Disaster Capitalism in Michigan: Part II – Mackinac Center creates a far right coalition from Hell

Yesterday, we looked at how Disaster Capitalism is being promoted in Michigan, with our post on Americans for Prosperity Michigan. 

In Part II, we want to take a good look at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and a new coalition they have formed with two of the main far right policy entities in Michigan, both of which are essentially front groups for the DeVos family.

The DeVos family has been a long time funder for the Mackinac Center, with some family members sitting on their Board of Directors over the years. Currently, the only board members from West Michigan are Richard Haworth (Haworth Furniture) and J.C. Huizenga, founder of the private charter school group, National Heritage Academies, and a member of the Grand Rapids Power Structure. 

The two groups that the Mackinac Center for Public Policy has partnered with are the Great Lakes Education Project and Michigan Freedom Fund. Betsy DeVos created the Great Lakes Education Project to promote her Neo-Liberal Education model and the Michigan Freedom Fund is run by Greg McNeilly, who works directly for the DeVos family as the Chief Operating Officer for The Windquest Group. McNeilly was once quoted as saying:

“Political speech is the most protected form of speech, and we need more people participating at higher levels. We should applaud anyone who is leading on that dimension and try to encourage greater participation in our great American experiment.”

These three groups – Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the Great Lakes Education Project and the Michigan Freedom Fund – all have a scary history of pushing for far right policies in Michigan. However, this new coalition, what the Mackinac Center is calling the COVID-19 Coalition, is far more dangerous together then they are as lone entities.

This COVID-19 Coalition, which should more honestly be called a Disaster Capitalism Coalition, is calling for major policy changes in the state of Michigan. In true Orwellian fashion, this coalition is naming their work as a Blueprint for Health, Safety and Economic Opportunity. This new coalition is calling for states policies that Michigan should enact and policies they should NOT enact.

You can go to this link to look at the COVID-19 Coalition wish list of Do’s and Don’ts, but below is a summary of what they are calling for and what we are pointing out about these policy do’s and don’ts.

As you can see, the COVID-19 Coalition policy Do’s and Don’ts are not only dangerous, they are clearly designed to push a Neo-Liberal Capitalist wish list during the current pandemic. The Capitalist Class would like us to be distracted with how they are “helping” during the COVID-19 crisis, because what they are hoping to do under the radar will not only widen the wealth gap in Michigan, it will further push a de-regulation and anti-environmentalism.

The Capitalist Class LOVES Disaster Capitalism!