Yessirree.  Article V, Section 18 is merely PLPD coverage on the family car.  Out of pocket repair bills is exactly the exposure that every Michigan family faces with handing the keys to their little darlings behind the Lansing wheel.  What's that?  A smart family should know to also carry collision, or, Full Coverage if entrusting others with risks to the family vehicle?  Well, with just checking the old inbox, that is the message that the good folks over at the Michigan Capitol Confidential are driving home on Prop 5.

The idea behind a Tax Limitation Amendment is to make it more difficult for the political class to pilfer the pockets of taxpayers. Research -- most notably by scholar Mancur Olson -- has shown time and again that in democratic nations the wishes of an electorate are often ignored by narrow special interests that seek costly "favors" from the government. Politicians all too frequently accommodate those favors (be they subsidies or tariffs or spending hikes or other items) in part because their contributors and powerful constituents support them. Increasing taxes also is often a path of least resistance.

Constitutional restrictions are an effective way to handcuff politicians and stymie the special interests who lobby them for more money. Academic research on balance seems to show that such restrictions do check the growth of government and tax burdens, too.

Amen!  So, the natural question must be asked, why is it that the biggest opponent of Prop 5, Rick Snyder, a CEO, and CPA mind you, is behaving like a teenager who incessantly tells dumb 'ol mom and dad who are liable for his actions that he can text and drive?