Hans Barbe’s Positions on the Michigan Ballot Proposals
Vote NO on Proposal 1: Emergency Manager (State-imposed dictator) law.
This law gives Governor Snyder the power to declare local governments and school districts to be in a “financial emergency” and impose an “Emergency Manager” (a dictator) that nullifies the role of elected officials and the obligations of city contracts—not to mention democracy itself. We must repeal this law, which gives Emergency Managers unprecedented amounts of decision-making power over people, while requiring no accountability to those same people. It is an attempt to steal resources through privatization, to further consolidate corporate power and to ensure banks and bond-holders are financially protected over city workers and city services. Primarily being applied in cities with populations that are majority people of color, the Emergency Manager law reflects the racism inherent in its conception. It is an affront to democratic rights, civil rights and to so many fundamental, natural rights of sovereignty and self-determination. We can restore these rights and push back against the forces of fascism by voting NO on Proposal 1.
Vote YES on Proposal 2: Collective bargaining affirmed as a constitutional right.
The natural right of workers to unionize themselves is fundamental to democracy and to protecting the dignity of work and should absolutely be affirmed into a constitutional right. Especially in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, there’ve been union-busting laws recently enacted to undercut the defense that unions offer against those forces consolidating corporate power, stealing resources and maximizing profits at the expense of workers’ wages and working conditions. The recent victory of the Chicago Teachers Union and the power of their strike improved their working conditions and the quality of education for their students.
The ability for us all to organize in creative ways that express and assert our aspirations, whether labor unions or Occupy movements, is the calling of this political moment in time. Labor unions play one of the biggest roles in that calling. Vote YES on Proposal 2.
Vote YES on Proposal 3: 25% of our electricity must come from renewable sources by 2025.
This proposal is a step in the right direction of prioritizing Michigan’s transition to sustainable, renewable, clean energy infrastructure and we should take that step with a yes vote on proposal 3. However, the issue of sustainability should be far more of an urgent priority than the merely 25% the proposal calls for. This year saw world-record high temperatures across the planet along with world-record ice cap recession. We have to get serious about our environmental impact before we destroy ourselves. A culture of sustainability should become regular practice of society and its government. Let’s steer the ship that way by voting YES on Proposal 3.
Vote YES on Proposal 4: Affirms collective bargaining rights for in-home healthcare providers.
Proposal 4 continues the exact same defense of the right of workers to unionize as proposal 2 and, likewise, we should vote YES.
Vote NO on Proposal 5: Creates a requirement of 2/3 legislative majority for tax increases
The collection of taxes, our method of paying for our public assets, infrastructure and services, should not be hindered by a requirement whose underlying purpose is to help turn all that into private assets, infrastructure and services. Especially when so much of Michigan’s tax revenue has already been given to the private sector in the form of corporate tax breaks, the ability for public officials to raise what is necessary to keep our street lights on and schools open should not become an overly involved process with unrealistic standards. Vote NO on Proposal 5.
Vote NO on Proposal 6: An attempt by billionaire “Matty” Maroun to monopolize international bridge crossings.
This proposal is an attempt by one obscenely wealthy individual to continue his private monopoly of the international bridge crossing in Southeast Michigan at the public’s expense and we should vote it down. The governments of the United States, Canada and Michigan reached a deal recently that ensured that Michigan tax payers would, in no way, foot the bill for the new bridge crossing. But billionaire “Matty” Maroun is trying to thwart that deal from being enacted by creating an unprecedented new standard of statewide voter approval before any new international bridge crossing can be built. Let’s break his monopoly on our border by voting NO on Proposal 6.
--Hans Barbe
Vote NO on Proposal 1: Emergency Manager (State-imposed dictator) law.
This law gives Governor Snyder the power to declare local governments and school districts to be in a “financial emergency” and impose an “Emergency Manager” (a dictator) that nullifies the role of elected officials and the obligations of city contracts—not to mention democracy itself. We must repeal this law, which gives Emergency Managers unprecedented amounts of decision-making power over people, while requiring no accountability to those same people. It is an attempt to steal resources through privatization, to further consolidate corporate power and to ensure banks and bond-holders are financially protected over city workers and city services. Primarily being applied in cities with populations that are majority people of color, the Emergency Manager law reflects the racism inherent in its conception. It is an affront to democratic rights, civil rights and to so many fundamental, natural rights of sovereignty and self-determination. We can restore these rights and push back against the forces of fascism by voting NO on Proposal 1.
Vote YES on Proposal 2: Collective bargaining affirmed as a constitutional right.
The natural right of workers to unionize themselves is fundamental to democracy and to protecting the dignity of work and should absolutely be affirmed into a constitutional right. Especially in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, there’ve been union-busting laws recently enacted to undercut the defense that unions offer against those forces consolidating corporate power, stealing resources and maximizing profits at the expense of workers’ wages and working conditions. The recent victory of the Chicago Teachers Union and the power of their strike improved their working conditions and the quality of education for their students.
The ability for us all to organize in creative ways that express and assert our aspirations, whether labor unions or Occupy movements, is the calling of this political moment in time. Labor unions play one of the biggest roles in that calling. Vote YES on Proposal 2.
Vote YES on Proposal 3: 25% of our electricity must come from renewable sources by 2025.
This proposal is a step in the right direction of prioritizing Michigan’s transition to sustainable, renewable, clean energy infrastructure and we should take that step with a yes vote on proposal 3. However, the issue of sustainability should be far more of an urgent priority than the merely 25% the proposal calls for. This year saw world-record high temperatures across the planet along with world-record ice cap recession. We have to get serious about our environmental impact before we destroy ourselves. A culture of sustainability should become regular practice of society and its government. Let’s steer the ship that way by voting YES on Proposal 3.
Vote YES on Proposal 4: Affirms collective bargaining rights for in-home healthcare providers.
Proposal 4 continues the exact same defense of the right of workers to unionize as proposal 2 and, likewise, we should vote YES.
Vote NO on Proposal 5: Creates a requirement of 2/3 legislative majority for tax increases
The collection of taxes, our method of paying for our public assets, infrastructure and services, should not be hindered by a requirement whose underlying purpose is to help turn all that into private assets, infrastructure and services. Especially when so much of Michigan’s tax revenue has already been given to the private sector in the form of corporate tax breaks, the ability for public officials to raise what is necessary to keep our street lights on and schools open should not become an overly involved process with unrealistic standards. Vote NO on Proposal 5.
Vote NO on Proposal 6: An attempt by billionaire “Matty” Maroun to monopolize international bridge crossings.
This proposal is an attempt by one obscenely wealthy individual to continue his private monopoly of the international bridge crossing in Southeast Michigan at the public’s expense and we should vote it down. The governments of the United States, Canada and Michigan reached a deal recently that ensured that Michigan tax payers would, in no way, foot the bill for the new bridge crossing. But billionaire “Matty” Maroun is trying to thwart that deal from being enacted by creating an unprecedented new standard of statewide voter approval before any new international bridge crossing can be built. Let’s break his monopoly on our border by voting NO on Proposal 6.
--Hans Barbe
