Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Michigan Protests

This article is about people protesting the new Michigan budget propossed by Governor Snyder. I know that many of you attended the protests in East Lansing on March 16 as indicated at the end of the article. I feel that protests are one of the only ways in which anyone could show that they do not approve of something. However, often times these protests fall short of their goal.

Do you believe that protests are a good way to get change?

http://www.fightbacknews.org/2011/3/16/michigan-protests-budget-cuts

10 comments:

  1. I think protests are a great way to get things done. However I think there should be alternatives but I really cannot think of any. Protests are a great way to get media attention which will spread one's voices across the state and nation.

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  2. Protests (and the public spaces in which we have them!) are absolutely essential to democratic politics, especially insofar as marginalized groups of people (the poor, homeless, etc) fail to be counted as legitimate members of that society.

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  3. (Michael Moore helped arrange the protest in Traverse City that day!) I agree with Mark, if there were a better solution to getting one's voice heard, then I think it'd be great. But since I can't think of any either, protests are effective.

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  4. Interesting the protest was on March 15, the ides of March. It was the day Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in the Roman Senate. In this sense the protestors were hoping to put to death the proposed budget cuts.
    Protests are effective, but there are also petitions, media campaigns, and writing in/calling in to news stations and radio stations. Unfortunately tough decisions have to be made and budget cuts need to take place. I am not saying I agree or disagree with the current budget cuts, but I am saying these are tough decisions that whether we like it or not have to be made. We have to balance the budget.

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  5. Out of curiousity: Sam, why do you think that there ought to be a "better way". What do you see as the flaws in protesting?

    ET, We do have to balance the budget... but I do not think that we are doing it the right way. Corporations should pay taxes.

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  6. Protests build media attention and a short-term cache of public support; the crucial part is having a realistic and workable plan ready to implement backed by that public support once you have gotten attention by protesting. The two go together, on their own they are each easily ignored.

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  7. I'm pretty jaded on protesting. It's sorta kinda good in that it gets a topic initial attention. But lawmakers don't care about 150 votes and how often after driving by a war protest on W. Main do you actually go home and write your legislator or even do some research on how the war is going. Face-time and what happens on the inside are all that really matter in government, since elections are all spin and no deep thought for 90% of voters.

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  8. The article gave the impression that the government is taking money from the power and reallocating it to the rich .The masses are getting affected by budget cuts in health and education and at the same time businesses are getting tax cuts. To give businesses a tax break is to incentivize businesses to stay in the state and hopefully bring their company to Michigan. This will bring economic stability and jobs. There is a lot of competition around Michigan.Indiana is running ads in Illinois letting the businesses know they have lower tax rates and this competition will take business away ( and jobs) if the Michigan doesn't respond by giving tax breaks to businesses.

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  9. Protest is a good idea to get the attention and let law makers make a commitment to address the problem. But in most cases lawmakers do not stick to their promise after the protest is over.

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  10. I tend to agree with those who don't seem too happy with protests. I think that they certainly grab people's attention, but do not have much lasting affect. Whenever I see a protest I stop for a minute, but usually by the time I am home that night, i have forgot all about it. I think that protests make statements, but lack power.

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