ANYONE who agrees with nullifying democracy itself by throwing out duly elected leadership, selected by the voters in a regular or a special election, DOES NOT BELONG ON THIS WEBSITE.

Period.

This is not hard. You either believe in democracy, or you do not.

The EFMs are NOT part of any democracy (or democratic republic, to satisfy DU's non-fascist rightwingers). They are incipient dictatorship and its supporters should be treated here as supporting such.

Obvious is obvious. Supporters of the EFMs and the EFM law DO NOT SUPPORT DEMOCRACY AS A CONCEPT, PERIOD.

all edits: grammar and punctuation

You either believe in democracy or you do not. In a nutshell.

IMHO.

This is not debatable.

I have posted at DU for many years,
and in that time, I have resisted using the word "fascist" because I always felt that using that word to describe politics in the USA was not appropriate.
I will use it here, now.
Fascist is an appropriate description.

There is no wiggle room here. None.

esp a black majority city

..

Snyder has a lot of support in this, and racism is the reason. If a city made up mainly of middle class white people had been taken over, people would be in the streets.

The current government seems like alcoholic teenagers being left in charge of a liquor store.

I don't know what the solution to Detroits's problems are, but it sure ain't the current system.

downsizing for *decades*.

detroit public schools have been under some form of state control since 2000, and under emergency dictatorship since 2009.

Meanwhile:

“The state eliminated revenue sharing for all Michigan cities, causing all cities, not just Detroit, to experience financial distress,” Crittendon said. “Moreover, the state used federal stimulus money to bail itself out, and now enjoys a billion and a half dollar surplus, while cities across the state are suffering.”

http://www.freep.com/article/20130227/NEWS01/130227060/Lisa-Howze-Detroit-mayor-candidate-says-city-s-debt-is-manageable-without-EFM

but the premise that Democracy is being denied or that voters are being disenfranchised is bullshit. Municipalities are not principalities, they are not independent from State governments and are subject to a higher authority, which is the three branches of state government, the executive, legislative and judicial branches. The EMF law was passed by the State legislature and signed by the Governor. Municipalities do not get the option of "opting out" of being governed by state law. To claim that Democracy is being denied is simply not an accurate statement, anymore than it is to say that Democracy would have been denied had Walker been recalled in Wisconsin. Both the EMF law and Wisconsin's recall provision are actually examples of Democracy in action.

Detroit is one huge fucked up mess and it has been for decades and decades. It's been governed by a horrendously corrupt and incompetent political structure for over 40 years. Allowing it to implode further is pointless, they are not going to solve their own problems. The EMF law has been applied in the past by Governors of both parties, with mixed results. So if you are going to claim that it's a fascist law, then you better be prepared to call Jim Blanchard and Jennifer Granholm fascists, as well. Some cities have seen improvement, others it has not made much difference. Some of those cities have had majority white populations, so the claim that the EMF law is being applied on some kind of a racist basis rings hollow.

Detroit is the largest city in Michigan, to a great extent, it's economic condition has a huge bearing on the overall economic condition of the rest of the state. The State government has a duty and an obligation to step in, if the local municipality proves itself incapable of running itself and there is little doubt that Detroit has amply demonstrated that lack of capability for the last several decades.

Personally, I would have liked to have seen Dave Bing appointed as the Emergency Manager, as I think his administration has been a refreshing change from the corruption that preceded it but that is not the direction that Snyder went.

They do not want it. It hasn't worked well in other cities, certainly no better than allowing local elected people to run things. The corrupt Republican legislature in Michigan passed another Emergency Manager law the very next month.

That isn't democracy. Democracy has indeed been taken away from the people of Michigan as well as Detroit. 82 percent of Detroit citizens voted to strike down the EM law just last November.

As far as corruption, the unelected Emergency Manager appointed in Pontiac, MI sold the Pontiac Silverdome for next to nothing. Later, the EM partnered with the guy he sold the Silverdome to for next to nothing to start a business.

It is not bullsh!t that citizens are being denied democracy. It is indeed a fact.

We VOTED.

We said NO.

Either you believe in democracy or you don't.

You clearly don't.

The new EM law was passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor. It was not declared by fiat or imposed outside democratic process. You may not like the fact that the Republican Legislature did so or that the Republican Governor signed the measure into law but there was nothing illegal about it. If the majority of the electorate don't agree with that action, then Democracy dictates that they will be voted out of office next time around or it will be overturned by the Judicial branch of Government.

You can argue it's a bad law and that it should be scrapped but claiming that the voters were disenfranchised or that the democratic process was interfered with is simply not factual.

The people made their wishes quite clear using the democratic process of voting. A month later, those wishes were ignored by the lame duck Republicans and the law was passed again, forcing the people of Michigan to tolerate this abusive process until the next election.

The people said no, the Republicans insisted and ignored the wishes of the people. That isn't democracy, it's abuse. Elected officials in Michigan took an oath that they would faithfully discharge the duties of their office, and there's no way these actions can be interpreted as faithful, as they go against the voters wishes, made very clear just the previous month.

It IS a bad law. It allows even more corruption as the EM isn't accountable to the people for their actions, they alone make decisions and if those decisions go against the will of the people, it's just too bad. The EM isn't elected, it's an appointed position. The new law changes little from the old one, it's a dictator's law, which certainly isn't constitutional.

The EM law has been a failure in every instance except for one, so there's no reason to continue it. The GOP did not represent the people, they allowed a dictator to be appointed. The fact that the people can eventually vote these Republicans out of office does not correct the fact that they've already very recently clearly expressed their wishes, and the damage will be done before any correction can be made.

The people did not vote to suspend the EM law for a month. Just because something can be done legally, that does not mean it's the right thing to do, nor does it mean it's in the best interests of the people. The GOP just shafted every citizen in Michigan.

Although I highly doubt that the Michigan Supreme court will over turn it but the fact remains that it was a democratically enacted law. The fact that you don't agree with it does not nullify it's legality. Politicians not acting in good faith? Say it isn't so! Welcome to the world of partisan politics. Challenge the law in court or vote the scoundrels out of office, those are the options. If Detroit does not want an EM, I believe they have several other options under the new law, Bankruptcy being one of them. Personally, I see the EM being the best of the options available to them. In any event, things there could not get much worse.

Selling off the assets of the people to create profits in which you plan to share is surely unconstitutional. And when you use lobbyists to jimmy the laws so you and your rich pals reap massive subsidies for sitting around languidly lifting a petulant finger to order others to half-kill themselves working, you are working to re-establish a feudal slave system. The Southern slaveowners thought this was the way to run a society. Through their delusion and perfidy, they surrounded themselves and their families with sick, hungry, exhausted, dirty, desperate people. Beware, plutocrats. Whatever goes around, comes around. What you sow, you will reap.