Time for thoughtful, responsible voting

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy. What follows is a dictatorship. How close is America to the tipping point in which we lose our republic?

As trust is an essential ingredient in all relationships including our marriages, our children and friends, why then do we so easily overlook an elected official who deceives and misspeaks (a polite way to define lying) to be elected? When such individuals are elected and vote for laws we reject, thus betraying our trust, where is the public outrage? And most puzzling of all, why are they re-elected?

Have we become a nation of low information voters whose knowledge is largely limited to media sound-bites and newspaper headlines? It must be every citizen’s responsibility to determine if a candidate has kept his/her promises through a knowledge of past performance. Too many Illinois voters believe their elected candidates have performed well, while placing blame for our dysfunctional state and federal governments on the backs of other state and federal legislators. Until we hold our own representatives accountable, this trend will continue.

A question every voter must ask as he/she participates in Illinois’ primary election in March and the general election in November: “Is this state or nation better off under its current leadership?”

The success and failure of our state and nation lies in the hands of voters, whose responsibility is to investigate and elect representatives who are patriots, men and women who are willing to jealously guard the Constitution and who will continually put country over personal gain.

Nancy J. Thorner

Lake Bluff