Governor-elect Gretchen Whitmer has pledged to fix our state’s roads. This will require billions of dollars. More: Michigan pot convictions could get…
Governor-elect Gretchen Whitmer has pledged to fix our state’s roads. This will require billions of dollars.
More: Michigan pot convictions could get reversed under Gretchen Whitmer
More: 4 ways to look at 2018’s midterm election results| Opinion
An increased gas tax would be the fairest way to raise the needed money. Those who use our roads the most would then pay the most to repair them.
George Hardy
Warren
What was learned from this election? What was one of the most important concerns the majority of voters had — both Democrat and Republican?
Health care.
Repairing, supporting and expanding the Affordable Care Act has a chance. Let’s not sit around and celebrate any sort of victory. Time to work for something everyone can agree upon.
We need a way to nonviolently defang those hateful few that we have been deliberately pitted against through the actions and inactions of Donald Trump’s administration — so let’s „kill them with kindness,“ so to speak, and extend a bipartisan hand while we also carefully verify trustworthiness going forward.
Let the discussions begin. After all, it’s the American Way.
Marsha Viers
Warren
With the midterm elections behind us, the ads will start rolling for the 2020 presidential election.
A lot of talk has been made in the past about term limits, but there are other issues at stake here that are equally important.
Starting a campaign now for the 2020 election is a bit early. It also distracts incumbents who are running for office. They pretty much become “lame ducks” to their constituents for the next two years while campaigning.
It’s time to add some new rules in regard to political elections. For example, people wanting to run for office in 2020 should not be allowed to officially or publicly start a campaigning until Jan. 1 of 2020. That gives them a full 10 months’ worth of campaigning, more than enough.
We should also impose campaign spending limits. If all candidates had the same amount of funds to spend, this would level the playing field and not allow the rich to buy an election. All of the campaign money spent today by all candidates would go a long way toward funding affordable health care to those in need.
If we limited the presidential campaign fund to, say, $20 million each, then all parties would have a fair chance and it would teach the candidates to spend wisely and to become more effective in their campaigning.
Ken Sellers
Flat Rock
I would like to thank everyone that supported me during my brief write-in candidacy for Macomb County clerk. I would like to congratulate the newly elected clerk, Fred Miller, and to candidates Lisa Sinclair and James Perna for their gallant efforts in their campaigns.
Now I can put this nightmare chapter in my life behind me and move forward to the quiet life I once knew. Thank you.
Harrison Cloke
Warren
I want to congratulate Andy Levin on his win in the election. I hope he will work to make addressing the crisis of Alzheimer’s disease a priority in the next Congress.
Alzheimer’s is a public health crisis that is devastating families in Michigan and straining our economy. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, there are 180,000 Michiganders over the age of 65 living with Alzheimer’s, and 514,000 more providing them with unpaid care.
Alzheimer’s is the only leading cause of death that cannot be prevented, cured or even slowed. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, Michigan will spend $1.368 billion in Medicaid payments caring for people living with Alzheimer’s.
I call on Levin to make Alzheimer’s a priority in the new Congress.
Blake Silverman
Bloomfield Hills
Now that recreational marijuana has been approved in Michigan, what will be the status of the Michigan workforce a few years from now when a significant portion of those applying for jobs can’t pass the drug tests?
More: Legal marijuana in Michigan: What you need to know
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Partaking of a legal drug does not keep a company from protecting its property, products and people from those high on dope. I’m a former top human resources executive, and they’re not going to get hired if I’m in charge. Allan Payne, former Michigander Cincinnati
First and foremost, congratulations to Gretchen Whitmer, and her campaign team, in getting her message to voters who elected her the 49th governor of Michigan. I voted for her because I believe that she’ll „fix the damn roads.“
She also touted her ability to work across party lines and pledged to protect and build on Michigan’s expansion of Medicaid. I believe what she should do in continuing to move Michigan is to keep in place the things that are working and fix the things such as infrastructure, schools and the high cost of auto insurance, to mention a few, that need to be fixed.
