In a previous post, I discussed the dark money of politics entering local venues, and I’m here today to tell you it’s happening faster than I believe anyone could have imagined – but I think the people are seeing the results and not liking the outcomes. So, to back up a bit, we are all very aware of Citizens United and the impact the SCOTUS decision has had on money entering the political arena. We also know that at the federal level in the last two presidential elections super PAC and dark money dollars  have not had the impact some would  have hoped – mainly the GOP. Except for the mid-term grabs of Congress e.g. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and others, the Tea Party and the most-oft users of dark money and a 501(c)4 changed their strategy: It was time to go local. Just as in enacted legislation through Congress, most ideas emerge from state and local areas, turn into a cascade of public sentiment, and once 25 or more states enact similar legislation, Congress takes notice and generally turns the idea into the law of the land. For the GOP, it was a similar successful strategy of seating local house and senate leaders as well as governors. And until recently, it seemed to be happening without anyone screaming foul. States like Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin all found favor with loading the GOP onto its citizens as the only party. Bipartisan became a bad word and a moot point. Charles Pierce in Esquire, “Scott Walker Project in Wisconsin Nearly Complete”, does a nice job of explaining what’s happening on one side of Lake Michigan. You must admit, no matter what side of the aisle you’re on, one idea of running anything may not be the best, and opinions and discourse are important in our democracy based on compromise. Then there’s the other side of the lake and Rick Snyder. His band of brothers took to the pulpits in Michigan and there was even talk of Mr. Snyder buying into the ring of federal politics. Until Flint. Again, no matter your party beliefs, Dana Milbank sees through the muck and gets to the point: “The Flint Disaster is Rick Snyder’s Fault.”  Opinions run strong here, and I was at a recent Chamber of Commerce event themed around Michigan made products. Rick Snyder was nice enough to send along a little video clip of a Pure Michigan ad and a video of him thanking Petoskey for their participation in tourism. I was flabbergasted to hear a very lukewarm reception to the video, and then even more flabbergasted to hear a not so nice statement about our governor from the peanut gallery in the back – this from a 99.9% crowd of GOP supporters. Now I’ve lived through the local election of a new house-membered-Right-Winged-Christian-Conservative who said legislation should be based on the bible; I’ve seen an elected state senator from the Upper Peninsula lie, steal and cheat his way to legislation allowing wolf hunts – only to hear him apologize later for his misguided facts; we’ve all witnessed Rick Snyder usurping the local constituency of many locales and sending in armies of accountant types to rescue people for their own good – even if it seems terribly unconstitutional. (Can you imagine if the Fed’s rolled into Texas and said, “You’re all nuts, we’re taking over.”?) And how does all of this happen? HUGE amounts of cash, an influx of corporate and dark money, and viola! A state with only one voice. If you can’t win at the federal level, go local until it changes nationally. Then Flint happened. Then laws were passed in Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, and are pending in other states to allow discrimination. Now, now, you can argue all you want, but any law that discriminates against anyone cannot be protected under the Constitution nor found allowed in the Declaration of Independence. Even the Attorney General of North Carolina said he wouldn’t defend their new statute. The governors in Georgia and Virginia thankfully vetoed similar laws in their states. Finally, in Indiana, anti-abortion bots have come to roost. In full disclosure, I do not like abortion, but as a retired health care professional and executive, I believe it’s a decision for a woman, a woman and her partner, between their higher power and them, and with the help of professionals who can educate them about the decision. It in no way belongs in the public discussion of laws and policy. Running a law through those quarters provides no difference between the hard-line zealots who wish to run America with a bible or those who wish to run a country through the Qur’an. But GOP money has placed a governor and legislature into Indiana that now prohibits a mother from terminating the pregnancy even if the baby is dead in the womb. To make matters worse, even if the baby will be born with the most severe birth defects, there is no termination possible. Outrageous you say for me to even contemplate such biblical heresy? I have worked for years with people with developmental disabilities and their families, and it’s the same party and conservative thought wanting to halt family choices that pulls funding away from families who in no way can maintain the medical needs of such children – even if the family makes scads of money. So on that note, doesn’t it seem wise to watch who’s running for your local, state and federal elected slots, because no matter your party stance, we need a balanced discourse for a balanced approach to our governance. We are not all alike and we are not all supposed to be alike.