Taxpayers beware.

This article originally appeared in The Detroit News.

Voters beware.

Recent violent behavior and rhetoric from the unhinged political left demonstrates what’s at stake this November. Across the state and the nation, Democrat candidates for governor, state legislature, Congress, and U.S. Senate have abandoned decorum and declared war on their political opponents, as well as on the constitutional rights of everyday Michiganians.

One week after we celebrated the American Revolution, the Left seems to be celebrating the French Revolution, guillotines and all.

A little over two hundred and forty-two years ago, our Forefathers put pen to paper to declare our nation’s Independence from an oppressive and tyrannical government.

To lay the groundwork for that Declaration, Thomas Jefferson defined some “self-evident” truths: 

“...that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

They’ve become unhinged.  Earlier this week, Democrat Congresswoman Maxine Waters let loose a hateful diatribe, urging liberals and progressives to assail Republicans in restaurants, gas stations, and wherever else they are found.

“Create a crowd,” she told them.  "Push back on them," she coached.  “You tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”

We’ve all heard about “fake news.” Donald Trump, Barack Obama… everyone agrees it’s a problem. But there’s something more dangerous and pervasive than the occasional partisan hatchet job in the press.

We call them “big lies.”

This article originally appeared in The Detroit News.

Both Donald Trump and Barack Obama have spoken out against “fake news,” a term used to describe media coverage that lacks fairness, balance, or basic facts. The problem, though, isn’t simply fake news. The problem is that we are living in the political era of the “big lie,” and we are worse off for it.

So what’s a “big lie?”  While politicians and journalists may make up salacious stories or launch partisan attacks, sometimes out of whole cloth, these stories tend to focus on individual circumstances or personalities.

Apparently, Gretchen Whitmer isn't a fan of Freedom.

The presumed frontrunner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination is traveling the state attacking workers, threatening their paychecks, and pledging to curtail their liberties.

Congratulations. You did it!

Wednesday afternoon, members of the state House and Senate approved the measure you put before them, and finally eliminated Michigan’s archaic “prevailing wage” red tape and regulation.

Prevailing wage regulations cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars each year, forcing our schools and communities to pay dramatically higher rates for construction projects. It was a carve out for a few privileged businesses, picking winners and losers, that left taxpayers on the hook.

What if I told you that a political action committee created by some of Michigan’s most powerful labor unions – called “Protecting Michigan Jobs” – outsourced its jobs… to India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh?

Talk about taking hypocrisy to the next level.

Big Labor’s “Protecting Michigan Jobs” committee, an influential political action committee created by greedy union bosses to oppose Michigan efforts to repeal the costly prevailing wage mandate, just got busted in a massive outsourcing scandal.