Why Vote Republican This Fall In Obama's Home State?

As I've walked around the precinct this election season gathering signatures for Edgar Montalvo, our state senate hopeful, or knocking on doors to place yard signs, I've heard several comments to the effect of: My vote doesn't count anyway because Obama has the state wrapped up, so why vote?

The answer is simple. If we are going to stop the corruption, the dirty deals, the "pay to play" politics, the excessive taxation and crushing debt in this state we will have to put honest, fiscally conservative, small government Republicans in office at all levels of government.

Let's look at what has transpired over the past past decade with Democrats in control of the Governorship and both State Houses:

The cost of and spending by state government has increased while the population has decreased. As you know, we have all seen our state income taxes go up and have heard about the State's financial woes while neighboring states have fixed their fiscal problems. Census data from the 2010 census, show that Cook county and the City of Chicago have seen an extensive loss of population. In fact, the loss has been so great that only New Orleans after Katrina has seen greater losses than Cook County and Chicago. We didn't experience a Katrina in Illinois, so what happened?

What happened was a continuation of the failed policies established by one party Democrat rule at the State, Cook County and Chicago levels. Think about what you've read and heard over the past decade. Whenever there is a shortage of revenue in Chicago or Cook County, what is the first thing that the Cook County President, Mayor of Chicago or State Democrat leadership call for? A tax increase! Do they ever say they want to find places to make cuts in their budgets? Never.

Cook County Democrats look with disdain at business owners, the real drivers of revenue and prosperity, and consider them to be "the rich." Business owners employ people, people who work, contribute to the economy and pay taxes. Because Democrats favor government solutions over private ones, they think that taxing and regulating business owners is the answer to issues such as unemployment and the lack of funding for state services. As a result of this hostile climate, business owners then leave the city, county and state and take their payroll and tax revenue with them.  

Despite the 2010 election results, the Democrats were able to redistrict the state as they saw fit. The result? Despite a breathtaking loss of population in their former strongholds, they maintained enough power to extend their Federal and State legislator's districts out into Will County. That is why we have Congressman Bobby Rush as our current representative in Congress. Now this election gives us a choice between Rush, who doesn't represent our interests and who doesn't attend half of the legislative sessions he's supposed to, and Don Peloquin, who is a small business owner who refuses to be chased out by Rush's policies. The redistricting also affected our local state legislative districts. We still have Renee Kosel as our State Representative but we lost Christine Radogno as our State Senator. We now have a choice to make between a small business owner who pays taxes in the form of Edgar Montalvo, and a new member of the Cook County Democrat apparatchik who lives with his parents outside the district he is supposed to represent.

The current state economy shows what is in store for Will County if we cannot keep the Democrats out. Because Democrats had substantial majorities in the State Houses they got to redraw the maps. After chasing businesses and people out of their districts, they now need to come after us in Will County for the revenue. Cook County politicians view Will County as a big healthy dog and they are the tick. They intend to suck us dry of our taxes to continue to fund their failed policies and programs.

Examples include: The RTA sales tax. This is a prime example of Democrat desires to redistribute wealth back to Cook County and the City of Chicago. We in Will County send .75% of our sales tax revenue to the RTA, which is controlled by City Democrats. We receive little in the way of any extra services. In fact, most of the money is taken by the RTA to pay for the pensions of CTA and Cook County RTA workers. An example of payoff for political support by their union over the years.

Here are some facts for you to think about as you decide who to vote for in this coming election:

Will County, currently controlled mostly by fiscally conservative Republicans, has a per capita debt of $3 for every person residing in Will County. Cook County households face a staggering debt of over $32,000 per household or $8,000 per capita assuming families of four.

According to both Edgar Montalvo and Don Peloquin, there are enough Republican and independent voters in the 1st Congressional District and in the 19th Senate District to elect Don Peloquin and Edgar Montalvo. But these voters need to turn out.

So is there a reason to vote in this election even if Obama is likely to win the state? If you want to keep the quality of life you enjoy here in Will County you need to get out and vote for Republicans this cycle. If you don't and Democrats take over control of Will County, you will see your taxes go up and your quality of life go down as more and more people and businesses are chased out. This is a future that one shudders to even think about.