The purpose of this column is to inform Michigan Governor Rick Snyder (R) that, in my view, his priorities are misplaced. Governor Snyder has so far exhibited the aura of competence. His persona suggests that he is a highly competent manager and technocrat. His style is reminiscent of Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (R) and GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney. All appear to be very proficient managers who are unwilling to allow ideology or political doctrine to interfere with their manipulation of the existing government apparatus. A Democrat from more than a quarter century ago projected a similar mindset. His name was Michael Dukakis. In a nation of more than 310 million people a technocrat is not needed or desirable. A principled focused leader is preferable.
It is always good to have a competent engineer at the controls when a train is hurtling down the track, but it is important that the engineer who designs the track and lays out the route has vision and a sense of direction. Competent engineers can work to keep the train on the rails, but they cannot change the direction of the track. We need visionaries to choose the direction for the nation and for liberty. Following the current track will not resolve our problems. We will continue to be bound by a rigid unyielding system that leads to more government and less freedom. We need leaders who have the courage to jump the track and forge a new path that restores the Republic and defends our liberty.
Proverbs 29:18 begins with “Where there is no vision the people perish….,” and my fear today is that we have no vision and our liberty is dying. Our leaders must have a burning desire for freedom and the will to secure liberty for all. Merely managing the ultimate enslavement of the citizenry is not visionary leadership. Accepting the status quo and its deadly direction is not acceptable. Visionaries, not functionaries, are needed to restore the Founders’ and Framers’ dreams. Our predecessors rightfully understood that our own inertia would result in the gradual erosion of our freedom, and they predicted our need for virtuous visionaries to lead the way. Now is the time. Petty competence and technocracy are too little, too late.
“Good enough” is no longer good enough. While business acumen is helpful, a passion for liberty is crucial. While an understanding of balance sheets is important, an awareness of the balance between the individual and the state is more critical. With the exception of Governor Romney the other two people that I mentioned at the beginning of this column are sitting Republican governors. Governor Daniels reluctantly signed Indiana’s Right-to-Work legislation and remarked on a Detroit radio station two weeks later that he was pleasantly surprised at the interest expressed for doing business in Indiana by some companies. Governor Snyder has publically stated that he does NOT want right-to-work legislation to cross his desk because it is too divisive and will distract from the important work of the state. Anal bureaucrats generally resent distracting anomalies. With our national trend on the wrong track, we need, we must encourage those who will bravely disrupt the old “business as usual” paradigm.
It’s true that visionaries are often idealists who foresee perfect outcomes for their grandiose initiatives. It is frequently desirable that visionaries must be surrounded by pragmatists who can implement their ideas and bring them to fruition. Pragmatism without vision becomes a number-crunching same old-same old. Pragmatists often revert to the routine and commonplace when facing monumental challenges. Pragmatic leaders should lean on the talent and enthusiasm of their more creative and passionate dreamers for solutions that are bold and striking. Clearly….sound leadership must include a mix of vision and competence, but people of vision are much rarer than managerial functionaries. We respect the top-notch manager, and we follow the idealistic dreamer. These perilous times require visionaries who will artistically describe the beauty of freedom and inflame the passions of the people to share their dreams.
Governor Snyder, I respect your task-oriented approach. Michigan’s plate of problems is heaped full. The previous administration (Granholm) was a socialistically oriented group of dreamers, but Michigan needs a counter dream to offset the smothering reality of the old one. Michigan must have a dream that leads to liberty and rejects misery. Michiganders must be able in their minds and hearts to share the glorious opportunity that individual freedom will deliver. They must hear it. They must learn it. They must know it, and they must want it. Positive leadership will stir the people of Michigan (and anywhere else) to seek freedom….to desire self-reliance….to thirst for opportunity.
We need leaders who will mount the white horses and lead us into battle. We will not follow those who ride the day-to-day donkeys of mere competence. We want inspiration, and we want it now. Pragmatically speaking, of course.
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