The GOP must be the party of workers

Matt Maddock
| Detroit News

Too many politicians have neglected and ignored American workers and their families. Many politicians have sided with wealthy elites and big corporations, out of touch with reality, while others have sided with Big Labor whose self-enrichment schemes have wreaked havoc on our economy and destroyed employment opportunities, harming the very workers they were supposed to represent.

In recent years there has been a radical realignment, particularly here in Michigan. Democrats in the legislature who used to attack big business now do whatever they want. In the past two years alone, Michigan Democrats have distributed more than $3 billion in taxpayer dollars to corporations, prioritizing businesses with ties to the Chinese Communist Party over struggling Michigan families.

Democrats have also remained cozy with Big Labor, a group of wealthy union bosses who line their pockets while destroying good-paying jobs for Michigan workers and skyrocketing costs for every taxpayer. Their policies have done little to create new jobs or raise the wages of real state workers.

The Democrats have become the party of Big: Big Business, Big Labor and Big Government. The Republican Party is working hard to become the Party of working people: entrepreneurs, independent contractors, people who live cheaply and work long hours to provide a better life for their families.

We cannot destroy a rigged system by trading one special interest for another. Republicans must continue to reject past policies that left Michigan workers and families in the dust and prioritized the most powerful combined interests over the interests of Michigan’s working families.

Republicans cannot empower the people by trading the power of big business for big labor or by creating an unholy alliance between the two. Workers deserve control over their careers and their pay. People who work hard and want to earn more should not be penalized. Families deserve to have extra money after paying their bills. And small businesses deserve to be set up to succeed in our state so we can have a local economy with more opportunity.

Each of these things is only possible if my colleagues and I agree to be the party of working people – taking power away from special interests and returning it to the great people of Michigan.

Rep. Matt Maddock, R-Milford, represents Michigan’s 51st House District.