MADISON - ST. CLAIR RECORD

To the editor:

On Independence Day we are reminded of the rights outlined in the Declaration of Independence granted to all Americans: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

But let us not forget Thomas Jefferson's next two thoughts, "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it."

These phrases came to my mind as I was reading about the latest grudge match perpetrated by Governor Blagojevich. He's taking the General Assembly to the brink of governmental shutdown with new special sessions on a state budget that is not balanced. Never mind that he has the power to make the cuts himself.

Meanwhile, our pension system is woefully underfunded, legislators can't find money to live up to our basic needs for building roads and schools, and all of this occurs in the wake of a federal investigation that has already jailed some of our Governor's closest advisors.

How did our state government end up at the brink of disaster? And isn't it the "Right of the People" to alter or abolish the corruption within it?

It's time for the people of Illinois to declare independence from Governor Rod Blagojevich and the mess he's created in our state. The people deserve better than his tax increase proposals, the pay-to-play corruption of his administration, and his poorly-executed programs we can't afford.

Jefferson wrote, "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government."

I declare independence from Rod Blagojevich. I challenge Jay Hoffman to do the same.

Dwight Kay
Republican candidate
State House District 112