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?