Michael Merriweather

“There is not an Emergency Manager in Ann Arbor, the community where I live. Some people might wonder why I care, but when I turn on the television and see local governments in Benton Harbor or Detroit being dismissed, assets and services taken over and sold off, by an unelected, unaccountable, bureaucrat, it is impossible for me not to feel outraged.

“America prides itself on being a free and open democratic society, but in Michigan the state government can seize control of any local government and do with it whatever it wants. That is tyranny. There is a lot of talk about what we should be doing to foster democracy abroad, but what we need is a conversation about restoring democracy at home. People have a right to participate in the institutions that govern their lives. In Michigan that right has been taken away. It is time to take it back.”