Health & Fitness
Budget Sense
The LWV invites the public to explore the cause and extent of the IL. State budget problem: March 28th 7-9, Community rm. of the Palatine Police Headquarters.
Our League is about to attempt to partake in what (at least in this day and age) might seem to be the impossible: a non-partisan budget discussion.
We’re not doing this for fame and fortune. We’re not doing this out of love of conflict or a reckless sense of abandon. We’re not doing out of naivety either.
We want to uphold the mission of the LWV. Our founder, Carrie Chapman Catt once said: “To the wrongs that need resistance, to the right that needs assistance, to the future in the distance, give yourselves.
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Her view, and ours today, is that it was the duty of citizens in a democracy to be informed of what the government, they supervise, is doing and actively work toward guiding the government toward something that is effective for all.
This mission does not involve political game-playing to enhance power of one person, group, or company at the expense of others. It is strictly non-partisan. If there is a problem, it is the citizen’s duty to work to fix it.
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That is why we’ve undertaken the task of examining the Illinois State budget. In case you were not aware, this is an area of government that is dire need of fixing.
You might be tempted to blame one political party or the other but I urge you to resist the temptation. This is a democracy. Those politicians could not have done anything without the people supporting them (or perhaps ignoring them). Ultimately we, the citizens are at fault. We voted in people that told us what we wanted to hear without seriously considering if it was possible. We punished politicians that told us the truth we did not want to hear.
For a true solution to be found, we need to stop listening for what budget information we want to hear but rather for what ads up. In this day and age, where most of what is in the news involves one politician trying to make the other one look bad, this can be heard to do.
That’s why we’re attempting a nonpartisan discussion of the IL. budget. The solution is up to us, the citizens. We will not find it until we let go of the blame game and wishful thinking and realistically consider our situation and our options.
That is what democracy is really all about.
