By Jesse Saunders Photo Editor
It is easy to fight the government at every turn, to insist on state’s rights and work to limit the power of the central government. What’s hard is putting these practices into play. Flint is just one of the many cities in this country that are currently experiencing issues with the purity of its water. It’s naïve to pretend these problems couldn’t be prevented. This is a clear failure of both the local and state government to ensure the health and happiness of its citizens.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is the type of leader no one in this country can afford to humor. This crisis came out of a state attempt to save money, an example of cutting corners at the cost of human health. Beyond that, his reaction to this crisis shows that he is far from prepared to be the leader of anything, let alone an entire state. Snyder’s best course of action at this point is to step down and allow Michigan to choose a new leader that has their interests at heart.
Flint, like many states that depended on factories that no longer exist to stimulate their economy, has a laundry list of problems. For starters, over 40 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. After declaring a financial state of emergency, the local government turned over control of their budget to the state government. This resulted in a never-ending list of budget cuts with no real solution or plan. The state of Michigan took away the rights of the local government, which was then unable to actually help the people who elected them. The conclusion that is easily drawn in this situation is that the champions of states’ rights over those of the federal government have done little to make sure those states are actually using those rights to protect their citizens.
In the next few years we are likely to see many more crises like this unless we make sure that we put the health and happiness of our citizens above our own personal greed. The current leaders who see the easy way out as the best option can no longer be allowed to use the government as their own personal budgetary playground.
Jesse Saunders is the president of the Democrats of Hofstra University
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