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I Believe...

  • I am a believer in the U.S. Constitution, and that the freedoms enabled by the US Constitution will never be removed from the face of the Earth.
  • I am a believer in the American way of life, and the acceptance of ALL walks of life, beliefs, and religions.
  • I am a strong believer in self-reliance, both as a person and as a nation. While few of us can exist without the help and intervention of others, it is through self-reliance that we become a stronger people, and a stronger people create a stronger nation.
  • I believe that government should serve the people, not the other way around.
  • I believe that family values and a good education are absolutely essential to secure the future of the people of the United States and the State of Illinois.
  • I believe that educational opportunity should be provided on an equal basis to all of our citizens and legal immigrants, and that the quality of that education should not depend on where we live.
  • I believe that the best policies and laws must never be allowed to age, but rather must be examined constantly to ensure they continue to serve the interests of the people who these policies govern.
  • I believe that good government economic policy should be focused on spurring economic growth, which strengthens the private sector and enables businesses to create new jobs. Continuous economic growth strengthens our country and helps provide opportunities for all Americans.

I’m troubled by the political scene today, where it’s become more important and popular to apply blame or label the “other party” as un-American, rather than trying to work together to solve the problems before us as a state and as a nation.

I believe that a large body of like-minded people will never create the best policies or laws. It is only through a diversity of perspective and purpose, which then requires compromise to achieve anything at all, that the best can be created. No individual ever built a skyscraper; it always takes a collective effort.

While the two-party system may have been all that was needed in the primarily agrarian times of the Founding Fathers, our lives have become tremendously more complex and our people more diverse in choices they have to make about family, where they live, and what kind of work they might do. Recently we hear in the news the mention of the “Tea Party,” and most of us assume that they’re a radical fringe group somewhere that isn’t really a representation of America. On the contrary, a recent CNN poll reveals that their membership is mostly middle class, primarily middle age or beyond, and 75% of them are college educated. The Tea Party has millions of members, and whether you want to admit it or not, they are a legitimate voice of the American people. While I certainly don’t agree with all of their opinions or programs, they are, nevertheless, a legitimate voice of America.

All political parties or groups have been granted by the US Constitution the right to try and change America through their votes and the election of candidates to represent them. We can no longer label opinions of these groups as “wrong” just because they differ from our own. It can no longer be “left wing” or “right wing” ... it can no longer be the Democrats overcoming the Republicans or the Republicans overcoming the Democrats. If we cannot learn to work together through compromise, then our future is relegated to those with the loudest voice, instead of all of the voices of the American people.