Mackinac Gathering
The business and political elite gathered on Mackinac Island last week to determine ways that will advance their interests and solidify their political control. As reported, “Nearly 1,700 business leaders, politicians, and philanthropists headed to Mackinac Island to rub elbows, and discuss issues in the state ranging from education to transportation.
“Michigan’s political establishment decamps for this conference because they are drawn by the movers and shakers in the business world who come up here, and vice versa -- the business people come up because there is easy access to Michigan’s political class.”
Each year the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the gathering, organizes panels and speakers around themes, or “pillars.” It is obvious that the rejection by Amazon of the Dan Gilbert/Detroit bid to entice its new headquarters here formed the backdrop of the gathering. The pillars were "Is Michigan Prepared?"; the "Mobility Disruption, and "Trust," restoring confidence in government, news media and business. Transportation and education dominated the discussions.
Over the years these gatherings have been incubators for state-level initiatives. This year is no exception. We should all be concerned about the intentions signaled by conferencegoers to continue to meddle in affairs where they are ill-equipped to make decisions. Yet, with an astonishing combination of ignorance and arrogance, the conference provides a glimpse of the collective agenda to continue efforts to “privatize” public goods.
The disaster of our public education system is perhaps the clearest example. The head of the Chamber of Commerce, Sandy Baruah, said, "I think education has been one of those issues that we've been talking up on the island in one form or another for years now," We always talk about it but we haven't been able to solve it, and so that's a continuing frustration for us."
Mackinac gatherings have provided the backdrop for the development of schools of choice; efforts to use public money to finance private, often religious schools; the establishment of emergency management; standardized assaultive and abusive testing; increased police presence in schools; assaults on teachers unions; efforts to charge parents for children’s misbehavior; removal of social supports; resisting anti-bullying efforts because they included LGBTQ concerns; extension of time required in school; and eroding qualifications for teachers. These are just a few of the ideas floated on the island over the years. Many have become laws creating some of the worst, most destructive, and abusive school practices in the country.
Baruah assures us there is no end in sight to this commitment to the destruction of public education.
In part, these destructive policies are nothing more than the enactment of neoliberal, austerity politics aimed at turning all public responsibilities into private profit centers. The Mackinac gathering is simply the place where people reassure one another that they are committed to “business as usual,” and making Michigan ever more business-friendly.
But these policies do not emerge by accident. The Republican-dominated legislature, governor, and court system reflect the long-standing influence of frequent island visitors such as right-wing ideologue Betsy DeVos and her family.
Last fall the Republican party gathered to celebrate their hold on state and national government, a government which right-wing money like that of the DeVos crew helped establish.
The DeVos family has made at least $82 million in political contributions nationally, as much as $58 million of those dollars spent in Michigan — with $14 million in the last two years alone.
As Free Press writer Nancy Kaffer observed, “In Michigan, it's difficult to find a significant state-level policy change the DeVos family hasn't backed: right-to-work, pension reform, unfettered school choice.”
The conference may be over, but the consequences linger. They remind us of the urgent, persistent work ahead to create more human, caring, and creative ways of living.