My View: GOP gives power to the (rich) people
By Kim MacCloskey
Posted Feb. 13, 2016 at 9:00 AM
I respect Don Ellingson and his desire to lend his long life experience to the political discourse of the day. But his recent attempt to channel the spirit of Abraham Lincoln was nothing more than a propaganda piece for his idealized version of the Republican Party.
You could tell his glaring pro-Republican Party bias when he said that one side of the political spectrum thought government was “all things to all people,” and the other faction “strongly disagreed."
No, Mr. Ellingson, the other “faction,” as you called them, is the Republican Party, and it thinks multinational corporations are all things to all people. He actually said that governance should not be decided by a few people in power, yet he backs a political party where a few billionaires decide how to govern, and their shills in the Republican Party and on Fox so-called News just can’t wait to dance to the tune the billionaires play.
ALEC, owned and operated by billionaires, writes the laws Republican politicians submit to state legislatures for approval. Corporate lobbyists do the same in Congress.The Illinois Policy Institute writes weekly propaganda pieces in this newspaper to create public opinion. In short, a few billionaires are deciding what our government should do.
Since 1980, when Ronald Reagan took office, big business interests have worked hard to subjugate our government and bust the unions to increase their power. The Republican Party has been their willing co-conspirator. How else do you explain Mitch McConnell being worth more than $20,000,000 on a salary of less than $200,000 per year?
So, Mr. Ellingson, the Republican Party doesn’t just disagree with government working for the majority of the people, it is actively working to take power from that government for the benefit of a few billionaires. It is nothing short of a hostile takeover.
One has only to look to Flint, Michigan, to see this truth. The governor knew nearly a year ago that people were being poisoned by lead in the water supply and exposed to Legionnaires Disease, but since they were poor, and it would cost money to fix the problem, he ignored it. That is the 21st century Republican way. The Republican Party exists only to enlarge corporate profits. They don’t give a whit for people, unless those people are billionaires.
Why do you think every single Republican Party presidential candidate wants us to get involved in a ground war in Syria? Well, who makes money in a war? Munitions makers, of course. But Republicans won’t even consider raising taxes on those who can afford to pay more to care for the poor people who sacrifice their bodies to conduct those wars.
The simple, obvious fact, is that the only way our government is going to work for the majority of the people is if billionaires pay their fair share in taxes.But take heart. There is one, and only one, person running for president who has been a consistent voice against the billionaire takeover of our government.He has been a political independent for 40 years, and has been a mayor, a congressman and a senator. He’s been saying the same things for his entire career. Of course, I’m talking about Bernie Sanders. That is why I support him for president, and why I am running to be a delegate for Sanders to the Democratic Party convention this summer.If you want to wrest power from the billionaires who are stealing our government, you have a choice in Bernie Sanders.Kim MacCloskey of Durand is an attorney.
- My View: U.S. should embrace leadership role
By Don Ellingson
Posted Feb. 6, 2016 at 6:12 PM
If Abraham Lincoln were alive today, this is what he might say.Twelve score years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Today we are engaged in a great civil strife of ideals testing whether that nation or any nation so divided can long endure.One faction believes that government is all things to all people — a Supreme Power that is all wise and knows what is best for the country and its citizens, including health, education, jobs, resources and retirement. The other faction strongly disagrees. They think that government is not such an entity. They know that any government is made up of one or more humans whose thoughts and opinions are what is decreed by government. The laws and rules of government all come from people that have maneuvered themselves into a leadership position, sometimes not in an honorable way.But in a larger sense, government of the people, by the people and for the people is not decided by a few people in a position of power who are not necessarily the smartest, fairest or most experienced of this nation.Since its birth, this country has not only been the envy of the world but also the savior of the world. There have been two terrible world wars. We did not start either of them, but we ended both of them. Then we helped stabilize the rest of the world, including the defeated nations in the most humane way we knew through the Marshall Plan. Many countries looked at us not as conquerors but saviors.With the chaos in the Middle East, it appears that the world again is waiting for the United States to bring them hope — not as a bystanding cheerleader, not as an adviser, not as a helper with a minor role, but as a leader. Remember, you are not a leader unless you have followers that support you and physically help you reach your goal.We have done this more than once. And the unbelievable patriotism exhibited by this nation after the bombing of Pearl Harbor was something that has never been seen before and should be the envy of the world.In closing, let me say this: May this nation, under God, never perish from the earth because of the help and leadership that it has provided to the rest of the world.Don Ellingson is a Poplar Grove resident and longtime dairy farmer
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