There is one for sale in Illinois - if the price is right. From Gov. Rod Blagojevich to Tony Resko to Rev. Jeremiah Wright to Father Michael Pflegor to William Ayers, the Chicago cesspool of politics is very deep.
One peculiar thing is that Chicagoan President-Elect Obama knows little about them, what they have been saying or what they have been doing. He, who is said to be one of the most intelligent politicians ever, is completely oblivious to what has been happening in Chicago, or his church for that matter, for the past 20 years. Or, is he?
Chicago is the place where the dead are still allowed to vote and where Al Capone coined the phrase, “vote early and vote often.” Chicago is also the place where politics are so corrupt that Blagojevich said he wasn’t going to quit and doesn’t think he has done anything wrong!
I remember one belligerent Democrat Congressman, Dan Rostenkowski, who ran Chicago’s political machine and was brought down in 1994 for paying “ghost” employees, who at this time of the season, could have been named the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.
The scandal involving the ghost employees, along with trading postage stamps at the Capitol Hill post office for cash (which is like someone working at the bank stealing ink pens), put him in jail for 15 months before he was pardoned by Clinton.
And it’s not just the Democrats in Illinois. The previous Republican governor, George Ryan, who had just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for issuing a moratorium on executions, was convicted on corruption charges in 2006.
Apparently, Gov. Ryan had failed to issue a moratorium on selling drivers licenses to unqualified truck drivers and tried to make a few bucks on the side.
I don’t even think an author on Oprah’s Book Club, with a new fiction novel, could chronicle the events that have transpired in the political landscape of Illinois this year. It would be too far-fetched, even for the fiction section.
Incidents like these tend to give politicians a bad reputation when, actually, there are many we can trust. What often happens is that someone runs for office with good intentions and ideas, but gets caught up in the corruption of the political machines.
Others go into office with the intention of using the office for their own personal gain. Gov. Blagojevich is one of these. His $1M price tag on a Senate seat which pays $164,000 per year, is his way of saying to the taxpayers, ‘The only reason politicians run for office is to pillage and plunder the government coffers and assist their friends and family.”
I think all politicians have constituents requesting jobs for themselves and their family members or they want some government handout program, but most politicians can distinguish between right and wrong.
Obama recently said, “We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That's not leadership. That's not going to happen."
Apparently, the guys from Chicago just don’t get it. It looks like we are moving from Chicago-style politics to a one-world government with no stop in-between. I’ve got news for the new president - I’m going to drive an SUV if I want, eat as much as my doctor will allow, keep my thermostat on 72 and I could care less what other countries think.
All Conservatives want from those who govern is for them to vote and legislate according to the Constitution and the best interests of the people for whom they represent. We don’t want a job, a pardon or a bailout and we sure don’t want a bunch of politicians in office who think it is acceptable to use our tax dollars for their benefit.
In many campaigns, the character of the candidate often comes into question, and after seeing the corruption in politics, it should be apparent that we need to elect men and women of faith and integrity.
As Ben Franklin said, “I have lived sir, a long time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?” Character matters.
Send your comments to DennisHPowers@Comcast.net or mail them to POB 179, Jacksboro, TN 37757.
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