This is not good government

I’ve been writing a lot about how both Republicans and Democrats submit identical legislation, sometimes in the same legislative session, in order to get credit for passing bills and joint resolutions that enjoy widespread bipartisan support (HERE, HERE, and HERE.)

After writing about this, I heard from folks across the country that told me that (a) this isn’t something that’s by any means unique to Michigan, (b) both Democrats and Republicans do it, and (c) “it happens all the time”. From the outside looking in, this looks like nothing more than plagiarism and credit stealing. In some cases, it certainly is, particularly in terms of getting credit for passing good legislation. However, there’s a bit more to the story that’s worth getting out there so that we can discuss the issue with as many of the facts in hand as possible.

It’s all there waiting for you after the jump.

After spending time reading and writing and thinking about the post I put up earlier, “Michigan Republicans stealing bills introduced by Democrats to deny them legislative victories”, I ended up in a funk. I realized that there are actually some areas of common ground between our legislative Democrats and Republicans. They actually DO agree on some things and on some good legislation.

But the politics in this state (and elsewhere, too, I’m sure) have become so toxic that our politicians are fighting to get credit for anything that could be described as “good”. They are so intent on pandering to their constituents and making sure “the other guys” don’t get credit for anything positive that they will steal each others legislation.

More after the jump.