Auchtoon!

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.