Tag: state

Tyranny, broadly defined, is the use of power to dehumanize the individual and delegitimize his nature.  Political utopianism is tyranny disguised as a desirable, workable, and even paradisiacal governing ideology.

Individual sovereignty is under attack.

Not the wacko, every-man-is-a-sovereign-the-United-States-is-a-corporation kind of sovereignty, but the notion that, as individuals, we have worth and dignity that deserve protection.

This attack exists in every corner of our society and has found its way into our language.  Liberal politicians talk about the "cost" of a tax cut and ask conservatives, "How are you going to pay for that tax cut?"  They thus view tax cuts as expenditures, but expenditures of what?  Of the money to which they deem the government entitled.  

A tax cut "spends" nothing.  It is an acknowledgment that the money being taxed belongs in the first instance to the earner, not the government.  Most Americans would willingly pay taxes to support legitimate government functions, but we resist ferociously the notion that our incomes belong to the government.

Now, we have another charter that has beached, this time in the city of Detroit with a spinoff in the Ingham County Circuit Court.  It's the Detroit City Charter, but this time, instead of the hapless Gilligan, we have Krystal Crittendon.  Like the original series, this comedy seems destined to be with us for awhile.

You know the story by now.  In a nutshell, the city and the state of Michigan signed a consent agreement in an 11th hour effort to avoid an emergency financial manager.  As its implementation neared, Crittendon, the city's chief lawyer, filed a lawsuit in the Ingham County Circuit Court, claiming that the agreement is unenforceable because the city Charter prohibits agreements between the city and any entity that owes the city money.  Crittendon alleges that, because the state owes the city money for past revenue sharing and other items, the agreement cannot be enforced.  In response, the state is threatening to withhold $80 million in revenue sharing, which will send the city spiraling into insolvency.

It's important to note that neither the city council nor the mayor authorized or directed Crittendon to file this lawsuit.  She filed on her own, claiming that the city Charter imposes on her not only the responsibility, but the obligation to do so.  This line -- that the Charter gives her not just the authority to file but makes her file -- has been repeated in the press, but is it true?