By golly, standing up for something like Right-To-Work when there is an opportunity like no other is a pretty clear message with whom he might side.  Contrast that to the moderate occupying the executive branch in our state, and we find that Michigan is indeed dark to the light in a state southern to us.  Contrast it to the pandering to the left of some congressmen who represent Michigan, to others who understand the limitations placed on government, as their The edges are defined, and it appears there is no question if conservatives have a friend in Lansing, or Washington, or not.

Add to this, Mr Daniels was selected as the standard for rebuttal of the President's SOTU speech the other night, and even with a dry presentation it cut some clear lines of delineation between those of us on the right, and the left so often emulated by moderates. When Daniels answered Obama:"

"In word and deed, the President and his allies tell us that we just cannot handle ourselves in this complex, perilous world without their benevolent protection. Left to ourselves, we might pick the wrong health insurance, the wrong mortgage, the wrong school for our kids; why, unless they stop us, we might pick the wrong light bulb!

A second view, which I admit some Republicans also seem to hold, is that we Americans are no longer up to the job of self-government. We can't do the simple math that proves the unaffordability of today's safety net programs, or all the government we now have. We will fall for the con job that says we can just plow ahead and someone else will pick up the tab. We will allow ourselves to be pitted one against the other, blaming our neighbor for troubles worldwide trends or our own government has caused."

In fact, looking at the health care exchange, and light bulbs, we can see that the second view has been alive and well in Michigan and those charged to represent us.

I hope the Republican establishment view that capitulating to the left's desires brings us together somehow, can be replaced by the solid philosophical grounding that conservatism brings.  Sometimes one has to be strong.  Rather than emulate even the most modest of progressive ideals which are nearly always counter productive, perhaps our Republican leaders in Michigan can learn a little from this perceived establishment governor, from a state with people so much like our own.  Conservative messages well delivered will win. Solutions are at hand. We just need to use them.

In Indiana, the passage of Right-To-Work is a message sent.  In Michigan, its passage would show it to be a message well received.