Island of Public Confession

by John Lindstrom
Gongwer News Service
June 4, 2010

Who doesn’t love the reformed sinner? Who doesn’t shed a tear when someone has the courage to announce he is an alcoholic, she is a compulsive shopper, they are addicted gamblers? Isn’t there in that confession the indication the confessor will reform, will seek out the right path and change?

But what if someone says, “My name is John Barleycorn and I’m an alcoholic” while standing at the bar, downing his fifth Mai Tai? What tears are shed then?

Mackinac Island this week has been the center of self-confession in Michigan. With the Detroit Regional Chamber meeting underway, with its focus on what is wrong with the state and what can be done to change Michigan to help it recover and prosper, confession has been popular. Speakers have confessed. Attendees have applauded those confessions over the buffets and bars, saying you’re right, you’re right — and ready to offer up confession of their own.

Mackinac Island this week has also seen the explosion of lilacs blooming, their delicate lavender blossoms rustling in the late spring breezes. And being one of the few places in the United States where horsepower is the literal mode of transportation, the island air is filled with…well, it’s just filled.

So, will the penchant for confession flowering on the island lead to a new blossoming in the state, open, fragrant and beautiful as the lilacs, as the citizens find renewal with their eyes opened, their spirits cleansed, their spines stiffened for the hard, anguishing but fulfilling work of redemption that leads Michigan to a new renaissance?

Or will it simply end up on the streets like so much sustainable harvested internal termination, so to say?

The confessional theme was set off by John Rakolta, the outspoken CEO of the giant construction firm Waldinger, at the first major event at the conference. Rakolta looked at the collapsing state of the state and said who is to blame: all of us. Look in the mirror and you will see who has failed the state, he said, by not responding to the markets, by approving unsustainable labor contracts, by failing to enact laws and regulations to help state businesses, by not driving residents and their children towards improved education.

From him, the theme was carried on, as speaker after speaker on the dais or at the microphone at the press conferences on the Grand Hotel’s porch talked about the state living in denial. The public and its institutions and communities and corporations must confront the reality there is, and not the fantasy they desire, and act on that factual existence, they said.

And all felt refreshed. We have confessed, we have been abject in our apology, we have confronted our enemy, who is ourselves alone, and surrendered. Confession is good, we feel good, we are better. Okay, so where’s the shrimp?

Yes it is and was vital that there be confession. The problems we suffer with are largely the problems of our own creation, and we cannot solve them until we face them.

But confession is nothing new, either. Throughout the decade-long struggle the state has suffered, confession has been a key component of our misery. The state and its leaders have said time and again we must confront reality, we must be willing to change, the old dynamics will not work, we must seek the new paradigms, everything is on the table, the only thing we care about is what will work, we will do anything, go anywhere.

And what in the end has changed? A greater level of misery, perhaps. Because we confess that we must change, we must start the change. But though we may all be sinners, your sins are far worse than mine, so you change first.

Whatever the year, we have confessed and called for change, and every year people are back to the Grand Hotel porch on Mackinac Island talking about what must be done and then gobbling down the appetizers. And whatever the year, all sides hold true to the hard and fast and are unwilling to seek change, unwilling to give up anything in hopes of greater gains; and so, where is the state?

Oh, yes, there have been examples of sacrifice, when pushed finally so that one is leaning over the abyss. The latest UAW contract is a good example of the willingness to achieve compromise when the only other option is death and damnation.

The difference perhaps in the 2010 version of the common confessional from earlier years is that it seems to be the only real theme on the island. In previous years, there was confession combined with the new gizmo that will save us aside from retributive redemption. The new proposals were unveiled and the island crowds rushed from the unveilings to drinks and dainties all agog over the newest whizbang.

Gizmos ain’t happening this year, apparently. Miracles were always in short supply and the supply ran out is the message.

So now comes the really hard part: will the state act on its confession? Will it begin the path to renewal by disenthralling itself from those positions it has clung to and give in for a greater good? Because until it does, what ultimately is the long term hope for the state?

Of course, time alone will tell if such is possible. Maybe the public pronouncements will fire the needed spark, because leading up to the island conference, frankly, the smoke signals were not good.

Three years ago at the Mackinac conference, the idea of an aerotroplis — essentially turning Southeast Michigan’s Willow Run airport into a large shipping center where companies around the world could move and store and move again goods with minimal processing problems — was the new whizbang gizmo announced. Based on similar operations in other countries, the potential for economic development for Michigan was impressive. In these days, it was also vital.

So where is this miracle? Right now, still in the legislature. In fact, the day before the conference started, the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee said it needed more time to review the bills, to consider the possible revenue loss to the state.

If there had been a sword in the room, Wayne County’s lobbyist either would have fallen on it or chased the committee with it. The note of near desperate pleading to move the legislation, at least get it to the Senate floor while consideration of other issues went on, was painfully evident. No one, at least publicly, wondered why the committee was suddenly so worried about the fiscal impact since a) that happens…does it happen? And b) the Senate is run by Republicans who believe in cutting state revenues to force smaller government, so why would they care about the revenue impact anyway?

The unstated recognition was that the issue would have to wait while all the sides were satisfied. It might, or might not, be one rung on the new economic ladder all Michigan’s confessed souls must climb to heaven, but until all have signed off on its particulars it is a rung unplaced. In this case then, what was confessed was that we have not yet really changed.

That being the case, we the confessed and atoning, on our way to economic restoration and redemption, must remember while delighting in the lilacs, to avoid the sustainable harvested internal termination present on the streets.

John Lindstrom is publisher of Gongwer News Service. For nearly 50 years in Michigan, Gongwer News Service has provided independent, comprehensive, accurate and timely coverage of issues in and around Michigan’s government and political systems. For subscription information, including a free trial, visit Gongwer online.