Farwell Address

Fulton's Farwell Address

(December 2, 2008)

It has been a privilege and honor to serve as a Michigan State Representative and it should be. These chambers have been graced by state leaders who have led us, fought for us, and prayed us through the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, the rise of America as the great Arsenal of Democracy and most free and prosperous nation the world has ever seen. They guided us through WWI, the Great Depression, WWII, the atomic age and the nuclear threat which accompanied it, the birth and death of the Cold War, and all the other economic, state, national, and international conflicts. This chamber has presided over good times and bad. For much of the last century, we were the envy of not only the nation, but the entire world. Henry Ford created the automobile and Detroit created the assembly line which provided unprecedented opportunity for regular citizens to make a good living, raise and educate their families, and buy their own homes. People came to Michigan from all over the nation and the world to continue to live the American dream which was started by those who farmed and settled this state and this nation.

We have a rich heritage, and we should be proud and thankful for all that was accomplished by those who came before us. However, it is 2008 and things have dramatically changed. Michigan is no longer the envy of the nation. We are last in too many things we should be first in, and we are first in too many things we should be last in. The once great auto industry is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. More people are leaving Michigan than any other state, because they can no longer provide for their families. Most of our college graduates and skilled workers are leaving, because it doesn’t matter how educated or skilled someone is, if there is no work they must go to where there is work. We have the highest unemployment and the greatest job loss overall of any state.

Our taxation systems are complicated, convoluted and uncompetitive; our regulatory systems are costly, confusing, and just as complicated and uncompetitive as our taxation system. Term limitations, although well intentioned, have handicapped the Legislature’s ability to grapple with the problems of the day. They have made the Legislature more political, not less political. Term limitations have left us devoid of statesmen; nobody can ever rise to that stature and expertise. The average long term memory goes back only six years, and our future outlook stretches only to the next general election.

We spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to politically outmaneuver the other party and the next person we may be running against in the next election. This is time which should be spent on coming up with real answers and solutions, not political ones. We must stop legislating perception and start legislating reality. After six years I have concluded that neither the House nor Senate are in control, neither the Republicans nor the Democrats are in control, nor is the Governor. The Bureaucracy are the ones who are in control, they remain in Lansing no matter who is Governor and no matter who is in power. It was never the intention of the writers of our state constitution that an unelected bloated bureaucracy be in control. Our citizens expect their elected officials to represent them and be in control.

I do not believe the problems we face are insurmountable. In fact some of them are simply a matter of mathematics. If you can add and subtract you can balance the budget and come up with a new taxation system. However, what those numbers represent, what to keep and what to cut, is the difficult part, but that is what we were sent here to do, make the difficult decisions, that is why we get paid $80,000 dollars a year. I have never passed or not voted when in committee or on the floor, I was sent here to make decisions and vote and that is what I have done. Lansing has not changed me, but unfortunately neither have I changed Lansing. I go out as I came in: a Christian Conservative. I incorporate my faith into both my private and public life; Jesus is my Lord and my King and I serve Him first and foremost. I believe in the right to life, that a marriage is between one man and one woman, and that the Constitution states that government is supposed to stay out of the church and not vice-versa. I believe in free enterprise and unfettered capitalism. I think a government deficit is a spending problem NOT a revenue problem. I think that welfare should be a hand-up, not a hand-out, and that government should get out of the way of business and stay out of the lives of its citizens. The thing I have disliked the most about Lansing is the political game board mindset which permeates this place and allows politics to trump policy almost every time. What I have enjoyed most about being a state representative is being able to help an individual citizen, family, or small group with a problem. Sometimes all they need is someone to listen, to encourage them, to care, or just to make a simple phone call which puts their name at the top of the list.

To the 46 newly elected representatives and to those who are returning; make sure you have a life outside this position, don’t let this position define you, you define it, it’s a job not an identity. To all of my colleagues and those in Lansing: Take Care & God bless.

Fulton J. Sheen

88^th District State Representative