I'll Be Paying with Nickels and Dimes

After seeing another person's take on their home state's new quarter, I became curious as to what Michigan had come up with. Michigan, in my opinion, does not have the greatest track record when it comes to state funded art. Take our license plates, for example. They are all seriously lacking in any forethought and to this day I refuse to get a new plate unless it's the same old blue with white lettering. Take a gander for yourself and tell me that this is not ugly. (You will need to scroll down about three quarters to the plate with "World's Motor Capital" on it.)

And now this:

On November 28, 2001, Governor John Engler established the 25-member Michigan Quarter Commission. The Commission members consisted of individuals from the fields of education, art, history, and numismatics. The Commission solicited recommendations for design concepts from the residents of the State and received over 4,300 suggestions. The Commission narrowed the entries down to five candidate concepts that were approved by Governor Engler, and forwarded them to the United States Mint on May 10, 2002. Other design concepts considered included "Michigan State Outline, with Great Lakes and State Icons," "Michigan State Outline, with Great Lakes and the Mackinac Bridge," "Michigan State Outline, with the Mackinac Bridge and Automobile," and "Michigan State Outline, with Great Lakes and Automobile."

We paid 25 people our hard earned taxes to come up with the outline of the state?

One more thing to be impressed by. *snort*