Four Michigan Democrats running for governor in the 2018 election
spoke in Flint on August 12 at a town hall forum. The event, billed as
the kick-off in the contest for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination,
was held in Flint, the former center of General Motors auto production
and symbol of social devastation caused by mass layoffs and plant
closures. The city of 100,000 recently gained national and international
attention as a result of a health crisis caused by the lead poisoning
of its water supply by state and local authorities.
The decision to hold the initial Democratic campaign event in Flint
was presented as a sign of the Democratic Party’s sensitivity to the
ongoing problems faced by Flint residents as a result of the water
crisis, and the party’s commitment to address them. The Democrats are
fearful of the anger among Flint workers and youth over the failure of
the government to take any serious measures to address the water crisis.
Their aim is to contain and dissipate that anger.
What the town hall forum in fact demonstrated was the indifference of
the Democratic Party to the crisis facing Flint workers and its
inability to propose any serious policies to address either the
immediate crisis or the longer-term economic and health issues facing
Flint residents, especially children, whose mental and physical
development has been jeopardized by exposure to toxic levels of lead.
The event was an exercise in cynicism and political evasion.
-- WSWS, "Democratic gubernatorial town hall in Flint: No policies to address lead poisoning disaster."