archives

My U.S. Congressman is Republican Mark Kirk. I consider myself an independent with democratic tendencies. I would like to believe I could vote for a republican if I felt they were the best person for the job. I would like to believe that I look at the whole picture and try not to focus on single issues.

I have seen first hand what Mark Kirk has done for the surrounding communities whether it is securing federal funds for cleaning up Waukegan's Harbor, renovating Veteran's Hospitals, or assisting with a primary care facility in Highland Park that we designed and built. He has also greatly assisted a friend of mine who is a social worker.

I can look at all of those things, and say, Yeah, here is a guy who is really working for his people. His accomplishments have affected me directly. I have even written him and told him so.

But when it comes down to it, I simply cannot make myself vote for Mark Kirk for basically one reason. His support for the Iraq War. He really has pissed me off about the subject. Before we even invaded Iraq, he was blaming the Anti-War movement for Soldiers deaths. Paraphrasing now . . . "Every day that those against the War delay our invasion means more soldier deaths as we have to fight in the heat of the summer time." I was appalled by this comment. Here he was blaming those in favor of preventing a War for soldiers dying. 5 years later, look where we are at. Would a few days back then really have mattered?

If it were up to me, we never would have gone into Iraq, 4,000 soldiers would still be alive, 70,000 soldeirs would not be wounded, 500,000,000,000 dollars (that's a lot of zeroes) would not have been spent to rebuild a foreign country, I don't know how many innocent civilian lives would not have been lost (i've heard estimates in the hundreds of thousands), millions of Iraqis would not be displaced and we would not have sparked more terrorism and anti-americanism throughout the world.

So. yeah. that is my main reason. But I guess it goes deeper. Domestic Policy. I think the Tax Cuts are a joke. I have not heard much good about No Child Left Behind. I disagree with most republican views on immigration. I am FOR universal healthcare. I do not want to privatize social security.

Anyhow. It sucks because he has done some good work. And I wish I could vote for him but I can't.

But what if I did? Would i be wrong? I hate it that the same people who work in our communities get to make decisions about Americas role in the world and establishing foreign policy.

Bah. I'm just venting. Been doing that a lot lately.

And we don't seem to even care.
No outrage, and no truthful reporting of it by corporate media.

Analogously, in 1973, The Washington Post won the Pulitzer Prize for its work in uncovering the Watergate abuses, and that led to what would have been the imminent bipartisan impeachment of the President until he was forced to resign in disgrace. By stark and depressing contrast, in 2006, Jim Risen, Eric Lichtblau and the NYT won Pulitzer Prizes for their work in uncovering illegal spying on Americans at the highest levels of the Government, and that led to bipartisan legislation to legalize the illegal spying programs and provide full-scale retroactive amnesty for the lawbreakers.

And what's the only thing I can do? Sign a virtually worthless petition... sigh. Well, at least I did that.