Monday, February 06, 2006

The Problem With Illinois Politics

With all due respect Representative Fritchey, I voted for George Ryan because I felt he was one of those politicians who worked well with both friends and enemies, in a spirit of respect, for the good of the people of Illinois.

I convinced my wife to break our long tradition of voting Democrat to vote for him too because I believed the stuff about Glenn Poshard being too conservative on social issues.

Did I make a mistake my wife won't let me forget.

Confrontation's good. We need more of it in Illinois. People too suspicious of politicians who just seem a little too chummy and too concerned about working well with each other but not with the best interest of Illinois in mind.

We don't need a civil war, but the Social Conservatives talk about problems facing families in Illinois. They may have traditional answers we can never go back too, but they seem to understand the problems better then the left; who's only solution is programs like All Kids (which can't find the kids) or just keep Walmart out of the city.

We need more of the Social Conservative's passion in Illinois. We need to broaden their focus on single issues to a wider movement with a vision where Illinois should be going.

They're really the only people who have the potential of thinking with a vision anymore. The left has forgotten how.

9 comments:

Anonymous,  7:36 AM  

Wow, did a Democrat kill your dog or something?

Bill Baar 7:38 AM  

I remember Mayor Daley's shoot to kill order.

Oddly, when I lived near Austin Blvd a Chicago cop did shoot my neigbors dog in the gang way.

Anonymous,  8:49 AM  

Confrontation is not the same as demagoguery. It's one thing to have passion about what you believe, it's another thing altogether to focus on destroying your enemies at the cost of honest debate. Fritchey was spot on with his comments. Real debate about issues like abortion can't even begin when people like Ms. Stanek insist on playing politics and name calling. She alienates people on her side of the issue with her rhetoric. It's hard to come to any common ground with the other viewpoint when, very often, you make the choir you preach to just as disgusted.

grand old partisan 9:15 AM  

Anon 8:49, I agree whole heartedly, but I think your comments could use some balance. Real debate on the issue of abortion can’t being because both sides are actually debating two different issues, as far as they are each concerned. Is abortion a right-to-life issue or a woman’s rights issue? We can’t even find common ground on the fundamental question to begin with, let along he answer. And while your characterization of certain individuals here may be correct, let’s not pretend that for every person on the right demagogue-ing pro-choicers as “murderers”, there isn’t someone on the left slandering pro-lifers as “ant-woman.”

Rep. John Fritchey 9:38 AM  

Bill,

My comments apply equally to those on both sides of this, and every, issue. Don't get me wrong, I love and respect confrontation and the passion from which it springs. (Some may say too much so :) It is the lifeblood of our process. But I think that you would agree with me that when one yells so much, he or she can't listen, they are not really helping out their cause.

Anonymous,  9:48 AM  

GOP:

Didn't mean to imply the same nonsense doesn't apply to both sides, I was simply addressing the issue at hand.

My point is we can't even begin to find any common ground without shedding a lot more light and a lot less heat on the issue. I agree with you that the first step is tough to overcome given the problem of, in essence, debating two totally different issues.

However, I do stand by the point that anyone who labels anyone who doesn't agree with them across the board as "pro-abort" or "baby killer," is not contributing to a constructive debate.

Yellow Dog Democrat 12:42 PM  

It's great to hear a bunch of folks who argue that government can't be trusted to do anything right, but should be trusted to decide when life begins.

Let's not forget that the bible once told us that the sun revolved around the earth.

And Bill, conservatives like Stanek don't have vision, they have blinders on -- how else do you explain their obsession with protecting well-being nine months before birth and their objection to ensuring well-being for the decades after birth?

Levois 2:42 PM  

I think we can agree the left has run out of ideas.

Bill Baar 4:05 PM  

YDD: Gov has to decide when life begins so it can decide when it ends to bring someone to trial for murder. The courts can't just waffle on this one...

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