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Fulton's Tea Party Speech
(4-15-09)
America is the great Arsenal of Democracy and most free
and prosperous nation the world has ever seen. The principles on which
this nation was founded have 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. Michigan was the
envy of not only the nation, but the entire world. 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 2009 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.
The Michigan house and senate 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.
The problems we face are not 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.
Lansing did not change me, but unfortunately neither did I change
Lansing. I went out as I came in:
a Christian Conservative.
I incorporate my faith into both my private and public life. 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 reason why places like Dubai and the UAE are so
successful and are growing in leaps and bounds because they don’t have
the regulation and taxation systems that strangle and impede growth. The
innovative and creative abilities of America that made it the greatest
economic power the world has ever seen have been stifled and drowned in
regulation and taxation and way too much government.
Thomas Jefferson said, “A government big enough to
give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you
have.”
The stimulus package is too big, too much, and
unnecessary.
Decongestant…infusion of cash…strings and unemployment
taxes
Three options to fix Michigan
Budget Line Item – Regulatory – MFTP
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