Note: The views expressed in these political submissions do not reflect those of the Sun Day, its staff, or those associated to the Sun Day.
In Sun Day’s May 8 edition, David Williams was correct in asking “Not Looking For More of the Same?,” if we want more do-nothing representation going into the November 4 election. Most of us would agree that we want to elect representatives who will “…get positive legislation passed in Washington.” Two questions must then follow: “What is positive legislation?” and “Who would be the best people to bring it to us?”
Positive legislation should be seen as being right for America and we the people. What we are seeing and have seen for the past several years cannot rightly be called “positive” in those terms. A recession that has been followed by the worst economic recovery since the great depression, with “bailout” programs that have only taken us farther down the wrong road and “recovery” programs that have provided no recovery.
Programs that were promised to be “positive” included Obamacare (wrongly called Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) which not only started badly (i.e. unpopular and corruptly passed) with troubled website and signup issues but has proven to continue getting worse as more becomes known. News update: The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report forecasting that the Affordable Care Act will cause the equivalent of more than two million full-time employees leaving the U.S. workforce in the next decade.
Across the board: energy, education, healthcare, jobs, economy, welfare, and more programs have shown to be controversial in substance and lacking in performance. Not much positive there.
The “do-nothing” Congress prize goes not to Republicans but to Harry Reid for demanding that no reasonable bill coming from the U.S. House shall be given any consideration. Mr. Reid is the “do-nothing” blockage to getting anything done.
As for representatives who can bring positive legislation from Washington, Randy Hultgren has taken steps to work with fellow representatives to pass legislation that would have been worthy of votes in the Senate if the leadership(?) there was to show interest in working together. Another roadblock there has been our very own U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, who has given unconditional support to Obamacare while working to take away our freedoms as guaranteed by our founding documents in the Bill of Rights.
Now is the time to educate ourselves on the issues important to our lives. It really comes down to these final questions: “Are we happy with what has been happening in Washington?”…or in Illinois for that matter? Those answers would help us with David Williams’ opening question: “Not Looking For More of the Same?” 2014 is the year for change we can begin to believe in.
Jim Nelson
Huntley Area Tea Party
Looking for Meaningful Change
In poll after poll over the past few years, voters have rendered negative views of the performance of President Obama and our Congress. Now, rather than acting on priorities for economic growth and jobs-creation, we have them talking about raising the minimum wage. This will probably be replaced by something else in a week or two as yet another distraction from the real concerns of Americans. For starters, Obama-care and our 17.5 trillion dollar national debt. And we all know who’s going to pay for them! This is change that could have been avoided.
Regarding raising the minimum wage. According to a recent BLS (Bureau Labor Statistics) study, in 2013 less than 3.3 million workers (2.1M women, 1.2M men) are paid minimum wage in a workforce of 143 million people. More than 50% of those receiving the minimum wage are under 24 years of age. And workers above 29 years of age making minimum wage are 0.8% of the workforce. In 2012, again, according to the BLS, people making minimum wage were 4.7% of the workforce. In 2013, this worker category declined to 4.3% of the workforce. And we all understand that the majority of these people will likely get pay raises from their employers over their length of service with no action needed by our government.
What’s the Economic impact? Loss of jobs. In recent testimony to a congress committee, Fed Chairman Janet Yellen agreed with the estimate of the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) that raising the minimum wage would cost up to 500,000 jobs lost.
Who Benefits? Unions and the political party they support. Union contracts are affected by those workers who are tied to the minimum wage. If the minimum wage is increased, then automatic raises kick in for job rates t hat are set as a percentage above the minimum wage, raising the incomes for union members. This would result in increased union dues for unions which can allow them to provide more financial support directed towards financing the campaigns of their own political partners. Raising the minimum wage has nothing to do with helping people at the lowest income range. It has everything to do with politicians taking care of their base so that their base will take care of them. It sounds good, but it’s not about helping us! Improving our economy would help everyone’s wages. Now that would be a meaningful change!
Jim Doll
Sun City Resident
False Accusations
This is to rebut recent editorials by David Williams, who represents Huntley Seniors for Progressive Action. He attacked Randy Hultgren and other congressional Republicans with these false accusations:
Republicans want to increase defense spending. There is no pending legislation to replace Obama’s meat-axe “Sequester” cuts that have severely weakened our national defense. Representative Hultgren. along with other congressional Republicans and Democrats are pushing for more flexibility in how to spend current defense dollars.
Republicans want to cut Medicaid and Food Stamps. We support these engines for helping our poorest citizens. However, spending on both programs is out of control. Millions who had health insurance are now on Medicaid and food assistance has tripled to 40 million people (many with jobs) since 2008.
Republicans are against raising the minimum wage. We are against a 40% increase that will guarantee the loss of a half million jobs. We are for a 5-10% increase that will help create entry-level opportunities for young people and re-entry jobs for the unemployed.
Republicans are against immigration reform. We are for assimilating law-abiding illegal citizens who are here. However, we want to enforce current laws that will truly control our borders and prevent a future flood of illegal citizens (including criminals like the 36,000 convicted felons that Eric Holder released in 2013).
Republicans are keeping Congress from getting anything done. House Republicans have passed a number of bills designed to repeal or fix the ACA. Senate Democrats and Harry Reid has blocked all of them. The same is true some 40 job bills and proposed legislation to address key energy, education, tax reform, and economic issues.
Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act. This is Mr. Williams one true statement. Obamacare has proved a disaster and it’s about to get worse. While the ACA impacts all 320 million of our citizens, less than 3% have signed up for coverage. Of that group, less than half pay premiums and few young people are signing up. Further, six of 12 state-run exchanges have collapsed (squandering $474 million) and the remaining six will follow suit.
These lies are in keeping with a “progressive” agenda that is destroying this country.
Richard Stack
Sun City Resident
In the 2014 election year, there have been many smear stories regarding the Koch brothers and the Republicans. In the 2012 election, Harry Reid stated that Mitt Romney didn’t pay taxes but would not give any facts. His statement was found to be false. Now, Nancy Pelosi has heard from a Republican colleague that Republicans want children to starve. This is not only false but ridiculous. Mitt Romney told Barack Obama, during the 2012 debates, that Russia was our biggest geo-political threat, and Obama chided him and stated the Cold War ended in the 80s and this was the 21st Century. When Russia invaded the Crimea, both Obama and Kerry were aghast that Russia would do this because, after all, it is the 21st Century.
Liberals/Progressives promote themselves as tolerant of all unless you have a different opinion. There is no room for differing opinions. George Soros spends millions on Democratic candidates, and the unions spent over $700 million in the 2010 election cycle. Unions are not required to report certain contributions, which approximate 75% of their total contributions. Is it amazing that over 7 million people signed up for Obamacare (ACA) when over 6 million lost their insurance coverage due to Obamacare. We still do not know the demographics and how the enrollee mix will affect premiums. Obama has made 40 changes or delays to the Obamacare law which will go into effect after the 2014 elections. If the law is so beneficial why does Obama keep delaying it until after elections? The last 6 years have shown an economy that is still struggling due to Democratic policies, a national debt of over $17 trillion of which Obama so far has added $6 trillion and a diminished respect abroad for America. As far as the “war on women” introduced by Democrats in the 2012 election year to smear Republicans there are currently 5 female governors – 4 Republicans, 1 Democrat. Is the Democrats “war on women” totally dependent on birth control and abortion instead of promoting women economically? 2014 will be an important election to get our country back on the road to creating jobs, creating financial stability, creating independence from foreign influence, and trying to restore peace in the world after Obama’s disastrous policies in Syria, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Ukraine, Russia….
Gail Rose
Sun City Huntley
