According to recent studies conducted by The Michigan Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives, young people are fleeing Michigan at an alarming rate.

A recent guest column featured in the online news publication, MLive, written by Brian Sweeny, a recent college graduate and young professional, demonstrates the frustration that many feel.

By leaving Michigan, these young people are sending our politicians a very clear message that this is not the state, or even country, that they want to be a part of.

These recent graduates will not live in a society that suppresses the rights of the poor, destroys the ability for workers to collectively bargain, cuts education funding to give a tax break to the wealthy and works to inhibit the ability for women to make personal choices concerning their health.

The recent abortion insurance rider enacted here in Michigan is a prime example of this sort of oppression when a small minority of people force their morality onto the rest of us. If Michigan wants to grow as a state and make a respectable economic recovery, it must embrace these talented young people and allow them a voice in our society and our government.

One of the issues young people care about is gay marriage. Sixty-one percent of young people in Michigan support gay marriage and yet Republican leadership refuses to acknowledge this fact and have done their best to skirt the issue or are blatantly attacking its supporters.

Gays in Michigan are treated like second-class citizens. For instance, there are no state protections to keep people from being fired from their job or suffering from housing discrimination based on their sexual preference.

Other issues young people include attacks upon those receiving any sort of state aid, such as mandatory welfare drug testing, cuts to unemployment benefits when unemployment in Michigan was still over 10 percent and attacking the minimum wage, which many recent graduates are living off as they wait for our struggling economy to improve.

The unemployment rate may be going down, but the new jobs don’t pay enough to support these burgeoning young people nor help them pay off their student debt. The poor and middle class pay almost 10 percent in state taxes while the wealthiest among us don’t even pay 6 percent.

State revenue is up $1.3 billion while the revenue of local communities is down $1 billion and the Republicans are still playing politics while communities struggle to pay for essential services. The Republicans are building an unbalanced society and these graduates bear witness to that and it’s not the world they want to live in.

It seems as if the GOP is saying if you are a progressive you are not welcome in Michigan.

The reason I became involved in politics is because I want to leave my children a better world, not one that turns its back on the poor or embraces veiled racism and seeks to hamper the right for minorities to vote.

When it comes to the rights of its citizens, Michigan appears to be returning to the dark ages of the first half of the 20th century — what too many Republicans refer to as the good old days.

William Crandell is a community activist and member of the Michigan Education Association and the Michigan Democratic Party. He is also a member of the South County Democratic Club where he has served as their communications director and as the chairperson of the SCDC Blue Tiger Community Action Committee.