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I just became a registered Democrat. I’ve always leaned left, but I’ve never felt compelled to join a political party until now. However, I believe in a balance of power. In the past, the traditional big money donors of the Republican Party have been balanced out by small donations from common folk and larger donations by unions. Since Republicans in Lansing have weakened unions for their own political gain, all that stands in the way of Michigan workers becoming like third class passengers on the Titanic is the Democratic Party. Need proof that Democrats are on the side of workers while Republicans are on the side of wealthy CEO’s? Let’s compare Governor Snyder’s most recent campaign finance report to Mark Schauer‘s most recent campaign finance report. The top 100 donors to Governor Snyder are people with titles like executive, president, chairman, publisher, CEO, CFO, and investment banker. They are the people who benefited most from the 1.8 billion dollar tax break that Snyder signed into law his first year in office (the same year he admits to cutting school funding). Meanwhile, the occupations of Mark Schauer’s top 100 donors include several doctors and at least one writer, professor, educator, retired educator, pharmacist, and legal assistant. It’s not just who is donating that matters, it is how much they donate. Governor Snyder had just 2,227 total donations but they added up to over $651,000! Mark Schauer had 4,458 donations but he only took in about $143,000. Even though Schauer had twice as many donors, he took in a half of a million dollars less! Now lets take a look at special interest money. The largest amount that any one union donated this election cycle was about $71,000. Union donations come from combining small donations from plumbers, steel workers, carpenters, teachers, and other organized workers. They do not come from union dues as some would like you to believe. Meanwhile, big business has found another way to trump union donations. Blue Cross Blue Shield employees escaped the special interest moniker by donating as individuals, and they gave over $112,000 to the Snyder campaign! Employees of Michigan’s two biggest electrical companies donated $158,000 to the Snyder campaign! This clearly shows that Republicans have weakened unions enough that a bunch of high level employees of a single corporation can donate more than all the union workers in a particular union. Surprisingly, the conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy provided all this information in their CAPCON newsletter. I believe that you have three options in the next 47 days. If you believe in an economic policy that helped billionaires’ income grow 22% last year while the rest of us struggled to keep up with the cost of inflation then you should support Rick Snyder. You could do nothing to help Mark Schauer win effectively supporting Rick Snyder. Finally, you could get behind Mark Schauer and the Democratic Party. However, you need to do more than vote. You need to talk to people and explain to them why they too should support Democratic candidates this year. You should strongly consider donating your time and money to a candidate. You should get started now! I made my choice. Have you?