A House Is Not A Home

Nearly eight years ago, my wife and I bought a small house in a small town.  It was a house that had belonged to my great-Grandfather and it needed quite a bit of work.  With the help of family and friends, we put what little money we had in to reviving the place and making it seem like our home.  We gutted and replaced cracking plaster, slapped on coats of paint, installed a furnace, ran plumbing, and performed a host of other cosmetic repairs to bring the house back in to some semblance of shape before we moved in.  It took several weeks of sweat and a fair amount of financial help of my folks to get it done.  While it was no palace, when it was finished it seemed like it was ours.  In essence, it felt like home - and we were proud of it.

It is a very humble home still.  We could use new windows and siding.  In the near future, we'll have to have a new roof put on.  As our children grow, the house seems to get smaller, and of course we have too much stuff and at times things feel cramped.  Yet I am still regularly reminded of the pride and effort and outpouring of help that went into transforming the house and I am always humbled and moved by it.  In some way, that helps to make our home a bit more special to me.

Despite the work my little house needs, it is not the home I really worry about these days.  The State of Michigan is my home too and it's in a state of disrepair.  2010 census figures showed that Michigan was the only state to lose population in the last ten years.  The city of Detroit alone lost 25% of its residents.  These drops in residents along with high unemployment and an unwillingness to raise any taxes at all costs have cost my home state dearly.  Police and Fire departments all across the state are being gutted and consolidated as tax bases erode.  Education funding is slashed annually while restrictions and requirements on public schools increase constantly.  Michigan's bold and effective tax incentive program for the film industry is in danger of becoming extinct even though it has brought scores of film companies to the state to spend millions of dollars while helping to enhance Michigan's cultural legacy and public image.

While much of this economic woe is due to a downturn in jobs and a shrinking population, much of it could be fixed by simply reinvesting in our state.  Like most state governments, Michigan has a convoluted tax structure that is piece-meal and largely ineffective.  It is also a system set up to help benefit those at the top of the pyramid as opposed to those at the bottom of it.  Simple gestures like a graduated income tax, a slight increase in the sales tax or a tax on services could help to completely reinvent and reinvigorate a struggling state with a shrinking reputation.  With a minor tax code restructuring and as little as $10 per household per year in additional tax liability we could save schools, hospitals and fire departments.  Jobs could be created and Michigan could once again be a place where people want to move to - not away from.

Of course, right now there is a fear of any tax on anything at all.  People don't want to pay ten dollars or even 8 cents more a year in taxes, because they don't want to pay any taxes at all.  This fear drives politicians to cut, cut, cut and cut.  All of this cutting has done nothing but drive people away.  No one moves to Michigan because the taxes are lower.  South Dakota has no state income tax.  Would you move to South Dakota for that reason alone?  Neither would I.

In 1976, the Michigan State Congress passed an incredibly aggressive bottle deposit law.  This legislation was passed primarily because of an enormous amount of litter on our state highways.  The law required that each bottle or can of soda and beer be charged a 10 cent deposit charge and when the can was returned to the store the 10 cents was returned to the consumer.  Michigan was just the fourth state in the country to pass such a bill at that time and the only state with a 10 cent deposit as opposed to just 5 cents.  Many Michiganders were up in arms over the costs and inconvenience of the legislation.  But it worked.  And after 35 years the law is still in place and is seen as simply commonplace.  So much so, that when I go to other states with no deposit program I still am unable to throw a can away.  Doing something different is often very difficult.  The difficulty of it however, does not make it less necessary.

We need to begin to demand more of our political leaders than budget cuts and spending revisions.  Leadership should not be defined by figuring how to STOP doing things.  Sometimes leadership is convincing people to do something difficult because it's the right thing to do.

This is the home of the Great Lakes and of Motown.  It is still the center of the automotive world and the birthplace of the eight hour workday.  It is a a natural wonderland and still a place of great innovation.  Michigan is getting a bad rap because you, as a Michigander, are letting it get a bad rap.

So Michiganders, I ask you, what kind of house do you want to live in?  Do you want a house or do you want a home?  Are you ready to roll up your sleeves and get to work pitch in and revive a state that needs your help?  Your home needs some repairs and an extra helping hand.  Now get off your ass and lets get to it.