Upon leaving the Constitutional Convention, Ben Franklin is quoted as saying that the constitutional delegates had chosen for America “a Republic, if you can keep it.” This came years after the founding fathers sat down and declared their independence from the British monarchy. Our democratic republic was an experiment, which had never been tried before as a form of government. […]

As Michigan Republican Party Co-Chair, Ron Weiser paid off Stan Grot to drop out of the Secretary of State race in 2018 so his preferred candidate, Mary Treder Lang, could run unopposed. Grot was paid $200,000 in a series of payments from the state Republican party’s coffers which were later revealed by past Chair Laura Cox. Cox described the arrangement […]

Man, that’s GOTTA hurt… While there have been a few rational actors in the Michigan Republican legislative caucus who have refused to subscribe to The Big Lie that Donald Trump won more votes than Joe Biden in Michigan and, in fact, across the entire country, most have been vocally all in on it. The only the way The Big Lie […]

On a hot day in early summer last year, there was a press conference held on the lawn of the Mason Historical Courthouse in Ingham County. It was being held by the Islam’s Secret Agents. The is the sort of intemperate rhetoric that serves no purpose but to mislead and rile a certain group of people. For those who may […]

The following essay was written by Daniel Caracheo Teniente. Daniel is a senior at Davenport University in Grand Rapids and an Immigrant Rights organizer with Michigan United. Since 2014, June has marked Immigrant Heritage Month in the United States. This month encourages us to reflect on our history as a nation of immigrants, appreciate the ways in which immigration enriches […]

We’ve known this day was coming for a long time but now it is upon us. Republicans in the Michigan state senate are poised to take up three voter suppression bills tomorrow, June 16th, and urgent action is needed. As one state senator I spoke with put it, “We need to flood the Republican phone lines.” The bills are Senate […]

As America emerges from the Dark Year of the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing is crystal clear: we have a childcare crisis in this country. While jobs are opening up nearly everywhere, employers struggle to find employees to fill their vacant positions. One reason is that the jobs people are being offered pay less than the ones they left due to […]

Margaret Atwood has been quite clear that there is nothing in her book A Handmaid’s Tale that hasn’t actually happened somewhere in the world at some point. Watching the astonishing recent television series The Underground Railroad, you quickly come to realize that some of these things happened right here in America not all that long ago. We know these things […]

The following essay was written by Krystle DuPree, a working mother and member of the Ann Arbor School Board. The views expressed here are hers and not those of the Ann Arbor School Board, her employer, or any other group. Enjoy. In March of 2020, the world as we knew it came to a grinding halt. Restaurants lowered their numbers […]

In March of 2017 at a public townhall meeting in Hillsdale, Michigan, Republican Congressman Tim Walberg (MI-07) told the audience, “If the public can’t comment, we have problems.” In the years since (and even before, frankly), he has made a Herculean effort to ensure that the only “public” who can comment at his public events are those he hand picks […]

The following essay was written by my good friend Caitlin Muciek-Balkus, a young mother from the mid-Michigan area. In it, she describes the difficult position parents are in right now as things open up after a year-long shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While I appreciate the strong desire of so many to get people back to work, I think […]