Bill Gelineau wants to be Michigan's Libertarian governor.
Gretchen Whitmer and Bill Schuette are getting most -- OK, pretty much all -- of the media coverage in the 2018 gubernatorial race, but let's not forget the also-rans, because they sure haven't forgotten Detroit.
Libertarian Party candidate Bill Gelineau, resident of the west Michigan city of Lowell, has a plan to sever Detroit from Wayne County. Even he calls it a "bombshell" idea, according to the Michigan State University student paper, The State News.
Speaking to the MSU chapter of the Young Americans for Liberty this week, Gelineau described his plan, which he called "Detroit 84," as "devolution" designed to "mitigate friction within Wayne County." Yeah, probably calling it "Project Soweto" or some other name would be too, y'know, controversial.
The creation of a separate county of Detroit could be a solution to the issue of excess government assistance to Detroit, Gelineau said.
“We think over time this will mean less subsidy from the state. And right now, Wayne County as a whole is a heavily subsidized entity by the state of Michigan,” he said.
Gelineau spoke of a desire to take this separation of powers even further, even as he admitted it would take "intellectual effort" to reverse the effects of annexation.
Such a move would further lead to a flowering of the educational system, too, he said, and a drop in the cost of living. We figure that would happen because Detroit could maybe put up a border wall with pricey admission for suburbanites coming in to see a hockey game or Lady Gaga concert at the pizzarena.
Whatever. Being a member of a fringe political party frees you to advocate stuff like this. Or as a friend of ours likes to say, "Being a libertarian means never having to say, 'I do solemnly swear . . .'"
