Last year was particularly bad. Roads I had been driving on for decades with only the rare problem were now nearly impassable. Several teachers and our school's principal lost a tire on the main road that leads to my work. My copilot and I drove an extra five to ten minutes (depending on traffic) out of the way to avoid a similar fate.
And our state government did NOTHING!
Forums were raised, people were furious, and nothing happened. NOTHING! In a government where both legislative houses, the governor's mansion, and even the supreme court are all dominated by the same party, NOTHING was accomplished. These are the same people who were able to pass "Right To Work" in a union state in under three months, who were able to give billions in tax breaks to businesses in even less time, and were able to streamline "emergency managers" (which is an amazing assault on voter rights) in one legislative session.
Yet they can't do one of the few things that nearly everyone agrees is the job of the government: maintain our infrastructure. Without decent roads, we don't have trade, fresh food, or tourism. Yet they did nothing for over a year.
Now, they've "put it to the voters." But there's only one choice: a tax that hits the poorest people in Michigan the hardest: a sales tax increase. Worse, they also hid a number of other taxes in this referendum that make little sense. The tax deserves its own post, but it's worst insult? We have to wait until May to even vote on it: well over a year since this government should have and could have acted on this problem, well over a year since this debacle should have been fixed.
Our governor then tells us that "there's no plan B." Basically, we pass this ridiculous tax or watch our roads become something other than roads. He's already been happily destroying public schools, local governments, voter rights, unions, decent wages, and the budget (while giving kick backs to his friends and relatives); it shouldn't be a surprise that he can't even keep our roads repaired.