Michigan's economy grows when government gets out of the way.

A quarter of American workers need a government license just to work, five times the 1950s rate, with no safety benefit to show for it. It also cuts interstate migration by over a third for workers stuck re-licensing every time they cross a state line, a real cost for a region bordering Wisconsin. Lydia will push for federal recognition so a license earned in one state counts in another.

The same problem shows up in manufacturing. New plants wait years for federal permits before they can break ground, the same bottleneck already strangling clean energy projects. Lydia will push to fix that timeline so Michigan can build here instead of waiting here.

And it shows up in what Michigan's allowed to grow. Industries like paper are fading while new ones, like hemp, sit behind federal barriers that have nothing to do with safety. Lydia will push to clear those barriers so Michigan's economy isn't locked into industries on their way out.