballot. Both laws remain on the books, but are essentially hollow shells.
Spoiler alert, the blue wave didn’t save us. Democrats have won the majority position for the House of Representatives with a total of 233 seats, an increase of 38 seats and is the first time democrats have been in control of the house since 2010. Despite the power Democrats gained on a national level, on the statewide level Republicans will continue to control the Michigan House of Representatives.
In February, Michigan Governor, Gretchen Whitmer (D) delivered her first State of the State Address, detailing her goals for her new administration. In her speech Whitmer continued the trend of past elected officials by re-stating all her campaign promises, highlighting education and the state’s water infrastructure, without providing concrete plans on how as a state we’re going to accomplish any of those things. She consistently failed to name the cause of many of these problems (The DeVos family, tax breaks for the wealthy, segregation, decades of under investment etc.) and instead offered only bland calls for bipartisanship. Without confronting the sources of our problems
Meanwhile, over in one of the main pillars of the state economy, GM has decided to close 5 auto plants down, 2 of which are in Michigan. The closing of the Detroit-Hamtramck plant alone is losing the city over 1,500 jobs for auto workers. Gretchen Whitmer’s rather uninspiring response to these losses was to show face at a UAW protest while still being reluctant to criticize GM saying she didn’t want to weigh in until she’d talked to the CEO of GM Mary Barra.
Overshadowing this whole new year is the failure of the Government shutdown, initiated by the Trump administration. While millions of lives were put on hold in the name of constructing a racist border wall many politicians remained quiet and showed little to no opposition. While our senior senator Debbie Stabenow (D) along with others congressional democrats urged the president to end the shutdown and pass bipartisan legislation, that seemed to do little to blunt the administration’s determination. Ultimately much of the push came from government employees and their supporters, threatening to shut down airports, and transportation hubs after nearly a month out of work. It’s understandable that workers were the ones to solve this crisis when it is their lives on the line, but unacceptable when we elect people ostensibly in order to prevent and fight injustices like this.
Finally, in recent months we’ve been treated to the spectacle of Governor Whitmer’s proposed solution for our government funding issues: a 45 cents/gallon tax on fuel purchasing. This is potentially the most regressive way to fund infrastructure improvements, asking working class drivers with limited access to public transit to foot the bill for a budget hole made by tax breaks for the wealthy. The governor is now touring the state trying to build support for this tax on working people, rather than doing the work of identifying the true culprit and solution- taxing the rich.
Urgency of the moment
On a broad scale, after the arrival of the “blue wave” and it’s saviorist politicians, we are left just as frustrated with both parties and how they work as we were last year and the year before. Democrats continue to work towards change seemingly only to push forward their social cred enough that they’ll be able to win a presidential election. Where progress is being made within the party, like the green new deal, there is a big divide within the party between more progressive thought and elected officials continuing to keep the party at the centrist stand still it’s been in.
As plenty of people affected by the government shutdown are getting back on their feet post shutdown, Trump has moved on to declaring a nationwide state of emergency as another attempt to get funding for his wall. This is yet another distraction politicians are taking advantage of to not get any work done. Meanwhile the Democratic party is either trying to get us to support a regressive tax plan at the state level, or beginning the over a year long march to picking a nominee at the national level, neither space offering solutions to students and working people in our communities. It seems like we are in yet another never ending of our elected officials pointing fingers, patting themselves on their backs, and not listening to all the people who got them to the positions they now hold.
The Change We Need
So where does that leave us?
We, the young people born at the end of history; In a state who’s best vision of the future seems to be a greater or less exploitative version of the past.
If we want to build a better world, to create a co-liberatory future where each gives of their ability and we all get what we need; then it’s going to take something a little different that the same tired approaches and policies we’ve had for the past 5 decades.
From our perspective as young people in Michigan, we need two things that our society currently doesn’t have on the table: popular control over democracy and a party or organization that expresses the unity and vision of our ideas.
Currently we’re working from a pretty weak position. Our electoral institutions are incredibly weak- Gerrymandering, rejected or tossed ballots, massive private campaign spending on both republican and democratic candidates; all of these things mean that even when we show up at the polls we struggle to make our voices heard.
But even if we show up we’re voting within a two party system that severely narrows the spectrum of debate. Progressive and even radical people are coerced into supporting a party that not only doesn’t support transformative change, but frequently works against it. A party that refuses to wield power when it falls to them, and a party that is structurally incapable of supporting many of the socialist and fundamentally transformative changes that our communities need.
How can we get single payer when the Dems need Blue Cross’ money?
How can we get affordable public housing when they need Gilbert and Illytch’s money?
How can we make speak our truth when the rich control the media and public discourse?
How can we redistribute the wealth of our society when the democrat’s rich donors won’t even think of a tax hike?
Even with a fully functioning democratic system- the existence of the two party dictatorship, and the huge amount of influence wielded by money in our society would mean that we still don’t live in a democracy. It doesn’t matter if 100% of the population votes, if the media, debate and candidates are all shaped by the rich, the white, and the oppressive.
We need to acknowledge that we don’t live in a democracy. This is an oligarchy. There are still elections, and our votes are still (sometimes) counted, but fundamentally the people of our country no longer have control over and exercise power.
Identifying the problem is the first part of finding the solution.
So what do we do about that?
Our system is incredibly good at taking anger and frustration and guiding them back into a safe chanel. If we’re going to take steps that break this cycle it’s going to take a shift in how we approach elections, organizing, and collaboration. This means not relying on the democrats, their donors, or their figure heads to speak for us. This means building a political vehicle for our demands that will fight for our future. This means independent political power founded upon mass participation, and a co-liberatory socialist vision for our state.
This is not an easy road, and our proposal is not a new one. Generations of organizers have identified the impediment that democrats and careerist politicians have been on progress, but we believe that now is a time to reaffirm and act upon this truth. Parts of this work are slow, but if we continue to write the democratic party a blank check with our time and energy, we will continue to get the muddled, liberal politics of compromise with the rich.
Our timeline
To be clear, there is a lot to like in the standard Democratic talking points that Gretchen Whitmer and her predecessors. Expanded workers rights, recognition of and support for marginalized communities, investments in infrastructure. These are all good proposals, and they were good proposals when we heard them in 2008, 1999, 1994, at stump speeches, on campaign ads, and on state of the state addresses.
Ultimately how long should we plan on waiting? Why will this 2020 election be different?
The fact is that oppression and exploitation are daily realities for our communities, and the democratic track record does not show anything close to the urgency we need.
The “impending” climate disaster is a daily reality for poor, black, and brown communities in our state. Hundreds of thousands of people are locked up, right now, on possession of a drug that is now legal in our state. Access to water is somehow a question mark for people in the center of the world’s greatest fresh water source. Law enforcement continues to target and kill communities of color with general impunity. Schools crumble under the weight of underfunding, privatization, and attacks on teachers. All amidst historic levels of wealth disparity, with the rich isolated from almost all of these issues and holding almost all of the power in our society.
We need change now, we needed change decades and centuries ago. It is a grotesque joke that the Democrats are willing to “fight” for “affordable” education or healthcare if we vote in 2020 (and probably 2022, and 2024). We are told to just be patient while they offer us a half hearted attempt to fix one problem in a way that won’t overly inconvenience the rich, and that will disproportionately help middle class white folks. And when we watch that effort crumble yet again, we know we will be told that it is our fault for not voting for them enough.
At a minimum urgency would mean raising corporate and income taxes, redistributing resources to marginalized communities, investing in free healthcare, education, housing and food subsidies. It would mean taking power away from those who have held it for centuries as quickly as possible, by any and all means available to us.
The state of our state is crisis for millions of people. It’s time our leaders acted like it.
