It's perhaps best to leave the description of Todd Courser to MT columnist Jack Lessenberry.
[The Michigan Tea Party's] fast-emerging leader is a scarily bizarre character named Todd Courser, who nearly got himself elected chair of the Michigan Republican Party last February.
Incumbent Bobby Schostak, a pretty typical business/country club/pander-when-necessary type, barely survived — and only after Gov. Rick Snyder intervened. Courser, an accountant and tax lawyer from Lapeer, then gave a positively creepy speech in which he said he believed that Jesus wanted him to run to save the party.
Yet, even though those sinners turned their backs on the Lord, Courser doesn’t intend to give up. He doesn’t believe in democracy, really; he would fit right in with the Iran of the ayatollahs, if you substitute “Jesus” for Mohammed.
His website says he went to law school to preserve the “Christian heritage of America,” and a steady stream of rambling essays and blog posts make it clear where he stands: “When looking at the uprising in Egypt and our role in the world, remember this is what democracy looks like. It’s ugly. Democracy is mob rule. We were set up as a republic, not a democracy. Democracy is tyranny by the majority.”
Courser, who sports a Lenin-style beard and an intense, almost frightening blue-eyed stare, prefers tyranny by the minority. Looked at in terms of things that are real — like Right to Work legislation, taxing pensions and slashing funds for education — Gov. Rick Snyder is the most hard right governor we’ve had in modern times. Lt. Gov. Brian Calley is more so.
Courser hasn't gone away. Last November, he won a seat in the Michigan House of Representatives. Since then, he's continued a habit that Lessenberry later notes in his piece: Courser often writes rambling diatribes on ... things. For instance:
In an essay, “A Few Thought’s Before Mackinac,” Courser says, “We need a credible candidate to challenge Brain [sic] Calley, because he supported Medicaid expansion … and supported Obamacare exchanges.”
But alas, “I’m just not certain Wes Nakagiri is that choice … because of his past ties to the establishment.”
Poor Todd: His nemesis "Brain" Calley still won and remains the governor's lieutenant.
Anyway, today, Courser published an entry on his website today titled, "First Bills." It serves as an update of sorts on his experience in Lansing thus far, and it comes off like a word soup manifesto of biblical proportions. Consider:
I know it’s hard to see or recognize but with every exposure, every freedom and liberty bill, with every email educating people about the proper role of government and society, with each step explaining what is and is not God ordained as given rights, with each of these steps and having a few liberty eyes and ears and voices in the state capitol, we can all sleep just a little wee bit easier….but we do need many more eyes and ears and voices for Liberty and Freedom in the state house for 2016…
What? Thanks to all human persons who have "liberty eyes and ears and voices" in Lansing, Courser helpfully explains, "we can all sleep just a little wee bit easier." Was this the continuation of a thought that occurred to him during a dream?
As Eric Baerren points out, there's really nothing concrete in any of the words Courser splatters across his page, just nice tidbits to pick and choose and consider what the hell this guy is actually saying. Like this, in which he slams any plan whatsoever that seeks to fill a pothole that doesn't entail simply shrinking the government:
And so on that note, if the roads are so darned/damned bad, well then cut back and stop eating the wine and caviar and tighten the belts and eat a little Hamburger Helper and let’s spend the people’s treasury on the things that should be a priority for government! LIKE THE ROADS!
Incredible. In one gasping breath, he implies he believes the roads don't even need to be fixed, and then suggests that, instead, we spend money to ... fix the roads. And please, all you fat cats in Wayne County, stop sucking down the caviar and drinking Merlot every goddamn night and eat some Hamburger Helper. (Also: nice use of "darned" and "damned" there.)
We'll say this: There is something biblical about Courser: His words are like the Peace of God … in that they passeth human understanding.
