Does Detroit Have Home Rule?
The concept of "home rule" is the idea that a colony or a territory has the power of self-government, rather than being subject to the will of an imperial ruler. In the case of Detroit, we really have to wonder. Let's break it down by the numbers...
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1) "Livonia Mike" Duggan is a write-in mayor who still does not apparently live within the boundaries of the city that he is in his third term of governing. Neighbors to the Manoogian Mansion claim to never see him, and after he was elected his now ex-wife Mary Loretto Maher reportedly remained living in Livonia. Surveillance of Duggan's movements during his extramarital affair with Sonia S. Hassan (a Novi resident) made it appear that he did not seem to reside within Detroit, and the city has been obstructive in releasing any Manoogian Mansion security footage that would prove otherwise:
Duggan lived in Livonia before hurriedly buying and changing his principal residence to 19221 Strathcona, Detroit in 2012 so he could run for mayor. According to property records on Regrid.com, the house was in fact sold to Michael E. Duggan and Mary L. Maher on March 9, 2012 by Richard J. Bowers, Jr. (who, curiously, was running for City Council in the same election).
However, the city charter requires that elected officials "must maintain their principal residence in the city of Detroit for one (1) year at the time of filing for office or appointment to office, and throughout their tenure in office." The deadline for Duggan to file his campaign paperwork came two weeks before he could make it to one year of city residency, and he was subsequently disqualified from the ballot. So he ran as a write-in candidate and somehow won, which was extremely controversial since it has never happened before in the history, and in light of the fact that a Detroit barber named "Mike Dugeon" mysteriously appeared on the ballot to further confuse voters. During a recount, many ballots with Duggan's name appeared to have identical handwriting, and some of the transfer cases had apparently been tampered with. Candidate Tom Barrow and others filed a lawsuit against the Detroit Election Commission and Duggan's campaign over the write-in debacle.
According to Regrid.com 19221 Strathcona is currently owned by Wayne E. Brown and Brenda E. Kee, and Zillow.com shows that the house was sold again on February 13, 2014—less than six weeks after Duggan was sworn in as mayor. Most likely he never set foot in that house, merely buying it to fulfill a requirement on paper. And for him to have turned around and sold it that fast he must have started the sale process as soon as he won the election.
2) The City Council is stacked with Duggan loyalists, who are only willing to challenge him when it is politically convenient, or when he lets them off the leash.
3) A 2017 report found that around 90% of Duggan's campaign contributions came from corporations and wealthy individuals from outside of Detroit—including Republicans:
http://motorcitymuckraker.com/2017/08/06/part-1-duggans-formidable-political-machine-relies-deep-pocket-outsiders/ (See also: Myth#12: Duggan is a Democrat)
4) The Detroit Police Department is an occupying army, like the "black & tans" in Northern Ireland, they have been free from the residency requirement of living within 20 miles of the city they police since the year 1999. Granted, that restriction was lifted by Mayor Archer, but today LESS THAN 1/4 of Detroit Police actually live in Detroit:
Tell me how that is not a recipe for unaccountability, and disaster. Not only that, but the DPD are policing a city that is 80% black, while the racial makeup of their ranks is only half black, and half white / other:
On top of all that. police chief and conservative media darling "Hollywood James Craig" was appointed by Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr in 2013, rather than being elected (or appointed by an elected official).
5) The suburban Wayne County Board of Canvassers infamously tried to explicitly exclude Detroit's votes from their 2020 election certification, while simultaneously ignoring the similar ballot discrepancies in conservative white Wayne County cities such as Livonia and Grosse Pointe.
6) Despite the population of Detroit being 80% black, its representatives in state, federal, county, and municipal government are mostly of other races (mainly white), as of 2020. Somehow I don't think that all-white Northville would tolerate being governed by all-black politicians, so why should it be the other way around for Detroit?
7) The needs of outside corporate interests such as Olympia Entertainment, Dan Gilbert, Amazon, and other random investors from places like New York are given political priority over that of the people, as well as local (but globalist) oligarchies like the Maroun empire. This is facilitated by Duggan and City Council, who are much more likely to be swayed by six or seven-figure campaign donations than they are by your one single vote. City coffers are freely spilled open to these outside interests, and preferential treatment lavished upon them, while the rest of us get the crumbs, and fines for late payment, if anything.
8) The city's utility infrastructures, such as water & sewerage, public lighting, etc., that were built up by city residents paying taxes into them for centuries, and which used to be controlled internally by city departments, have been essentially privatized, and are now governed by "regional authorities." In other words vast assets that once were held in the public trust, are now controlled by forces that do not necessarily reside within the city, and they have boards of trustees comprised of members from private corporate monopolies such as Detroit Edison. They are also exempt from direct oversight by, or accountability to the rate-payers and voters of Detroit. These moves toward privatization were made during the period where the state government in Lansing literally took away Detroit's power to govern itself democratically (also known as "emergency financial management"), and the voters of Detroit had no say in the matter of how these incredibly valuable infrastructure assets were disposed of. The priceless city-owned art held in the Detroit Institute of Arts was also nearly placed on the auction block to be sold off as if it were an estate sale for a deceased person.
9) A large percentage of the political appointees within Detroit government since the "bankruptcy" have been non-residents:
Let's face it, Detroit is a colony.
