Answering Todd Courser's Latest Survey...

     For the first time possibly since he's been elected, Todd Courser is soliciting actual feedback from those of us in the 82nd District.

     Yet somehow, the man who was elected to represent us, still thinks he and he alone can dictate the terms on which he answers to his constituents.

     Tried posting anything other than absolute support on his page lately? You've already been blocked, most likely. Hell, I was blocked before he ever got elected, for questioning his shady campaign tactics during the primary, his slander of Great Lakes Education Project proponent Greg MacNeilly, and his campaign against any representative who supported adding LGBT's as a protected class to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. And I didn't last much longer against his mistress, Cindy Gamrat, nor another backer of theirs, RNC committeeman Dave Agema. Because these people don't want to hear any opinion or argument that doesn't affirm their own. Which isn't any way for an elected official to behave.

     That brings us to the Inoculator's latest screed, in which he addresses the accusation that he silences all criticism on his page by... admitting that he silences all criticism on his page, and by blasting said critics as "just plain moronic." He follows that up by asking this:

     "So be nice when you respond: 1. voters by vote, or recall, or house by censure, or expulsion, or serve the rest out. 2. then why do you think so? 3. where are you from? If you answer all 3 and do so respectfully I'll try to keep your comment and if not don't be surprised when it gets booted."

     Because apparently, if you're going to criticize him, it has to be on his terms, or not at all.

     Well, since I can't respond on his page anymore, I suppose I'll just have to do it here. Feel free to print this out and leave it on the doorstep at his law office, or just hit his Facebook wall with it, whichever's easier.

     1.) I'll answer this point with a question: Why should you have to be forcibly removed? Why can't you step back, realize what you've done, how you've betrayed the trust of those who actually supported you, and confirmed the suspicions of the rest of us have had about you since you embarked on this boondoggle last year, and step down with some slight shred of dignity instead of having to be dragged out kicking and screaming, like the petulant child you are? You yourself have posted that "there are plenty of good reasons to resign." I have yet to find one for you not to do so. But since doing the right thing has never occurred to you at any point in your political career, I, for one, couldn't care less how you are removed from office, so long as you are.

     2.) Where do I start? From the beginning, I suppose... you managed to lose my vote (if ever you really had it) right away, by making your anti-homosexual crusade the focal point, if not the entirety, of your campaign. I'm not certain exactly why, with our roads falling to pieces and Lapeer County's economy not in the greatest shape, you instead chose to make the centerpiece of your campaign about denying rights to a group of people that haven't done a damned thing to wrong you, other than existing. There's your crusade to unseat any politician who'd support adding LGBT protection to Elliott-Larsen, and your marriage bills that you claimed had nothing to do with the Obergefell v. Hodges decision, but that you claimed you'd withdraw if that ruling were overturned, as if you really believe your constituents can't put two and two together. Your backwards views on these issues, and the emphasis you've placed on them during your time in office, are something I find to be absolutely repulsive in every sense.

     Then, there's your view on public schools; that being that you appear to be completely against them. I see why there's such a large contingent of educators of mine that have stood in vocal opposition to you; you hold that profession in contempt at best. You're the kind of guy that wails on about "liberal indoctrination" in schools, but then whines that schools need to go back to teaching the Bible. You've also stood against any attempt to have oversight on homeschooling parents, because God forbid anyone makes sure they're actually learning anything.

     And then, there's the dirty campaigning. Posting the "graphic" video of the wedding of one of your opponent's backers, and attacking his pro-education group for somehow "spreading the homosexual agenda." Posting fake notices on your opponent signs requesting they be removed or their owners will be fined. Posting fake attacks on you during the primary. Having staffers call potential voters and drop racial and gay slurs in regards to his opponent in the general election. And somehow, you got the Republican voters in this county to sign on with all this, and get you elected, despite all odds.

     Now personally, I don't care all that much about the affair, other than finding it somewhat comical that the God-appointed defender of traditional values only does so when it suits him. Other than that, who you screw is completely your business, provided it's not the taxpayers you represent. But it's the cover-up, the cover-up of the cover-up, firing your staffers when they wouldn't help you cover it up, and scrambling to throw everyone and everything under the bus when you got caught, all on our dime, and offering up every possible excuse and diversion in the world not to go. And despite all the evidence of your wrongdoing, you still refuse to let this circus end, to the point  that you're posting dumb little surveys like these asking what you should do, as long as it doesn't involve personal responsibility.

     In all of this, you claim some sort of 'divine providence' allows you to force your view of religious zealotry on the rest of us, while you post that we "should limit free speech and freedom of religion" for religions that aren't Christianity. And despite claiming how humbled you are by all that you've done... absolutely nothing has changed. You still absolutely refuse to take responsibility for your actions; in all the word salad you've spewed forth, you have yet to make a single post that doesn't somehow try and deflect blame onto somebody or something beyond your control. Enough. You did this to yourself. Not your staff, not some phantom blackmailer, not some other political consultant, not your political opponents, not the liberal media, not some preexisting heart condition. You.

     3.) Not that it matters at this point, as you publish words of praise from people who've probably never set foot here, but yes, I've been a resident of the city of Lapeer for the last 14 years. I (more-or-less) grew up here, graduated from high school here, and worked most of my adult life here, and much of that downtown, where we rarely ever saw you around unless there was a photo op to be had somewhere. And last I checked, you're supposed to represent all the people in your district, not just the few that feel their religion needs to be legislated into law. And I, for one, am sick and tired of my hometown being a punchline on the late night shows, and the national press, and pretty much everywhere at this point.

     You didn't need to take a poll to find out what the people of Lapeer County wanted. They've long since spoken.

     The question is, will you actually listen to them for a change?