Gov. Snyder, I am not your "customer"

[Detroitnerd]

Am I the only one whose skin crawls when I hear Gov. Snyder insist on calling citizens "customers"? It makes me want to throttle him and scream that state government is not a "business" and I am not it's "consumer."

In other words, this is a fucking republic, and we are YOUR FUCKING BOSSES!!!

[[end rant)

[313WX]

Am I the only one whose skin crawls when I hear Gov. Snyder insist on calling citizens "customers"? It makes me want to throttle him and scream that state government is not a "business" and I am not it's "consumer."

In other words, this is a fucking republic, and we are YOUR FUCKING BOSSES!!!

[[end rant)

Like Bing is a one-term mayor, Snyder is a one-term governor.

Hopefully, the people of Michigan and Detroit will get it between now and 2015.

Just because someone ran a buinsess [[never mind if they ran it into the ground, which both Snyder and Bing did) doesn't mean they're qualified to run a government.

[313WX]

And for the record, now that I've thought about it, I DO want Bing to run for re-election.

I want him to suffer from the humiliating loss he righfully deserves.

[drjeff]

Government, like education, is not a business. They shouldn't be run like businesses, and businessmen make really awful politicians and academics.

[cla1945]

Am I the only one whose skin crawls when I hear Gov. Snyder insist on calling citizens "customers"? It makes me want to throttle him and scream that state government is not a "business" and I am not it's "consumer."

In other words, this is a fucking republic, and we are YOUR FUCKING BOSSES!!!

[[end rant)

I agree 100% and have said so on a different thread. I resent him calling me a "customer". I am a citizen of Michigan and he was elected by the people to represent us, not run the State like he runs a business. If I want to be a "customer", I'll go to a restaurant!

[ndavies]

Yesl the government is a business and we are it's customers. WE pay our hard earned money [[Taxes) to the government in return for services. We expect the government to provide safety and protection services in return for those tax dollars. We expect them to provide an infrastucture to help us live our lives and conduct our personal business.

There is absolutely no other way to look at it. We purchase services with our tax dollars from the government. I expect the government to be treat me with the dignity any other business would give me in exchange for my hard earned dollars.

[dmike76]

I am 100% with ndavies here. Yes of course we are the customers. We are paying for services and we expect services rendered for our money. That's the most accurate analogy for the whole situation. I like Snyder's mentality on this and think he's spot on. Best governor in my life time so far.

[Detroitnerd]

Yesl the government is a business and we are it's customers. WE pay our hard earned money [[Taxes) to the government in return for services. We expect the government to provide safety and protection services in return for those tax dollars. We expect them to provide an infrastucture to help us live our lives and conduct our personal business.

There is absolutely no other way to look at it. We purchase services with our tax dollars from the government. I expect the government to be treat me with the dignity any other business would give me in exchange for my hard earned dollars.

OK. Thanks. I'd love to talk more, but I'm due back on planet Earth right now ...

[bailey]

OK. Thanks. I'd love to talk more, but I'm due back on planet Earth right now ...

Clearly it's your first time here. Hope you enjoy your visit.

[kenp]

It doesnt irritate me or make my skin crawl, but I dont want to be called a customer. Customers buy things when they want to buy things and they decide how much they want to spend on the things they buy. I dont see the connection between that and taxes and services provided.

[brizee]

Am I the only one whose skin crawls when I hear Gov. Snyder insist on calling citizens "customers"? It makes me want to throttle him and scream that state government is not a "business" and I am not it's "consumer."

In other words, this is a fucking republic, and we are YOUR FUCKING BOSSES!!!

[[end rant)

Yeah something about it is gross.

It was brought to my attention when I was a kid. My dad pointed out Archer and other politicians liked to call citizens and students "customers".

An unrelated but similar nitpick is when players on a sports are called "property" of a team. Or referrence is made to thier owner.

Just razzes something inside of me.

[iheartthed]

Yesl the government is a business and we are it's customers. WE pay our hard earned money [[Taxes) to the government in return for services. We expect the government to provide safety and protection services in return for those tax dollars. We expect them to provide an infrastucture to help us live our lives and conduct our personal business.

There is absolutely no other way to look at it. We purchase services with our tax dollars from the government. I expect the government to be treat me with the dignity any other business would give me in exchange for my hard earned dollars.

So what does that make people who don't pay taxes? Are they not citizens?

[gnome]

I always found it tiresome when the far right lunatic fringe would call Governor Granholm, Grandmole.

Oh haha, she has a mole or two and her name sort sounds like that if you replace the letters and stuff. Funny stuff. Same as when real wordsmiths file new nibs and scratch out Rethuglicans or DemiCan't.

i get it. You don't like the guy, didn't vote for him and would never vote for him.

and now you want to pick on the word customer? Like that gives you power? It makes you look impotent. No, not important, impotent. As in flaccid, lifeless, without vigor, weak.

now, if there is someone who voted for Mr. Snyder, or Mr. Snidely, as the clever ones say, and they object to the word 'customer', well maybe I'd be interested to know why are they objecting now; especially considering he has been using that word since he announced his candidacy.

[313WX]

Here's the long and short of it.

We are the citizens of Michigan. We sign Snydely's check. We elected him to his position.

WE're not his customers, we're more like shareholders who expect a return on our investment. If we don't feel he's representing our best interest, we kick him the hell out of his cushy CEO [[governor's) office or take our investment [[taxpayer dollars) elsewhere, to another state. Same thing with Detroit and Dave "do-nothing like a deer in headlights" Bing.

Calling the citizens of Michigan customers implies that Snydely considers us merely expendable numbers on a balance sheet, not people he was elected to serve.

[gazhekwe]

Snyder is not the first one to use the customer analogy. Back in the late 90s, Republican businessman and fundraiser Peter Secchia came up with the one-stop shopping analogy where the state's citizens and businesses were to be afforded easy one-stop access for services which was put into action during the Engler administration.

[JBMcB]

Seriously? This is what people are whining about? The idea that the government is there to serve it's citizens?

I guess it's such an alien concept around here that it frightens some people.


Anyhow, since it's Friday, here's an amusing recording of representative Eleanor Norton calling a construction company lobbyist asking why they haven't given her any campaign contributions, since she sits on the transportation oversight committee and is involved in contracts the lobbyist is also involved with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVv7wgHMJgU

[coracle]

OK. Thanks. I'd love to talk more, but I'm due back on planet Earth right now ...

For God's sake stay on the Planet you're on. We don't need self elected FUCKING BOSSES on Earth; we need voter elected LEADERS like Snyder. You're not a customer; you're a liability.

[[it's the weekend ; let's rant)

[Detroitnerd]

Government and business couldn't be more different in purpose and practice.

Businesses, especially corporations, since they represent the apotheosis of business, are there to make a PROFIT. They can be shady pyramid schemes; sell harmful, ineffective products; saddle people with things they don't want or need; produce lengthy contracts that trick people into giving up their legal rights -- none of that matters as long as they turn a PROFIT. Even with that they're not very good at long-term projects. They tend to engage in short-term thinking, sacrificing a trickle of profits over many years for a quick yield in the quarter. Nobody in his right mind should want government run like a business.

Why? Because government is [[allegedly, though I can see anti-democratic, anti-republican trends clear as day in some of these remarks) the instrument through which a people build a stronger nation. Government does UNPROFITABLE things so that we may all live better lives knit together under common goals. It is not profitable to educate students, reform criminals, clean up pollution, inspect and grade food, protect the public safety, put out fires, protect political minorities, feed the poor, and regulate the rich.

If you try to build a government in the image of business, you will find that what you have is not a democratic government at all, but a political machine that sucks money and resources out of its people, delivers it to the powerful, and devastates the environment. You'll end up with a world where food makes you sick, education makes you stupid, entertainment makes you bored, health care kills you, prison makes you more prone to crime, police don't protect you, and you'll find yourself impoverished and enslaved.

Why? Because those profits have to come from somewhere.

[Detroitnerd]

i get it. You don't like the guy, didn't vote for him and would never vote for him.

and now you want to pick on the word customer? Like that gives you power? It makes you look impotent. No, not important, impotent. As in flaccid, lifeless, without vigor, weak.

now, if there is someone who voted for Mr. Snyder, or Mr. Snidely, as the clever ones say, and they object to the word 'customer', well maybe I'd be interested to know why are they objecting now; especially considering he has been using that word since he announced his candidacy.

In fairness, I never heard him use the word "customer" until recently.

Also, my views on him have evolved a bit. I thought well of him when he decided to buck the bought-out legislature and pursue the bridge his way. My interest was favorably piqued when he vetoed those anti-voter bills.

But with that shameful lame-duck session, I had to give up my hopes and admit he is, after all, a right wing ideologue, if only one more concerned about his marketing.

The customer thing razzes me because, oh, gee, I dunno, it seems to go against some guys I generally agree with named John Locke or Jean-Jacques Rousseau who thought a lot about men and government. But maybe I should let go of those qualms, since I'm obviously just bitter and jealous of the glorious new Democracy-Mart, where you can buy as much democracy as you want ...

[jerrytimes]

Granholm got re-elected and she didn't do a thing for Michigan. I'm sure Snyder will see a second term.

[coracle]

Government and business couldn't be more different in purpose and practice.

Businesses, especially corporations, since they represent the apotheosis of business, are there to make a PROFIT. They can be shady pyramid schemes; sell harmful, ineffective products; saddle people with things they don't want or need; produce lengthy contracts that trick people into giving up their legal rights -- none of that matters as long as they turn a PROFIT. Even with that they're not very good at long-term projects. They tend to engage in short-term thinking, sacrificing a trickle of profits over many years for a quick yield in the quarter. Nobody in his right mind should want government run like a business.

Why? Because government is [[allegedly, though I can see anti-democratic, anti-republican trends clear as day in some of these remarks) the instrument through which a people build a stronger nation. Government does UNPROFITABLE things so that we may all live better lives knit together under common goals. It is not profitable to educate students, reform criminals, clean up pollution, inspect and grade food, protect the public safety, put out fires, protect political minorities, feed the poor, and regulate the rich.

If you try to build a government in the image of business, you will find that what you have is not a democratic government at all, but a political machine that sucks money and resources out of its people, delivers it to the powerful, and devastates the environment. You'll end up with a world where food makes you sick, education makes you stupid, entertainment makes you bored, health care kills you, prison makes you more prone to crime, police don't protect you, and you'll find yourself impoverished and enslaved.

Why? Because those profits have to come from somewhere.

Thanx for not returning to Planet Earth.

[detmsp]

Am I the only one whose skin crawls when I hear Gov. Snyder insist on calling citizens "customers"?

A matter of semantics.

...we kick him the hell out of his cushy CEO [[governor's) office

Yeah that cushy $1/year job

Just because someone ran a buinsess [[never mind if they ran it into the ground, which both Snyder and Bing did)

Snyder left Gateway in 1997... when it was still growing and very successful.

If these are the things you're complaining about, he must be doing a pretty darn good job... because none of this stuff really has anything to do with the job he's done as governor.

[Detroitnerd]

Thanx for not returning to Planet Earth.

I'd like to propose a special shuttle service to send corrupt multimillionaire bankers to Mars.

We'll send the oxygen later.

We promise.

[Detroitnerd]

A matter of semantics.

Not at all. It show the whole mistaken philosophy that undergirds his administration.

Like you'd be dismissing "semantics" if he called us "comrades."

[stasu1213]

We are Snyder's bosses if anything else. We are not his customers but he is our subordinant. He is the guy who mow our lawn and end up being fired for doing a crappy job. He is like the plumber that we hire to fix the toilet only to have it to back up again after we pay the plumber