There was near-total disarray at the Republican state convention in Lansing, MI. Groups for Trump and against; for Christian-conservative views and libertarian-liberal ones; for war in the mid-east and against. I was proud to serve as a delegate amid the chaos, taking what comfort there was to be had in owning a piece there-of. We managed to get two things done: we picked delegates to the RNC convention in Cleveland, and we managed to pass two resolutions: (1) in favor of Israel and (2) in favor of the 10th amendment — state’s rights.

At first glance, support for the 10th amendment seems superfluous. Most folks there support the entire constitution: the first and the second amendments, the third amendment, and the fourth, etc., but these were not on the agenda. What did the assembled think they accomplished by voting for the 10th? Perhaps the choice had to do with the contentiousness of the convention as a whole. Each of the many groups wanted something, and support of the 10th is, in a sense, support for all of them, without supporting any explicitly.  The 10th guarantees is states’ rights over anything that isn’t directly in the constitution or other amendments, and that leaves the door open to challenge or change a lot of federal law if one had a mind to.

The Christian conservatives want to challenge same-sex marriage, while the libertarians would like to expand it; support of the 10th is support for both. Libertarian Republicans want looser marijuana laws, shorter jail sentences and higher speed limits. Law n order Republicans want the opposite. Support of the 10th supports both. Then there is the squabbling between conservatives and business Republicans. I enjoy it all. Angry as it gets, I see it as Democracy in action, and the end result, I think, is sound if messy. There is also an unfortunate tendency to look silly and lose elections. Supporting the 10th may get the mental juices flowing, but it doesn’t solve any arguments or get anyone elected.

Gravity dam along the red cedar river. It adds retention, stops floods, and looks nice.

I ran for water commissioner of Oakland county, and lost. As a result I’m on the MI Republican executive committee, a board with no power beyond the right to propose contentious, state-rights proposals. I could change the state bird from the robin to the turkey. Ben Franklin liked this idea. Or I could try to end daylight savings time so that Michigan would be on New York time in winter and Chicago time in the summer. The nation could spring forward and fall back we’d stay put. We’d avoid the jet-lag feeling every time we change the clock, and we’d avoid the heart attack deaths and a significant loss in productivity. Then again, I could run my engineering firm, REB Research-hydrogen energy solutions, and nudge the county about attractive water issues in flood management, and wait to run again.

Robert Buxbaum February, 2017. I’m a PhD (Princeton *82) and a professional engineer: I taught engineering a Michigan State. You have to do water right, and I think I can do a better job than is being done now.