Loosing Trust in State's Democrats

This is a good editorial I ran across on the Capitol Fax Blog from the Galesburg, Illinois newspaper. The Democrats have let this state down and its time to rethink who we send to Springfield. To be clear, the old Republican party had its blemishes too but independent moderates realize that people and not parties solve problems. I want to work within the two party system to bring change to Illinois. Problems aside, it was the Republican party in Illinois that stood for fiscal discipline, paying bills on time and protecting our state pensions. Structural deficits were never this bad and job creation was a priority under Republican leadership--so was holding the line on the crazy tax and fee hikes. We need a return to the ficsal conservatism of the Republicans. Enjoy.

By DAVE CASS
Letter to the Editor
Posted Apr 08, 2008 @ 11:24 AM

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I usually don’t write a letter to the editor unless I encounter something which I consider frustrating or just absolutely stupid. I got a double-whammy in Friday’s edition of The Register-Mail.

First, State Rep. Mike Smith (Democrat of Canton) is proposing a constitutional amendment that would increase the state income tax rate for people earning more than $250,000 a year from the current 3 percent to 6 percent. Is that really a good idea?
The American Dream has always been to become successful through initiative and hard work. Why penalize those among us who have achieved this? Unless I beat the odds and win the lottery, I don’t ever expect to be one of those earning a quarter million a year, but I don’t harbor ill feelings toward those who do. These are the people who have either taken a risk in business or who have gone to school to learn a skill which is highly sought after by the rest of us. We couldn’t function without these people. Why should we tell them that we are going to take twice as much proportionally from them as from everybody else? What does it say to our young people when, by our actions, we tell them not to try to achieve success because a greater percentage of their incomes will be usurped in order to make the rest of us feel better?

OK, as if that wasn’t bad enough. I also see that the State Senate has voted to expand health care, an admirable idea. The problem comes with the mechanism for funding this noble purpose.

The Democratically-controlled Senate decided it would be a good idea to raid “many small piggy banks” in order to raise the necessary funds for this action. Unfortunately, these “many small piggy banks” are funds that were set aside for specific purposes. One of them is the Teachers Retirement Insurance Program. I have seen what Blagojevich has done to the Teachers’ Retirement System funding recently and I don’t relish the idea of him tapping into my health insurance to pay for his pet projects.

For many years, I have voted Democratic because I thought they were the party that looked out for us “little guys.” (The exception to this would be my voting for Don Moffitt, a man for whose work I have the utmost respect). I am beginning to realize that, when it comes to what’s happening here in Illinois, my allegiance to the Democratic Party has been misguided. Until they prove to me that they have the intelligence and fortitude to deal with the state’s financial crisis in a reasonable manner, they have seen the last of my support! — Dave Cass, Galesburg