Despite the worrisome and sometimes tragic events which took place this year, there were some happenings to relish. Here’s an uplifting article by The Washington Post’s Editorial Board and published today to remind readers of some of the good things that happened in 2018. It is a well culled list and serves to pull one’s thoughts away from the bad stuff that one can obsess about these days.
To give the list a state and northwest Michigan flavor, I decided to make some additions. Here’s my list:
- Michigan now has Gretchen Whitmer as Governor with three of the four top, whip-smart, talented appointees being women. All of her announced Cabinet appointments are ready to hit the ground running.
- Michigan, thanks to the successful Proposal 2, now can work to eliminate gerrymandering, and replace it with a system intended to even the playing field for all candidates in district races.
- Kathy Fahey an ordinary non-political and very young Michigan citizen orchestrated a citizen-led anti- gerrymandering Proposal 2 movement which defied the odds and overcame the powerful, wealthy forces working against her efforts. Jim Schwantes, Leelanau Captain for Proposal 2, showed his leadership skills as did other captains around the state to inform the voters of the Initiative and bring home a victory..
- Leelanau county voters in the November election brought victories for some talented and dedicated Dem candidates. Ty Wessel, Patricia Soutas – Little scored victories and will be returning to the County Commission as will multi talented, committed, Peachy Rentenbach, a veteran of the Commission and former Chair.
- Michigan Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Clement voted to allow Proposal 2 to be placed on the November ballot, defying the Michigan Republican Party and the powerful interests mentioned above. Her decision immediately placed her on the enemies list for many in her party. For the Dems and Independents she immediately became a profile in courage and strong proponent for political justice.
- Leelanau County now has as its Probate Judge, a well-respected, dedicated and enormously experienced Marian Kromkowski. It would be easy to expound on her many gifts but lets just keep it simple. County residents are indeed extremely fortunate to have such a talented judge on the bench as Marian.
- Outgoing Governor Rick Snyder kept his moderate hat on as he reviewed the 300 bills the GOP majority sent to him in the last minute flurry of the Lame Duck session. He vetoed 55 of them – a few of which would have interfered significantly with the powers of the incoming Attorney General and Secretary of State. (He also signed a few which fall under the category of “bad things” but we want to consider only the upside of 2018.)
- Proposal 3 passed – enhancing the registering and voting opportunities for Michigan voters. This is a huge victory for citizens who often could not afford to miss a day of work or pay for child care to get to the polls.
- Two qualified and enormously talented Dem candidates emerged. Kathy Wiejaczka and Matt Morgan. They ran in gerrymandered districts favoring the GOP and did not prevail. Their strengths and commitment ,however..stood out against their mediocre opponents and the state Dems were thrilled with their performances. Lets hope that they decide to try again in 2020.
- The Michigan voter turnout was the highest in almost 50 years for a Mid-Term election. Let’s hear it for the revival of democracy and voter participation in this momentous year.