Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who campaigned as a champion for transparency, fairness, and honesty in the administration of elections, just completed the most hyper-partisan month in the history of the Michigan Secretary of State’s office.

This column originally appeared in the Detroit News.

There’s a new buzzword in Lansing. Bipartisanship.

You can be forgiven if you’re skeptical.  It’s the same buzzword that pops up in Lansing every fourth January. Politicians take the oath of office, and they begin giving voice to dreams they’ve fostered for months — dreams of a tranquil and harmonious state capital, where everyone gets along — because everyone agrees with them.

We’ve got a Republic, if we can keep it.

This column originally appeared in the Detroit News.

In 1787 Benjamin Franklin was asked what kind of government the newly independent colonies had formed. “A Republic, if you can keep it,” he responded. More than 230 years have passed, and his challenge is every bit as prescient and important as it was in the 18th century.

The political left too often laments decisions they don’t like with cries of “democracy, democracy.” It is trendy and perhaps too easy these days for those on the political right to retort that “we are not a democracy.” In a meaningful sense, the right is correct; but maybe we’re not quite as correct as we think we are.