Michigan- Mississippi of the Midwest?

This week has been on hit after another for progressives in Michigan. Forward movement has, for the time being, been brought to a grinding as Tea Party Republicans were elected to the legislature across the state, the 6th Circuit Court decided against forward movement, and Republicans gained control of the US Senate. All hope seems to be anchored, all belief in the equalization amongst Americans taken away. But, we should not give up. Giving up allows those who are working against us to push forward their agendas without opposition. If those who were elected to represent us don't know what we, the people, want, then things will truly never change. We cannot consider this week to be a complete loss. We need to think of what it means for the future. We cannot flee the state. We have to stand and fight for what we believe in. If we don't, who will?

Let's discuss what this week, in it's entirety, does/could mean:

1. We have another election in two years. And not just any election, a presidential election. With a Republican-controlled Senate, the 2016 election will be the Democrat's year. Both chambers of the United States Congress are filled with right-wing agendas. The House will probably never be regained by the Democrat's due to gerrymandered district lines. But the Senate is supposed to be the body more representative of the average American, and Tea Party Republicans are as far from average as we can get. With a strong presidential candidate (can anyone say, "President Clinton," without smiling?), we can sweep the Senate back into our court.
2. The Supremely Notorious RBG. How can the Supreme Court get any better than our feisty little liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg? I mean, yeah, the court is split 5-4 in favor of conservatism, but they already struck down parts of DOMA in United States v. Windsor. They've literally stated they wouldn't hear appeals states with cases in lower courts where the marriage bans were struck down. The 6th Circuit's decision, while not the outcome most would have hoped for, was made for exactly the following reasons:

• They waited to give a decision until after the election. And this is where a lot of speculation comes into play. If they had made a decision prior to the election to strike down the ban, our AG Schuette would have had no other move to make, the momentum from the win could have possibly been enough to swing the election in favor of Totten and Schauer- possibly even swinging some state House elections in our favor as well. If they had decided to uphold the ban, the same thing would have happened, but for the opposite reason- anger. Anger is a huge motivator in voting. This could have changed elections across all four states in the 6th District. We could have had a completely different outcome if the decision had been made a few days earlier. Waiting until after, until they knew who would be holding what office, they knew which decision would ultimately make the most impact down the road. Had Totten won the election, he would have removed the appeal as soon as he assumed office, thereby making the entire thing a complete waste of time. Schuette and the other Republicans winning left them with two options: 1. Uphold the ban, and have the Plaintiffs appeal to the Supreme Court, where the appeals by the states would be overturned. 2. Strike down the ban, and have the result of absolutely nothing further. By upholding the ban, they have ultimately signed the fate of the entire nation.
• The Supreme Court has virtually no choice but to hear the case once appealed. The fact of the matter is, the Supreme Court has said that since there are no conflicting lower court decisions, they will stand by the decisions made by the lower courts on striking down the bans. Now they have conflicting opinions from lower courts on the matter. This is one of the many functions the Supreme Court serves- to make the final decision and tell us which court is right. Based on other court decisions the Supreme Court has made in recent history, the majority of us can speculate with great certainty what the final decision of this case will be. And maybe, just maybe, it will wake up Americans long enough to help the Democrats in 2016 across the board. 

 3. What about those Tea-publicans? Well, I'm glad you asked. Yeah, we have to put up with them  for a few years. But they're so partisaned and so insane that those who voted for them will end up seeing the error of their ways and vote. Them. Out. The general public wants leaders who reflect the majority of citizens. The Tea Party does not. Unfortunately, they're really great and instilling fear in the hearts of the masses and tend to have a large amount of energy and money. Hopefully this is a wake up call to the Democrats to pull their shit together and find better candidates.

In closing, don't lose hope. Keep on believing and keep on doing what is right, even if people don't notice. In the end, the right way will be victorious.