Duckworth more reasonable

I read Jackie Philip’s recent letter to this column decrying the Daily Herald’s endorsement of Tammy Duckworth. I never could understand why people on the radical right always seem to turn a deaf ear to alternate views, but this is precisely why Joe Walsh should not be re-elected. His and the Tea Party’s extreme intransigence are a big part of why our legislature has become so polarized and ineffective. In endorsing Duckworth, both the Daily Herald and the Chicago Tribune cited Walsh’s inflexibility as the reason he should not be sent back to Congress.

It may surprise Ms. Philip to know that the Rush Limbaughs and Glen Becks of the world are not the only (or even the best) sources of information. One has to be willing to hear both sides of the serious issues confronting us and to be open to compromise for the sake of the greater good. All we get from Mr. Walsh and his Tea Party cronies is right wing dogma. This is not governance and it is certainly not how our Founding Fathers managed to find solutions among extremely divergent viewpoints.

Ironically, Ms. Philip referred to the wave of foreclosures that has washed over the 8th District as a reason to endorse Mr. Walsh, when his stated position is actually unfriendly to the American dream of homeownership. Walsh says he would abolish the mortgage interest tax deduction. The National Association of Realtors has said that would deflate home values even further, putting even more people under water and exacerbating the foreclosure problem. It would also raise the tax burden of the average homeowner who takes advantage of the deduction by thousands of dollars per year.

It is time to send reasonable people to Congress.

Bob Dohn

Schaumburg