A criticism of the governor's decision to dismantle the Library of Michigan and the State Museum in order to save a minor amount of money while the state is being driven to bankruptcy by runaway social program spending
JOURNAL OF THE SENATE [August 27, 2009]
Senator George's statement is as follows:
I think it would be helpful to step back and look at why we are considering this at all today. And, of course, the Governor and the Legislature were trying to look for ways to create a balanced budget to make ends meet. Why is it that this state is so broke that it has to consider transferring its library and museum collections? How did we get ourselves into this pickle? If you asked that question, the answer will lead you to our open-ended social programs. We are adding 15,000 new Medicaid recipients a month to our rolls. We have social programs with no spending constraints, with eligibility requirements that are open-ended. They are not capped. They have unlimited spending potential. In thinking that moving the library or closing it or moving the museum or closing it is somehow going to help us fix that problem, it is incorrect.
Even if we were to save $1.8 million, which is questionable, it may cost us more just to reshuffle the department around. But even if it did, it still would only be a drop in the bucket. The real thing that we need to do, if we are going to fix our budget problems, is address our runaway, social programs for which there is no end in sight. This will not solve that.
I would like to remind the chamber of where the library and the museum came from. Behind us, we have a portrait of Territorial Governor Lewis Cass. They were both created in 1828 before we were a state. They precede our State Legislature in history; they were here before us-our library and museum. They were created when we were a territory. Why was it that the territorial leaders in Michigan chose to create a library and a museum and a historical society? Why did they care to do that even before we were a state? They did because they were trying to show that Michigan was self-aware and that it was civilized and that it would be a good place to come and settle. They did it in the march toward statehood. To become a state, you needed to have 60,000 free residents, and in order to attract people here, Lewis Cass and the territorial Legislature paved the roads with wood to make it easy for travelers-plank roads. They made peace treaties with Native Americans. They established a local government. Out township system of government came into being before we were a state, and they established the Library of Michigan and the state Historical Society.
The early focus of the Historical Society, by the way, since was formed in territorial times, wasn't the history of the white settlers; it was the history of the Native Americans. That was the interest of the Historical Society and the museum. In fact, the Historical Society had a special membership category for Indian chieftains. It just shows that our forefathers placed value in the history of their adopted home.
Now it is threatened by runaway social spending, and the answer is not to break up the department and to transfer the collections away. The best answer is what we have done: Reject the executive order and instead transfer these facilities to the Office of the Secretary of the State.