Sean McCann: While the country collapses, Michigan is finding a way forward
While people across the country look at the government shutdown in Washington and worry about whether they are going to be able to afford their health care anymore, look at what’s happening in Michigan: We’re investing in schools and making sure no kid comes home hungry.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The views and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not of Ottawa News Network.
Three weeks ago, on Sept. 30, our leaders in Washington shut down the government. And in doing so, they turned what once was unthinkable into something that now feels inevitable.
On most days, it feels like America has become too partisan and too divided to get things done anymore. In Washington, this divisiveness isn't seen as a problem. It’s used as a weapon. This inability to come together to prevent a shutdown is just the latest proof. But while the chaos of Washington continues, something very different happened in Michigan.
On the very same night that Washington shut down, a similarly divided legislature in Michigan faced the same deadline. And you know what? We passed a budget. And kept the government working for the people it’s supposed to serve. Republicans didn’t do that. And neither did Democrats. We all did it the only way it could get done: together.
Sometimes politicians talk about bipartisanship as if it’s some kind of cure-all. But it’s not. Bipartisanship isn’t going to fix the disenchantment people feel about politics all by itself. It can’t make all your worries about what’s happening to our country go away tomorrow.
But it can help. And that matters to me. It matters a lot. And it’s why I’m running for Congress.
One of my proudest achievements in the Michigan legislature, for example, was the bipartisan Medicaid expansion that passed in 2013. Since its passage, 750,000 people have been able to access health care. That can be life-changing. And it never would have happened without the parties coming together to get it done.
And while people across the country look at the government shutdown in Washington and worry about whether they are going to be able to afford their health care anymore, look at what’s happening in Michigan: We’re investing in schools and making sure no kid comes home hungry. We’re holding costs down for families and seniors. We’re protecting vital services like Medicaid and continuing to support our police officers and firefighters. And last — and certainly not least — we’re fixing our roads.
Will any of that solve all the problems we face today? No. But it's real and important, and it’s an example of our political system actually delivering on its promise to do the thing everyone would like it to do, but thinks it can’t anymore: help make lives better. And if we can do more of that, well then, hopefully, you might feel a little less disenchanted, a little less worried and, God willing, a little less angry.
In Michigan, we still believe that.
And that will be my north star as your Congressman: figuring out how to bring people together to solve problems and make all our lives better.
— Sean McCann is the senator for the Michigan Senate's 19th district.
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