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Tag: RNC 2012 Platform

High-Profile Opposition To The GoverNerd's Pain At The Pump

By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Fri Feb 15, 2013 at 11:55:29 PM EST
Tags: Schostak Must Go, Courser 4 Chair, RNC 2012 Platform, Michigan Tax Limitation Amendment, Proposal 12-5, Saul Anuzis, Dave Agema, Terri Lynn Land (all tags)

As I've mentioned more than once, most recently a little under three weeks ago, back when Saul Anuzis was defending his seat against Dave Agema, he cited a perfect example from his own tenure as state party chair of how the party can and should hold our elected officials accountable to the party's principles. I find that example enlightening specifically because of it's similarity to the situation that Michigan Republicans find themselves in now.

(3 comments, 709 words in story) Full Story

Lies, Damned Lies, and "Defend Michigan Democracy"

By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Sat Nov 03, 2012 at 05:07:16 AM EST
Tags: Proposal 12-5, Michigan Tax Limitation Amendment, Constitution of Michigan - Article IX, Constitution of Michigan - Article XII, Headlee Amendment (1978), Constitution of Michigan - Article V § 18, Americans For Prosperity of Michigan, Michigan Alliance for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform, Two-Thirds Movement, RNC 2012 Platform, Michigan Banana Republican Party, kleptocracy establishment, Michigan tea party movement, Michigan's Debt Clock, Defend Michigan Democracy, red herring fallacies, Proposal 06-2, Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, Wayne County Taxpayers Association, Citizens Protecting Michigan's Constitution, Taxpayers United Michigan Foundation, "super minority" firewall, S-I-N tactics (all tags)

A "Red Herring" fallacy (also known as an "irrelevant conclusion" fallacy) is a logical error in which an argument is, intentionally or not, constructed of irrelevant or false inferences, with the intention of masking the lack of substantive arguments and/or implicitly replacing or diverting attention away from the actual subject of the discussion, by proving a different proposition than the one it is purporting to support. And I can tell you that defending Proposal 12-5 out in the social media sphere has been an education in countering Ignoratio Elenchi.

(1 comment, 2773 words in story) Full Story

A Message To Our Legislators - Beware False Choices

Full Coverage Insurance For Michigan Taxpayers

By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 07:12:43 PM EST
Tags: Michigan's Great Taxpayer Revolt, Phil Mastin & David Serotkin, 2004-HB-5632, RNC 2012 Platform, Michigan Banana Republican Party, kleptocracy establishment, Constitution of Michigan - Article IX, Constitution of Michigan - Article XII, Proposal 12-5, Michigan Tax Limitation Amendment, Michigan tea party movement, Headlee Amendment (1978), Michigan Tax Amendment (1994), Constitution of Michigan - Article V § 18, Michigan's Debt Clock, Americans For Prosperity of Michigan (all tags)

The more "experienced" readers of this site might recall Michigan's Great Taxpayer Revolt of 1983. In January of that year, newly-inaugurated Governor James Blanchard, who had promised in his 1982 campaign against Richard Headlee that he would not address the state's financial problems through a tax increase except as a last resort, wasted a grand total of one month sliding a 38% increase in the state's income tax through the Democrat-controlled state legislature. The resulting fifteen-target recall campaign succeeded in taking out both Phil Mastin and David Serotkin (flipping the State Senate to Republican control), triggered the political ascension of a theretofore-obscure state senator by the name of John Engler (whose 1990 gubernatorial campaign against Blanchard carried the shadow of the 1983 revolt), and so thoroughly spooked state legislators that tax increases were a very touchy subject on both sides of the aisle for the next two decades.

And then came Governor Granholm.