Gerald and Tara Provost and all five of their kids are the faces of the economic record that John Cherry claims to be so proud to run on this election cycle.  They aren't abstracts.  They aren't numbers.  They're our friends and our neighbors, whether we know them personally or not.  Because I can all but guarantee that everyone in Michigan reading this today has their own personal Gerald, Tara and kids who pop immediately to mind.

Heaven knows I've got too many friends and family members in this same boat, myself.  One family pops right to mind... mom stayed in Michigan with the kids, working for a few extra bucks when she could while dad took off for Pennsylvania, where he could manage a regular paycheck.

The oldest kids handled things fine... they were in college or preparing to finish high school, but the youngest, a pair of boys... they'll never get back that lost time with their dad.  

That's what all of these equations and numbers and percentage points boil down to.  Moms and dads and sons and daughters whose families are scattered to the four winds because the men and women we've sent to Lansing can't manage to get things right by simply staying out of our way.

More government, more taxes, more programs... more dads facing the heartbreaking realization that the only way to provide for their families in Michigan may be to physically leave them for months or years at a time.  

No social safety net for those families, Lieutenant Governor?