Destroy the Deep State 

Abolish the Deep State – Taking Michigan Back From The Unelected

The Michigan First political movement is fighting to take Michigan back from the unelected deep state; the clandestine, self-serving empire of bureaucrats, careerists, entrenched insiders, and control structures that act above the law and above accountability. The deep state is alive and well on both sides of the aisle in Michigan. They value their own jobs, power, globalist objectives, and bloated budgets and agencies more than they value the people of this state. From unelected, unaccountable, deep state-run agencies in Lansing packed with career bureaucrats to the networks of people that meet behind closed doors and quietly shape policy and regulation to fit their needs, the deep state undermines our freedom, robs our taxpayer money, and we need to do everything in our power to fight back against it. 

We are not here to simply name it. We are here to destroy it.

The Deep State: Defined

At Michigan First, when we talk about the “deep state”, we are not talking about a conspiracy theory; we are talking about an undeniable fact. It is the permanent bureaucracy that thumbs its nose at our elected leaders, the leakers that work to undermine those who win elections they did not, the collusion with special interests and outsiders to game our system, and the people and structures that remain in control no matter who we, the people, vote for. It is unaccountable agencies, a revolving door between government and lobbying, shady, no-bid contracts, and regulatory agencies that rule as empires over those they were supposedly serving.

Michigan First will work to dismantle the deep state and all of its agents and power structures branch by branch, root by root, until it is gone and government once again is serving the people. Here is how:  

Dismantling the Deep State:

Government Downsizing – Bureaucratic Bloodletting: Cut the size of government in Michigan by at least 30-50%. We must eliminate all unelected, unaccountable, and duplicate agencies, layers of unelected middle managers, jobs given as patronage or political rewards, and elected positions that have been deemed unnecessary by constituents, the media, or watchdog groups. We must make every agency and every job in every department in the State of Michigan justify their existence annually, lest their positions and the programs and services they provide be subject to elimination at the will of the people.

The Revolving Door Must Stop: Former legislators and cabinet-level officials who lobby the government for private sector profit or influence will be banned from lobbying for 10 years. Additionally, private sector employment that can be directly tied to the power or influence of a former legislator or cabinet-level official must be significantly diminished, if not banned outright. We must cut the ability of these people to enrich themselves after working in government by the hobnail-boot, we must put an end to this.

Radical Transparency: Michigan First will require sunshine laws on steroids. All government meetings, contracts, communications, emails, and spending will be required to be available for public scrutiny. Meetings will be live-streamed, open for the public to attend, and all documents released within 24 hours. We must subject them all to sunlight or drive them into the dark corners they prefer to inhabit.

Whistleblower Rewards & Protections: Create an anonymous, secure, digital whistleblower rewards system with government watchdog groups to incentivize, inform, and reward insiders who are willing to shine a light into the dark corners of Michigan government. Those who expose waste, fraud, cronyism, and abuse of power must be given the opportunity to hold up the mirror of truth to the deep state without fear of reprisal, public scrutiny, or losing their job.

Abolishing Unelected Boards, Commissions, and Authorities: No longer should we have quasi-independent government agencies, commissions, or authorities that operate with little to no direct accountability to the people of this state and make decisions and binding policy with little recourse or oversight. Every decision these bodies can make must flow through an elected official, and every program and every decision they can make must be subject to total transparency and direct voter input. We must abolish or reform these agencies one by one until the buck stops with elected officials.

Defund and Depower Rogue Agencies: Identify all agencies, departments, bureaus, and commissions known to the people for overreach, abuse of power, and empire building, and cut their budgets, authority, and staff until they work for the people, not themselves. We must starve out these rogue agencies of power and funding so they will go away.

Independent Investigations: Independent forensic audits and investigations into state spending, programs, contracts, and agencies will be conducted with the aim of finding hidden networks of control, rooting out government waste, and recovering wasted taxpayer dollars. We will employ patriot experts to complete these audits and investigations.

Term Limits for Bureaucrats in DC: Civil Service and government bureaucrat term limits must be imposed and the entrenchment of people in positions of power within government must end. Career bureaucrats must be subjected to periodic rotation or performance reviews to ensure that no government agency is ever completely off limits to citizens.

Restore Elected Control: Every major policy decision must flow through elected officials or appointed officials with a direct reporting line to elected officials. No more decisions will be made by faceless bureaucrats that are supposed to work for us, the people of this state.

The deep state can only continue to fester and grow so long as good people from both parties choose to stay quiet. It exists on both sides of the aisle, and it will be named and exposed wherever it is found. We will drain its resources, we will deplete its personnel, and we will bring down its power structures one by one until the government of this state is only answerable to its citizens and no longer answerable to entrenched, unelected bureaucrats.

Times of unelected elites pulling strings from the darkness is over. It is time to take back our country, our state, and our families, one agency, one insider, and one exposed secret at a time. Michigan First will not rest until we have taken every agency, program, and unaccountable power structure that currently exists in the State of Michigan and replaced it with a system of government that is truly limited, transparent, and works for the people of this state.

We see it. We know it. We will end it.

Michigan First. Faith First. Family First. Freedom First.