{"id":7,"date":"2026-04-29T00:10:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T00:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jackbadermi.com\/?page_id=7"},"modified":"2026-10-11T15:08:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T15:08:05","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jackbadermi.com\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJack Bader

For State Representative
District 97\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMoney out of Politics:
<\/strong>We need to break the link between money and political power. Working hard should give people a fair shot at buying a home, raising a family, and retiring comfortably. But when wealthy donors and corporations have more influence over government than the people living with its decisions, the rules keep favoring those who already have the most. Getting money out of politics is part of making government work for the public again. That starts with who funds our campaigns. I refuse corporate PAC money. Companies that depend on government approval, public contracts, and decisions about their rates should not be funding the politicians responsible for overseeing them. People deserve to know their representatives are making decisions based on what their communities need, without financial obligations to the companies affected. I support banning political contributions from regulated utilities and large state contractors, including contributions through their corporate PACs. I signed the Michiganders for Money Out of Politics petition because I believe that accountability should apply regardless of party. We cannot keep asking people to trust government while allowing the companies it oversees to help finance the campaigns of those in power. Our elected officials should answer to the public.

Healthcare for all Michigan residents: <\/strong>
I support guaranteed healthcare coverage for every Michigan resident. No parent should have to choose between taking their child to the doctor and paying the bills. No one should have to fight an insurance company for care their doctor recommends. Your healthcare should not disappear because you changed jobs, got laid off, or became too sick to work. Working people already pay for healthcare through taxes, premiums, deductibles, copays, and prescriptions. We need more of that money going toward treatment, with less consumed by administrative waste, insurance middlemen, and corporate profits. My goal is to cover every Michigan resident while lowering what families spend overall. People should be able to afford care before a treatable condition becomes an emergency. The private market has had decades to meet rural healthcare needs. Communities are still left facing hospital closures, reduced services, and long drives for treatment when providing care is not profitable enough. We cannot keep relying on corporate investment that only comes when the returns are high enough. Rural residents deserve dependable healthcare, and we should invest public dollars where the private market will not. I support protecting rural hospitals and ambulance services, expanding emergency care, and improving access to mental health treatment, imaging, and laboratory services. The money we pay into healthcare should help keep these services in our communities. Whether you survive a medical emergency should never depend on whether your town was profitable enough to serve.

No Data Centers:<\/strong>
I oppose AI data centers in Michigan. Our farmland, state land, water, and electric grid should serve the people who live here. We should not sacrifice those resources to help a handful of multinational corporations gain more control over our economy and our future. These projects can place enormous demands on electricity, water, and infrastructure while bringing constant industrial noise into nearby communities. Turning productive farmland into data centers permanently changes the land and the lives of the people around it. Residents should not be forced to cover the cost of corporate expansion through higher utility bills or taxpayer funded infrastructure. I oppose shifting those costs onto the public while private companies keep the profits. Local communities must have the final say. If a township votes no, that should be the end of it. I support stronger protections for local authority so corporations cannot use their money and the threat of costly lawsuits to pressure communities into accepting projects they do not want. My opposition also goes beyond land and utility costs. Whoever controls AI infrastructure will have enormous influence over how this technology changes our jobs and our economy. Michigan should not help concentrate that power in fewer hands. The benefits of AI should belong to the public, and our communities should have control over what happens to their land and resources.

Public Ownership of AI:<\/strong>
Our work and our data helped build AI. We deserve ownership, a say in how it is used, and a share of the wealth it creates. A handful of technology billionaires should not get to decide the future of our jobs, our privacy, or our safety for us. Something can be profitable for shareholders and still cause enormous harm to everyone else. I support a public ownership model for AI so the people living with its consequences have control over its development and share in its benefits. When publicly owned AI services earn more than they cost to build and operate, those profits should help fund healthcare and a guaranteed income for people whose jobs AI replaces. If this technology allows us to produce more with less work, those gains should support a 32 hour workweek with no loss of pay. We should get more time with our families and greater financial security. If AI replaces the work that pays our bills, the money it earns should help pay those bills. Those protections need to be written into law. Public ownership must include real public accountability. Workers and affected communities need representation in the decisions. People should be able to see where the money goes, what risks have been identified, and why decisions are being made. Those running these systems must be responsible for protecting our safety, privacy, and livelihoods, with a process to remove them when they fail. Putting a government official in charge is not enough. Regardless of ownership, I support independent inspections, protections for employees who report dangers, and authorities with the power to stop unsafe development. Our private information needs protection from corporations and government alike, including strict limits on its collection, searches, sharing, and retention. I oppose Flock camera networks and large corporate AI data center projects in our communities. Going about your daily life should not mean surrendering your privacy or control over your community\u2019s resources. I also support an international AI treaty with enforceable safety limits, independent inspections, and consequences for violations. Companies should not be able to escape safeguards simply by moving their work to another country. Publicly owned AI must meet the same safety requirements. If a system cannot be safely controlled, neither a corporation nor a government should be allowed to develop or deploy it. Our safety, our rights, and our ability to support our families must come first.

Strengthen unions and worker power:<\/strong>
A full time job should pay enough to cover the bills, raise a family, and put money away. Nobody should spend their life making someone else rich while barely getting by. We deserve time with our kids and a retirement that does not depend on working until our bodies give out. That requires working people to have more power over their pay, benefits, and working conditions. A company can afford to ignore one worker asking for a raise. It is harder to ignore an entire workforce ready to stop production. Unions give workers the ability to negotiate together for better pay, healthcare, retirement, safer workplaces, and reasonable hours. The weekend and overtime pay were fought for by workers who organized and refused to accept the conditions they were given. I support making it easier for workers to organize, join a union, and bargain collectively without intimidation or retaliation. In Lansing, I will oppose efforts to weaken unions and workers\u2019 bargaining rights. More people should have the opportunity to negotiate a union contract and a meaningful say in the decisions that affect their lives. Strong unions help build an economy where more of the wealth we create reaches our paychecks. Better wages also mean more money spent at local businesses and more stability for families and communities. We cannot rebuild the middle class by waiting for wealth to trickle down. Working people need the power to demand their share.

Reduce daily traffic fatalities:<\/strong>
A routine drive should not end with a family losing someone they love. We cannot accept preventable deaths and serious injuries as the cost of getting to work, going to school, or coming home. Residents often know which roads and intersections are dangerous long before anything is done. Those concerns deserve action. I support requiring an automatic safety review when an intersection or stretch of road reaches a set crash threshold. That review should happen within a fixed timeframe and result in a clear action plan. Responsibility must be clearly assigned between MDOT, counties, and road commissions so dangerous conditions do not go unaddressed while agencies pass responsibility around. Residents should also have a simple public system to report dangerous roads and intersections, with each report sent directly to the responsible agency. That agency should be required to respond by a set deadline with a fix, a plan, or a clear explanation. An easy-to-use public crash map should show where crashes happen, how severe they are, and what is being done so communities can track progress. I would prioritize funding for practical safety improvements such as better signs, flashing stop signs, rumble strips, and clearing blocked sight lines. We should not wait for a major road reconstruction to address a danger that can be corrected now. Families deserve roads designed to get them home safely and a government that acts before another life is lost.

Expand transportation options:<\/strong>
Michigan needs a transportation plan that looks 20 years ahead. We cannot keep making decisions two years at a time, patching the same problems, and passing the growing bill to the next generation. Every road we build comes with decades of resurfacing, repairs, snow removal, and eventual replacement. We cannot assume our children\u2019s tax base will be large enough to support every obligation we leave behind. Rebuilding just three miles of I-94 in Kalamazoo cost about $87 million, funded mostly by state and federal dollars. That is a few miles of one highway. Meanwhile, small towns and rural communities struggle to maintain local roads with limited resources. We already spend heavily on transportation. We need to ask whether those investments will leave our communities with a system they can afford to maintain 20 years from now. I support exploring regional passenger rail in Mid Michigan using existing rail corridors wherever practical. I developed a concept focused on reconnecting communities such as Millington, Clio, Birch Run, Frankenmuth, Vassar, Caro, Saginaw, and Bay City. Using existing corridors could reduce land purchases and disruption to communities. A serious feasibility study should examine track conditions, agreements with freight operators, necessary upgrades, passenger demand, and the full cost of building and operating the service. Reliable transportation between communities would give people better access to jobs, education, healthcare, and local businesses. Seniors and residents who cannot drive deserve independence. Families deserve options beyond taking on another car payment, insurance bill, and repair expense. Passenger rail could also support downtown development and reduce the number of trips that require a car. Roads will always need investment, and rail comes with maintenance costs of its own. A responsible 20 year plan should compare those costs openly and build a system our communities can sustain. We should be planning now for the next generation\u2019s needs, rather than leaving them aging infrastructure, fewer choices, and bills their communities cannot afford.

Fight against privatization of the American Dream:<\/strong>
The American Dream was not lost overnight. It was sold off one piece at a time. For generations, we built our society around a social contract: if you worked hard, contributed to your community, and played by the rules, you had a fair shot at buying a home, raising a family, building wealth, and retiring with dignity. Over time, we changed the rules. The things families need to build a good life became opportunities for profit. Homes became investments instead of places to raise a family. Healthcare became a profit center instead of a public good. Childcare became a financial burden instead of something parents could afford. College became decades of debt. Families have to pay a premium just to live in neighborhoods with good schools and safe communities. Pensions gave way to 401(k)s, shifting more responsibility and risk for retirement onto workers. As the costs and risks of everyday life were pushed onto ordinary Americans, wealth and power became increasingly concentrated at the top. This is not just inflation. It is the gradual privatization of the American Dream. We inherited these challenges, but we do not have to pass them on. If policy choices helped sell off the American Dream, policy choices can help build it again. It is our generation\u2019s responsibility to break the relationship between money and political power. As long as big money holds more influence over our elections and government than working people do, the rules will continue to favor concentrated wealth over working families. If we want different outcomes, we have to change the rules. We need a government that answers to people, enforces antitrust laws, restores real competition, and strengthens workers\u2019 bargaining power so hard work pays off again. The American Dream was not built overnight, and it will not be rebuilt overnight. But if we have the courage to change the rules, the next generation can inherit opportunity instead of the bill.

Hold corporations responsible for their workers:<\/strong>
If you control the work, you should be responsible for the worker. Large corporations should not be able to control their operations while using layers of subcontractors to distance themselves from the people doing the work. Workers deserve accountability for their pay, safety, and working conditions. Amazon\u2019s delivery model shows the problem. A driver can wear an Amazon vest, drive an Amazon branded van, and deliver Amazon packages while being employed by a smaller company contracted by Amazon. Splitting a workforce among separate employers makes it harder for workers to negotiate together with the corporation that controls much of the operation. When something goes wrong, workers should not be caught between companies pointing responsibility at each other. A plumber hired to fix a pipe is a contractor. Someone delivering packages every day through a company\u2019s delivery system is performing a core part of that company\u2019s business. I believe that when a corporation controls that work, it should carry the responsibilities of an employer. A subcontracting agreement should not erase those responsibilities. In Lansing, I will push for stronger protections that hold corporations responsible for workers whose work they control. My goal is to protect workers\u2019 ability to pursue fair pay, safer conditions, and accountability from the companies with power over their jobs. Corporate responsibility should follow control of the work.

Enforce antitrust laws and break up Monopolies:<\/strong>
Locally owned businesses deserve a fair chance to compete. When a handful of corporations control an industry, they gain power over what families pay, what suppliers earn, and what workers can negotiate. We should not let the biggest companies use that power to shut out competitors and leave entire communities with fewer choices. I support stronger enforcement of antitrust laws, challenging mergers that would undermine competition, and breaking up illegal monopolies where necessary to restore it. Businesses should succeed by offering better products, better service, and fair prices. No corporation should be allowed to buy up its competition or block other businesses from reaching customers until people have nowhere else to turn. When a local business closes, the loss reaches beyond its owner. Workers lose jobs, local suppliers lose customers, and community organizations lose support. These businesses are where people get their first jobs, where neighbors know each other, and where families put years of work into building something of their own. Protecting their opportunity to compete helps keep jobs, money, and ownership in our communities. In Lansing, I will support giving Michigan\u2019s antitrust enforcers the resources they need to investigate and challenge corporate abuses. I will oppose policies that help dominant corporations squeeze out independent businesses. A healthy economy needs room for people to start a business, earn a living, and compete without needing permission from a corporate giant.


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Jack Bader For State Representative District 97 Volunteer Donate Signs Facebook Money out of Politics: We need to break the link between money and political power. Working hard should give people a fair shot at buying a home, raising a family, and retiring comfortably. But when wealthy donors and corporations have more influence over government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackbadermi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackbadermi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackbadermi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackbadermi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackbadermi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/jackbadermi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87,"href":"https:\/\/jackbadermi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7\/revisions\/87"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackbadermi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}