Letters: Use brain when voting
September 14, 2012 10:00PM
Updated: October 17, 2012 6:10AM
I am a first-time writer. I have been living in Joliet for over 50 years. My favorite part of The Herald-News has been Viewpoint. It gives us, the people, a chance to express our opinions, and Viewpoint gives us the freedom to express those opinions without argument or harassment.
I have been reading and following the political views of the people in the Joliet area for many years. It never ceases to amaze me of how people vote (or argue) by emotions and not by brains.
I have always been a independent voter. I always split my ballot. I usually research my candidates, so I know what policies they support and how moral they are. If they are an incumbent candidate, I vote by their record.
In the past, if I knew nothing of the candidate, because of lack of research, I would guess by the name, or even by “eeny, meeny, miney, moe.” If the name seemed Slovenian, I felt comfortable that he would have good morals. I will not be voting for Obama.
I am not better off now than I was four years ago. He has broken his promises and lied to us. Personally, he may be a nice person; I don’t know him. I don’t like his policies. I don’t like the direction he is leading our country — away from the constitutional guidelines. If you have a leaky faucet or plugged up drain, and Obama was a plumber, would you hire him to fix the problem? I sure would not!
Paula Mavec
Joliet
Romney does a 180
Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney seems to have taken a 180-degree stance on most of domestic issues. You name it — a cause he once championed for the good of people — is now on his list for extinction.
The Affordable HealthCare Law is a direct version of Romney’s healthcare bill he signed into law when governor of Massachusetts. Romney was quoted as saying, “Obama should adopt his plan as a model for the rest of the nation.”
Obama did that. Now, Romney says he will repeal the law. When Romney was a Senate candidate he was pro-choice and promoted safe, legal abortions. He now says he is totally against all abortions, except in the case of rape and incest.
He once donated to Planned Parenthood. He now says he will outlaw the program. Romney once backed the Brady Bill, in which he said, “I don’t line up with the NRA.” Romney boasted that he was a moderate.
How many times can one man change his stance? His jobs program, he proclaims, will jump-start the economy, but he recently told ABC during the contractors’ convention, for non-union tradesmen, that he will repeal Project Labor Agreements and the Davis Bacon Act, repealing the prevailing wage laws. He will drive down wages, pensions and healthcare for a dwindling middle class.
I know one thing, some people will do or say anything to attain what they want. And, every time Romney opens his mouth, one can see the steam coming out from both sides. He’s smiling saying, “Yep, there really is a sucker born every day.”
Mike Schauer
Joliet
Our freedom is at stake
In “Take crazy out of Congress” (letters, Aug. 23), Casey Lilek either outright lied, or blindly promoted outspoken voices of the progressive left. The tea party has never indicated dismantlement of the federal government as its No. 1 agenda. If that were indeed the case, tea party members would leave in droves, and soon, the tea party would no longer exist.
Its purpose is to bring back limited government — as our founding fathers and still relevant Constitution make clear.
Last year, I talked with an elderly lady who is a staunch Democrat. She said something similar to what Lilek believes. I corrected her, then asked a few questions to find out where she stood on various issues. If I didn’t know better, I would have called her a conservative Republican, because her answers didn’t fit in at all with the radical, progressive, Democratic administration now in power.
How many people, I wonder, vote without researching and understanding what and whom they’re voting for? Her answers were very troubling as the freedoms we’ve enjoyed in America are at stake this upcoming election. Tragically, a countless number of Americans may not understand this until it’s too late.
Then again, if you like being told what to believe, where you will live, what you can eat, what car you’re to drive (if, in the future, you’re still allowed to drive), what temperature to keep your thermostat, etc., and don’t mind having our military being shaped into sappy eco-justice defenders — or being a slave for a corrupt and arrogant administration,— you may be perfectly happy.
Research the subtle, controlling dictates of the United Nations’ pseudo-spiritual/environmental Agenda 21 plan for global sustainability. Then, discern what Obama is leading us into and vote.
Claris Van Kuiken
New Lenox
