Auchtoon!

Yes, yes — I think we can all agree that the way in which Michigan’s budget for 2026 came to be was probably unconstitutional, needlessly divisive, and ridiculously and dangerously opaque. In short, a disaster and counter to how representational government should function.

And yet, as bad as it was in basically having only three people (Governor Gretchen Whitmer, House Speaker Matt Hall, and Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks) with total control of the final product, they did manage to get it done without technically shutting the government down.

The federal government and its budget, on the other hand, is shut down because its functions are determined entirely by the whims of a president whose only motivations appear to be grift and retribution. Oh, and having his ego stroked.

So things here in Michigan could be worse. But it’s such a low, low, low bar to clear.

Unless you listen to the likes of Stephen Miller (and nobody should), you know that people are essentially the same all over the world. We are all human and susceptible to the worst human inclinations: hate, fear, willful ignorance, bigotry, racism, toxic ideology, etc. And, unfortunately, a common consequence is violence.

So what makes violence (political and otherwise) so much more harmful, so much deadlier, in the United States than in, say, the rest of the so-called industrialized first-world countries?

Guns. We have lots, lots, lots more guns. And whether you like guns or feel safer with guns or believe in the divine right to own them, the statistics are undeniable. Guns and gun culture makes violence deadlier in our country.

So after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, after the mass murder in Grand Blanc, we have yet again the opportunity to ask the question: Is it worth it?

It wouldn’t be a very Michigander thing to say that Michiganders are better than anybody else. After all, modesty is one of our more endearing traits. But it’s not wrong to say that there is a special practicality about us.

Some of it’s from environment. When you’re surrounded by massive bodies of water that can both moderate and intensify weather patterns, you learn to pay attention. And with winter annually trying to challenge our existence, you’ve got to stay on your toes for that, too.

Some of it’s cultural. We make things. We do things. We are curious about how things work. This brings us a heightened sense of awareness.

All this to say, we as Michiganders have many highly valuable inputs that feed and inform our instincts. So we should — I would postulate more than most do — go with those instincts.

So if some proven liar comes to us and starts dispensing ill-informed medical advice, we have good reason to be skeptical. Further, we have reason to question why and then feel confident in our conclusion that he’s only trying to distract us.

Let’s be honest — at best, it’s a passable editorial cartoon this week. I’ve been sick, and out of all the ideas I had, this one was the easiest to draw.

Oh, it gets the job done — calling out political parties and their apparent cluelessness on reneging on something they declared would not happen again (playing chicken with shutting down the state government as a means to “win” a better deal). But it certainly doesn’t have a strong or strident opinion to challenge readers.

My hope is that I only picked this idea because it was the simplest one. I hope I didn’t let the ominous threats to free speech that have swept our nation in the past week influence my decision. Kinda makes me feel even sicker, but I can’t say for sure.

If you’ve ever wondered why people who aren’t Trump supporters get so infuriated with him and his administration, well — let’s be honest — it’s a laundry list. But consistently never taking personal responsibility (particularly when things go badly) is definitely near the top.

This week provided three examples and, bonus, all with a Michigan angle. Fake electors who openly attempted to commit election fraud, Trump himself sharing an ill-informed video about our state budget, and home builder scion Bill Pulte leading the charge to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook with accusations of real-estate fraud when apparently it was fine for his father and stepmother.

If like me, your parents raised you to take personal responsibility, to own up to mistakes and admit when you’re wrong, then you know exactly what I’m talking about.

You may be fine with House Speaker Matt Hall’s methods and his breaking rules, laws, and norms to play a game of chicken with the State Budget. You may be inclined to give Governor Gretchen Whitmer grace for not delivering on her signature, high-profile campaign promise for a long-term fix of the damn roads. But both cases aren’t exactly building voter confidence in our system of government.

That’s a problem. Our state government is designed to work best when voters are encouraged and engaged. When politicians operate in a “the end justifies the means” mode or when politicians make promises and don’t keep them, that feeds cynicism and negativity among the voters. Which in turn attracts politicians that feed off that cynicism and negativity. Rinse and repeat.

Not good. Worse, our current federal government is without a doubt several generations ahead on that cycle.

So now that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has actually been defunded, many of the consequences that experts warned us about are, in fact, becoming reality. For example, the loss of CPB funding has halted distribution of critical public safety grants, jeopardizing the ability of local radio stations to serve and protect rural and disaster-prone communities.

We are blessed in Michigan to generally be better off than many other states as far as the frequency of natural disasters go. But as last year’s ice storm proved, we are certainly not immune, and the danger of a non-functioning emergency alert system is a problem for us, too.

It is possible, of course, that the Congress (remember them? the ones who constitutionally appropriate federal spending?) will find another way to budget for the emergency alert system. And maybe after a few disasters, it’ll happen. Doubtful.

Even more doubtful — the Trump Administration making it a priority. Unless they discover a grift angle. Then let’s all pray they don’t make it a priority.

Several years ago, I had a job with a parts supplier in the automotive industry (not an uncommon experience for us Michiganders). It was the early 2010s, the industry beginning to recover from the devastation of the Great Recession. I was in a conference room with some engineers with the normal pre-meeting chatter.

One guy mentioned something about a contract we had with General Motors. But then another guy jumped in to say that there shouldn’t even be a General Motors, that GM should have been allowed to go bankrupt and dispersed. And then he got very animated about free market capitalism and the slippery slope of Marxist socialism and how the federal government was generally bad if not evil. There was a brief pause (a sort of acknowledgement of a “well that escalated quickly” moment), and then the meeting got started.

I was thinking about that guy when I saw the news the other day about President Donald Trump’s desire for the U.S. government to own a piece of troubled chipmaker Intel. What would he think about that? How would he reconcile his steadfast ideology with a president (who I’m guessing he voted for) actively violating it?

And it’s not like this is a one-off violation. Two weeks ago, Trump was openly demanding that the Intel CEO be fired. Recently, he may have crossed some legal lines in a deal to charge Nvidia and AMD a fee to secure export licenses to sell AI chips to China. And of course there is the endless tariff declarations and market manipulations.

So I’m curious. But mostly, I’m glad not to be in meetings with that guy anymore.

Democrats currently hold only a one-seat majority in the State Senate with one vacant seat. For over 200 days, Governor Gretchen Whitmer hasn’t called a special election to fill the seat, and it’s not difficult to figure out why. Elections (at least in Michigan and for the moment) cannot be guaranteed. A Republican win would change the balance.

Of course, this is not how it’s supposed to work. The particular party balance of the Legislature should simply be reflective of the electorate. How those elected officials operate from that point should be in the best interest of the people they represent. And when there are conflicts and it becomes necessary for judges to make decisions, everybody involved should be compelled to abide by those decisions.

I’m not naive. It’s never actually worked exactly that way. But I feel this party-first approach to government has gotten considerably worse in the past few decades. The Gingriching, the McConnellizing of American politics.

If a judge orders Whitmer to call an election, we’ll see how she responds. She may find a workaround like Speaker Matt Hall did to prevent nine bills passed by the previous Legislature from becoming laws. Whatever happens, I won’t be surprised or even disappointed. This, apparently, is just how the game is played now.

I’m on vacation this week, so I’m trying to stay focused on this beautiful (depending on your heat tolerance) Michigan summer. That’s probably just as well because the whole tariff and trade situation, particularly with the automobile industry, is so volatile and so complex, it really doesn’t lend itself to a hot take. But I do feel safe in saying that the only folks I imagine being happy about the situation are the ones receiving payments on those $1,000-per-month-for-84-months auto loans.