"Positive rights" and "negative rights" are the confusing terms applied to the types of individual rights recognized under different forms of government.
The U.S. Constitution recognizes the "negative" right of individuals to be free from government restrictions on what we can say, what church we attend, who we associate with, and more. These rights can't be taken away from a person even if a majority of citizens vote to do so.
Importantly, the government doesn't have to do anything for you to exercise these rights — it just has to not do anything that infringes your free exercise of them. That's why they're called "negative" rights. (They are also called "non-rivalous" rights, because every person can exercise them at the same time without diminishing anyone else’s ability to do so).
Apparently there is a limit to Grosse Pointe's crackdown on nonresident students. This week, the Grosse Pointe school board voted down a proposal to require all students to submit a notarized affidavit of residency every year.
According to MLive, board member Brendan Walsh said that the proposed requirement would discourage people from moving into the district. He said:
As someone closely attuned to state politics and policy, I am often asked by friends and family for advice on votes for judges, who are chosen in nonpartisan elections (meaning there is no “R” or “D” after the person’s name on the ballot). Here is what I say:
A lawsuit has been filed against the Kent County Land Bank, claiming that it violated state law. At issue is the recent move by Kent County officials to block vacant properties from sale, and instead transfer them directly to the land bank.
The Kent County Land Bank requested that more than 40 vacant properties be blocked from sale for reasons such as "...[keeping] undesirable business out of neighborhoods," and "[funding] the Land Bank."
State and local media are turning to the Mackinac Center for analysis of the announcement that A123 Systems declared bankruptcy today.
Fox News, MLive and Instapundit all cite Jarrett Skorup on the failed electric car battery maker that received hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate welfare.
Last July, the Mackinac Center published the "The Michigan Public High School Context and Performance Report Card." It offers a fresh look at how well high schools are actually performing academically by taking into account the impact that student poverty has on standardized test scores. It was reported on about 40 different times by a variety of media outlets.
Electric car battery-maker A123 Systems has filed for bankruptcy, according to Bloomberg News.
The company was promoted heavily by President Barack Obama and Michigan politicians and received hundreds of millions of dollars through federal “stimulus” and Michigan Economic Development Corp. programs. Earlier this year, Michigan Capitol Confidential uncovered a video of these politicians promising “hundreds” and “thousands” of jobs – the video was eventually taken down by the MEDC but saved by CapCon.
If Proposal 1 passes, it would keep Public Act 4 of 2011 in place and continue to give the state options for helping municipalities and school districts that face insolvency, Assistant Director of Fiscal Policy James Hohman told the Oakland Press and Southgate News-Herald. His Op-Ed explaining the measure can be found in the Detroit Legal News.
When members of the Michigan Employee Relations Commission (MERC) allowed the forced unionization of home-based caregivers in 2005, they seemed to know their role. But when the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation asked for a declaratory ruling to reverse that decision, the commissioners began searching for their job descriptions.
About 80 percent of school districts that have ratified new teachers contracts since January 2010 are ignoring a law signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm at that time requiring merit pay to be a “significant” factor in determining compensation, according to MLive. That information comes from an analysis by Education Policy Director Michael Van Beek released Monday.
A recent analysis by Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio and Assistant Fiscal Policy Director James Hohman that Proposal 2 could cost Michigan taxpayers $1.6 billion annually in lost reforms was cited recently in a Detroit Free Press Op-Ed and a commentary at National Review Online. The analysis also appeared in the Downriver Sunday Times.
Supporters of Proposal 2 often claim that government employee collective bargaining is really just about the kids. Here's how one union official put it in a press release:
It is true that unions typically negotiate over this stuff, but compared to what unions spend most of their time writing into contracts, these things don't seem very important. The "word cloud" below depicts the current Dearborn Public Schools teachers union contract and provides a glimpse into what's prioritized by public school teachers unions:
A retired Detroit police officer whose wife was forced into a government employee union because the couple opposes paying “union dues” to care for their two developmentally disabled adult children at home is “an idiot” according to a leading proponent of Proposal 4, the Detroit Free Press reports.
(Editor’s Note: The following is excerpted and abridged from the text of a speech delivered by Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative for the Mackinac Center, to various groups around the state about the ballot proposals on the Nov. 6 ballot.)
The Legislature will meet just one day this month, on Oct. 17, so rather than votes this report contains several newly introduced bills of interest.
Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
Senate Bill 1245: Ban Obamacare Medicaid expansion
Introduced by Sen. Bruce Caswell (R), to prohibit Michigan from expanding Medicaid eligibility to include all residents up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, including single individuals without children. The federal “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” originally mandated the expansion, but a U.S. Supreme Court ruling made it optional. Medicaid is a medical welfare program funded by a mix of tax dollars raised by the federal and state governments and originally targeted primarily at low income families with children. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.
Fox News and Instapundit both cite a recent blog post by Jarrett Skorup about the Michigan Economic Development Corp. taking down a promotional video showing Gov. Jennifer Granholm and President Barack Obama touting failed electric car battery maker A123.
On Feb. 21, 2012, Kalamazoo Public Schools fired a teacher — not for poor performance or for inappropriate conduct — but because she didn't pay her union dues.
According to court documents, Lori Erk went on medical leave in May 2011. Though the district initially approved the leave, it was subsequently unapproved, meaning that Erk had no source of income after June 2011. (Note: Use "Search Form" on MDE website to search for Erk.)
(Editor’s Note: The following is excerpted and abridged from the text of a speech delivered by Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative for the Mackinac Center, to various groups around the state about the ballot proposals on the Nov. 6 ballot. We'll post one part each day this week explaining Proposals 1 through 5.)
If the principal at your child’s school was rated “ineffective” by the district, would you have the right to know? According to one school district and a state department, the answer is “no.”
Danny Shaw, a reporter for Heritage Newspapers, made a simple FOIA request for the one principal rated “ineffective” by Willow Run Community Schools. The state denied the request because the information was “of a personal nature” and disclosing it would constitute an “unwarranted invasion of an individual’s privacy.”
Gongwer News Service is reporting that proponents of Proposal 2 claim the constitutional amendment “does not repeal a single law or statute.” The wording here is a distinction without a difference: The amendment may not “repeal” laws if it passes, but they would be nullified.
(Editor’s Note: The following is excerpted and abridged from the text of a speech delivered by Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative for the Mackinac Center, to various groups around the state about the ballot proposals on the Nov. 6 ballot. We'll post one part each day this week explaining Proposals 1 through 5.)
By Jack McHugh
Comments by the co-author of a 2008 report published by the journal Biology Today suggest that large wind turbines may be more lethal to bats than to birds. “Here we're picking up 10 bats for every bird," Erin Baerwald of the University of Calgary told a news site associated with cable TV’s Discovery Channel. She was referring to the number of dead creatures found on the ground around large wind turbines.
A previous post here described and shared a 1999 video filmed by the Saginaw-based United Auto Workers Local 699 at an event reminding members to vote for union-backed candidates, including a speaker discussing the union’s political influence in particular with a local judge.
(Editor’s Note: The following is excerpted and abridged from the text of a speech delivered by Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative for the Mackinac Center, to various groups around the state about the ballot proposals on the Nov. 6 ballot. We'll post one part each day this week explaining Proposals 1 through 5.)
Today in Capitol Confidential, my colleague James Hohman neatly exposed the hollowness of a so-called “fact check” of the Mackinac Center’s study of the potential economic impact of Michigan’s Proposal 3 ballot initiative (wind energy), written by a Mr. Jeff Deyette from an organization that calls itself the “Union of Concerned Scientists.”
