Stephen Tuttle

Other Opinions Stephen Tuttle Coming Political Changes Won’t Change Much
With the elections barely five weeks away, it’s clearly time for
prognosticating, at least in general terms. There’s no good reason to
wait. Better to be wrong now and hope you’ll have forgotten it all by
election night.

Other Opinions Stephen Tuttle The tax hike that isn’t
It seems we’re going to be whacked with a staggering $3.8 trillion tax
hike. At least that’s what the leaders of the Republican party keep
telling us. And what possible reason could they have for wanting to
deceive us less than seven weeks before the national mid-term
elections?

Other Opinions Stephen Tuttle Blaming the government for everything
Whose fault is this, anyway?
If we listen to some folks, like those who recently gathered in
Washington, D.C., to celebrate Glenn Beck’s evangelical coming out
party, it’s the government that has caused this entire economic mess.
They created it and we need to cut them down to size in order to fix
what they have wrought. Less government, lower taxes, then everything
will be all right, again. (Never mind that at the federal level more
than 95% of us are already paying lower taxes.)

Other Opinions Stephen Tuttle New Constitution a Bad Idea
Michigan’s November ballot will include a proposition asking us whether or not we wish to convene a Constitutional Convention in order to rewrite the state’s constitution. To suggest this is a bad idea is roughly akin to suggesting nuclear weapons might cause a little damage.
Our state constitution, one of the youngest in the country, was written in 1963. One article requires us to evaluate the document every 16 years and vote as to whether or not we want to rewrite it. In 1978, 78% of us said “no”. In 1994, 72% again rejected the idea. So, here it is again.
How does this process work? The devil really is in the details.

Other Opinions Stephen Tuttle Protecting the 14th Amendment
The first sentence of the 14th Amendment to the United States
Constitution reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United
States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the
United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Crisp, clean and
easy to understand. It is now under attack.

Other Opinions Stephen Tuttle The Mosque at Ground Zero
There is a plan afoot to remodel an already existing structure in New
York City as a mosque and community center. It is two blocks from
ground zero. The opposition to it is loud, growing and misplaced.
The arguments go like this: it’s too close to ground zero, the
feelings are still too raw, it was Muslims who attacked the World
Trade Centers, blah, blah, blah.

Other Opinions Stephen Tuttle Two Loves
I love elections.
I love the hope and possibility inherent in every election at every
level. Those of us who truly believe in our system can’t wait for the
chance to cast a ballot and then sit nervously as those ballots are
counted. Maybe that man or woman we just nominated or elected will be
the one who makes a difference, who has that spark of insight or
strength of leadership that gets us out of whatever mess we happen to
be in at the time.

Other Opinions Stephen Tuttle Really Rich Americansfor Prosperity
We are now being bombarded by anti-government commercials sponsored by
something called Americans for Prosperity. The idea of these spots is
that we little guys are being screwed, squeezed and destroyed by
government excesses. They would have you believe Americans for
Prosperity is some kind of grassroots organization willing to rise up
and smite the evil government.

Other Opinions Stephen Tuttle 5 Ways to Improve Elections
We can do so much better. It isn’t that we’re about to nominate the
wrong candidates, though that is always a distinct possibility. It’s
more that the entire election process could be a lot better with a few
minor improvements. For example:

Other Opinions Stephen Tuttle Keeping Bad Company
All incipient political and social movements give birth to fringe
elements unable to control their baser instincts. As the primary
elections draw nigh in several states, those tattered fringes have
started to move to the front.

Other Opinions Stephen Tuttle Webs of Blather
We’re now barely two weeks away from the gubernatorial primary
election. So, let’s review.
The Republican race is down to three, maybe four, legitimate
candidates. As this is being written, Attorney General Mike Cox and
Congressman Peter Hoekstra are in what amounts to a statistical dead
heat. Businessman Rick Snyder is a very close third and Oakland
County Sheriff Mike Bouchard trails.

Other Opinions Stephen Tuttle Our Wars
Michael Steele, chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), has
put the Afghanistan war in the headlines again. Mr. Steele, who
apparently believes his job is to make outrageous statements for which
he must subsequently apologize, said Afghanistan is now wholly Barack
Obama’s war and we have no chance to win, anyway.

Other Opinions Stephen Tuttle Fourth of July
“...We hold these Truths to be self evident, that all Men are
created equal...”
So begins the seminal section of our Declaration of Independence,
one of the boldest, bravest and most remarkable documents in human
history. Thirteen years later an even more startling document, the
Constitution of the United States was ratified

Other Opinions Stephen Tuttle Befuddled and beleaguered BP CEO Tony Hayward had his day before
Congress. He apologized, he groveled, he’d have probably prostrated
himself before the committee members had he thought of it. Our
elected representatives, ever vigilant, were having none of it. They
blustered and pontificated and bloviated. They were filled to bursting
with self-righteous indignation. Hayward sat and absorbed it all, the
demon being cast out by a nationally televised public exorcism.

Other Opinions Stephen Tuttle Welcome to the Age of Irrational Absolutism
Republican voters have an agenda. They expect their candidates to be
strongly anti-abortion, strongly opposed to any kind of legal
recognition of the gay and lesbian community, strong supporters of the
Second Amendment and possessed of some kind of Christian belief system
they’re willing to inject into the political arena. Their policy
requirements are equally simple – less government and lower taxes.
They are not especially picky about specifying just how much less
government they want or how much lower taxes should be but,
apparently, they’ll know both when they see or hear them. Add to that
a growing vitriol about illegal immigration.