No Lincolns in the Land of Lincoln

We face tough time in Illinois. Our budget crisis has revealed to me that too many of our elected politicians are too worried about their jobs. The right thing to do in this state is a combination of two things: cut spending and raise revenue. You have to do both if you want save our state. Our representatives do not want to be on record to raise taxes and when we read about cuts that are proposed it is usually in the social service area. Maybe we should try cutting some pet projects legislators use to help pick up votes come election time. My point is that our leaders need to take a page from Abraham Lincoln's book.

Lincoln is not only the greatest Illinoisan in our history but also one of the greatest presidents in our nation's history. He spent his entire presidency in crisis. Now I am certainly not comparing our budget crisis to the Civil War. The idea is that if our leaders would step up to the plate as Lincoln did we would find ourselves on the road to recovery. Think of the unpopular things Lincoln had to do. He emancipated slaves in the midst of the turbulent times of a war that had it's causes rooted in slavery. He suspended the civil liberties of many of his own citizens. Bottom line is that Lincoln had guts. The guts that it takes to put a county back on course and in turn make it stronger.

We should challenge our legislators and our governor to be as brave as Lincoln and do somethings that might be unpopular but will help save our state and the people in it.