What the hell is going on in Michigan?

[Honeycombe8]

Gov Snyder won by 58%, so he clearly was popularly voted to be Governor. Yes, he said he was not in favor of the misnomer "right to work" law, but he's a very conservative Republican, so any idiot would know that he really was in favor of it, or would at the least sign it in and not veto it...him being a very loyal Republican. Backed by big business and in particular FORD.

Michigan...the seat of the auto industry with unions.

What the hell has happened there?

This is very upsetting. I live in TX, a misnomer "right to work" state. The state with the largest percentage of uninsured workers in the nation. With low wages. Although a good economy, I must admit, in that it is able to steal jobs from other states.

Is there any chance of turning things around there? And when the pro-union people appear on TV, they need to point out that the argument that Snyder is pushing - they passed the "right to work" in response to the pro-union forces pushing a constitutional amendment - they need to point out that the constitutional amendment push was in response to a push for the "right to work" law. That was ALREADY in the works and was NOT a response to the constitutional amendment push.

[MrScorpio]

1. The Michigan Republican Party has lost its God-damned mind

It's controlled by Right-Wing, religious zealot corporatists, mostly from the Western part of the state. For years, a strong showing from Democratic Party, working-class voters from the South-East region - From Flint to below - have kept these people at bay. But due to the tremendous loss in jobs over the last ten years, many of these people and other educated professionals have left the state.

That have created a demographic shift which won't be easy to recover from.

Also, Snyder lied when he ran for governor. He portrayed himself as a "Tough Nerd" with "Novel Solutions" that could help Michigan get out of its fiscal mess of loss revenue and abandoned corporate business. He didn't say that he was in the pocket of the Koch Brothers and our local Right-Wing zealot corporate despot, Dick "Amway" De Vos.

So with a crazed Republican Party, drunk on power, controlling the state legislature, a puppet of the corporations governor and a depressed base of Democratic Party support, Michigan finds itself where it is now.

So unless those voters who gave the Republicans the benefit of the doubt the last two elections change their minds and we get more Democratic voters who return to Michigan, we're not going to see ourselves out of this mess in the long haul.

We will be an example of what happens to a state when a nut job Republican party completely has its way.

[D-Lee]

2. To increase discrimination against non-GOP voters

It seems to me that this new post-election push for these laws is just another phase of the ultra-right's view that, as employers, they have a right to dictate how their employees vote in elections for public office.

It allows a clear identification of union supporters, likely those who will vote Democratic.

This is the push-back and revenge -- just another form of tampering with the right to vote freely and trying to control the ballot box.

After all, corporate overlords have a right to dictate how their serfs can vote. And, now that it looks as if the little critters didn't vote for Mitt as they were told to do, the overlords really want to identify those upon whom they should lean or fire.

[Odin2005]

3. Fascism, that's what is happening.

[ipfilter]

4. Right-To-Work lawas are actually farily worthless.

I'm not defending them but the only thing they do is legalize scabs who don't want to pay dues. Their only aim is to hit unions in the pocket book and weaken them with scabs who don't want to enjoy the fruits of a union without pruning the tree, so to speak. Chamber of Commerce and other 1%er type organizations love these laws but in reality they do little to nothing. My state passed the same law about ten years ago and it has done absolutely nothing to my union. We are as strong, if not stronger, than ever. We have only a handful of scabs and they are dealt with accordingly every single day.

[Honeycombe8]

6. Really? I'm so glad to hear that. I've been pretty upset watching all this on TV....

and in Michigan, of all places. I live in a "right to work" state. I think it weakens the unions here. But I don't know that for a fact.

But one thing is for sure. If I worked at a place that had a decent union, I would join what my co-workers belong to. I would be part of the group, and not support their efforts. What a weasel thing to do.

[CanonRay]

5. They voted in a facist government in 2010.