DETROIT — During Republican

presidential
nominee
Donald

Trump’s
highly-anticipated

economic
policy speech
on Monday, a
lot was on the
line.
Pundits

from across the political spectrum
looked toward Detroit for what
they were hoping would be Trump’s
unveiling of his goals for the
economy as president.

However, the reality of the speech

was much different. In very Trump-
like fashion, the highly-anticipated
policy speech was delivered to the
whitest of white collar audiences
and lacked a meaningful outcome or
many new concrete policy proposals.
Additionally, he directed a good
portion of his speech to attacks on
Hillary Clinton’s economic plan.

For me, the most important part

of the speech wasn’t the lofty talk
about upstate New York or Trump’s
claims that he turned around the city
of New York with his development.
As a lifelong Michigander, I care a
lot about how the policies of the 45th
president will affect the Great Lakes
State. One of the most meaningful
lines of the speech came toward the
end, when Trump said “Detroit —
the Motor City — will come roaring
back. We will offer a new future, not
the same old failed policies of the
past.”

A promise like this is something

we’ve all heard before. People who
claim that they alone know “the
fix” for Detroit are a dime a dozen,
and Trump is just another one who
doesn’t get it. Despite his claim
about Detroit and many other claims
about helping Michigan, none of the
policies he unveiled would come to
the aid of states like Michigan or
cities like Detroit.

For example, his policy of making

child care tax-free doesn’t sound
like the typical Trump policies,
sounding rather like the social
policy of a Democrat. However,
this policy won’t help Detroit.
Because Trump’s proposed policy
will come in the form of a year-end
tax deduction, the benefits will
only go to those who make enough
money to qualify for one of his
proposed tax brackets. While this
will help many middle- to upper-
middle-class working families, the
residents of Detroit, many of whom
don’t have the money to afford
quality child care in the first place,
will not benefit.

Even more flawed was his attack

on the estate tax, something that he
refers to as the “death tax.” Trump
views the cutting of the estate tax as
a measure that will help Americans
out; however, he could not be more
incorrect. According to the IRS, the
estate tax only takes effect when
the value of the transferred assets
upon death is more than $5.45
million dollars. The only people
that this will benefit are white
collar “old money” Americans, and
not everyday Detroit residents.
Just like the child care policy, the
abolition of the estate tax will only
benefit wealthy Americans.

Additionally, Trump spent a

good deal of his speech railing
what he calls excessive regulation
by the federal government, which
in his mind stifles business. He
called for a halt on new regulations
and a cutback in regulations by the
federal government. In a perfect
world, this new policy would work
well, but in a world where there
is no regulation, there is also a
disproportionate punishment of
those who are most vulnerable.
One can argue that a large part
of the Flint water crisis, a crisis
that
affected
a
predominantly

Black
and
impoverished
Flint

community, happened because of
a lack of government oversight and
accountability. Problems like this
would only become more prevalent
under a Trump presidency.

Regardless of whether or not

Trump’s
proposed
tax
breaks

for corporations or his promise
to restore law and order to our
country actually will benefit us,
one very glaring fact is certain:
Trump’s
economic
plan
won’t

benefit the city of Detroit. Sure,
they may benefit the rich white
suburban family that can afford to
spend $10,000 a year on childcare,
but not the everyday Detroiter.

This, to me, is the reason that

Trump can’t win. His worldview
is so skewed that he legitimately
believes that a few simple tax
breaks and a few simple tax write-
offs for wealthy families will cause
Detroit “to come roaring back.”
Perpetuating a false and dangerous
narrative
about
Detroit
while

promising tax breaks for Economic
Club elites will do more of the same
for Detroit while benefiting just
Trump and his white collar elites.

—Kevin Sweitzer can be

reached at ksweitz@umich.edu.

4

Thursday, August 11, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
OPINION

LARA MOEHLMAN

EDITOR IN CHIEF

JEREMY KAPLAN

EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

BRADLEY WHIPPLE

MANAGING EDITOR

420 Maynard St.

Ann Arbor, MI 48109

tothedaily@michigandaily.com

Edited and managed by students at

the University of Michigan since 1890.

M

ichigan
primary
and

local
elections
were

held on Tuesday, August

2,
and
as
I

approached my
polling
place,

I realized just
how silent it
was. A flurry of campaign signs
dotted
the
grass
outside
the

building, but indoors, I was the
only voter. The man running my
precinct laughed that I was the
“after-work rush” they had been
eagerly awaiting. How can a single
person be a rush? Oh, that’s right —
because there was nobody there for
several hours prior to my arrival. In
fact, the election officials informed
me that I was the 11th voter that
day. Eleventh.

I’m registered in an area that is

primarily students and youth voters.
Obviously, the fact that this election
occurred at a time of year when many
students are off-campus contributed
to lower turnout at my polling place.
Voter turnout at other stations or in
other precincts was probably higher,
just due to proportional populations.
However, local and state elections
are notorious for low turnouts. In
this particular election, just a little
more than 17 percent of registered
voters
in
Washtenaw
County

turned out at the polls to exercise
their right to representation.

Just
17
percent
of
people

determined who would govern
our city council. Just 17 percent
of people dictated the fate of our
state-level representation. Just 17
percent of people decided the best
candidates for county office.

All this, in an election year —

perhaps the most volatile, visible,
voracious
election
year
we’ve

ever experienced. A year where
young voters have been engaged,
when first-time voters have been
introduced
to
politics,
when

encroachments
upon
universal

enfranchisement have been struck
down. But simply making people

aware of the fact that politics exists
is not enough. Simply sharing John
Oliver clips referring to Donald
Trump by an ancient family name
will not amount to direct, sustained,
focused action. It may inspire
people to care about issues of
immigration policy or xenophobia,
which are undoubtedly important.
But clicking share will not alone
amount to meaningful progress.
If voters, particularly students and
youth voters, want to fulfill their
newfound political engagement and
reap the benefits of representative
democracy, it is essential to first
represent
themselves.
Until
83

percent of people are not regularly
failing to participate in local and
state politics, real representative
democracy will not be in place.

I
know
that
reading
about

candidates’ views is not as sexy
as
watching
Weekend
Update

or Stephen Colbert or (the late,
great show from) Jon Stewart. It’s
objectively more entertaining to
laugh about impressions or the
absurdity of the state of things
today than it is to do the local work
of actually changing the state of
things today. Personally, I would
much rather eat popcorn and
hang out with friends and follow
a political comedian on Snapchat
rather than waking up early to
canvass or register voters. I think
everyone would. And I get that it’s
more dramatic to wax poetic in
the “great-man” style of history,
envisioning an America that is
shaped primarily and solely by the
man (or woman) in the Oval Office.
But evidentiary, tangible progress
— whether it’s fixing roads or
building a library for a community
in need or creating extracurricular
programs
to
teach
students

valuable skills or implementing
city-wide environmental safety
measures to prevent massive public
health crises — comes at the local
and state levels. No matter how
much you agree or disagree with

a president, your representation
in your immediate communities
will ultimately influence your life,
your health, your wallet and your
happiness more.

If you are a Democrat wondering

why
Republicans
control
the

majority of governorships and state
houses, giving a leg up on agenda
setting, local and state elections are
the way forward toward change. If
you are a Republican wondering
how
an
unfit
demagogue
is

dominating and drowning out the
conservative ideals you believe
in, local and state elections are
your opportunity to find honest
candidates driven by integrity to
fight for your beliefs. If you are a
third-party voter hungry for more
representation of your Libertarian
or
environmentalist
or
other

priorities, local and state elections
matter. If you are undecided but
fed up with the current state of
polarization and impersonalization
in politics, local and state elections
are your opportunity to weigh the
candidates on issues that matter to
you and your community directly,
intimately
—
local
and
state

elections matter.

So, local and state elections are

important. What do you do next?
How do you be one of the people who
helps boost that percentage from 17
percent to perhaps something a bit
more representative? Register to
vote. Find out when elections are
happening. Become informed on
local, state and federal issues and
candidates. Encourage friends and
family to participate. Attend a city
council or school board meeting
and give your input, or check out
a speech, rally, town hall or public
event for a candidate you want to
learn more about. And actually
get out there — exercise the
fundamental right of democracy
and go to the polls.

—Madeline Nowicki can be

reached at nowickim@umich.edu.

Local elections matter

Trump missed the mark

KEVIN
SWEITZER

MADELINE
NOWICKI