It's the economy stupid!

I work in a profession that allows me to address the American flag everyday for the pledge of allegiance and hear our national anthem at every ball game. I see this as a very serious happening. When I face the flag I look at the same place every time. I have a star on the bottom right of the field of blue. It is basically the middle of the flag but it means something more to me. My star is close to each of the other fields on the flag. I'm in the blue but I'm not too far from the red and white stripes. I picked this location because it best reflects my political ideology. I am a loyal democrat but I have always been willing see all sides of an issue and think for myself.

Now that I have identified myself as a Democrat that must mean I have a set beliefs that aligns me to other Democrats but I am actually conservative on a number of issues. Like I said, my star reflects my views. These days it seems that both parties wish we would choose one side of the flag or other. This is especially true of the current situation in Illinois that involves the moving of Gitmo detainees to a largely unused Illinois prison.

Republicans are truly using this issue as a way to oppose Barack Obama's closing of Gitmo and they have tried to oppose every issue that the Obama administration has addressed. Here is the bottom line, we have housed dangerous people in prisons since the beginning of prisons. So far we have done at least a fair job of keeping them in there. The idea that it is dangerous to house suspected terrorists there is foolish. Aren't prisons designed for dangerous people and their policies are designed to keep their dangerous friends and families from posing a threat to the community? Is our unemployment rate high or is it just me? We need those jobs folks! I would like to recognize at least one Republican who actually has it right. Marion's mayor, Bob Butler, actually invited these detainees to the federal penitentiary in his town. By the way if you didn't see that interview on national television, he really made us Wildcats very proud.

I think all that I'm getting at is that sometimes you have to set aside political loyalty to focus on our greatest needs. Right now we need jobs. It seems like the last Democrat elected to the Whitehouse was charged with fixing the economy and the famous slogan was, "It's the economy stupid!"