Can't afford pay for play administration

Barack Obama's compromise with big labor over health care reform is the final straw for me. This type of "compromise" is not a compromise at all, but simply what we are all too familiar with, "pay to play."

Voters repudiated the politics of the Bush administration by voting for Obama, but we have unfortunately just graduated to a more advanced form of political ineptitude. We have moved from the "Good Old Boy" network to the "What can you offer me?" network. The American people cannot afford to have a "pay for play" administration controlling one sixth of our economy where the only people who will benefit are the people controlling it.

We ought to know, as Illinoisans we have seen this far too often and it has led us into one of the leading contenders for state bankruptcy. I have e-mailed and phoned our state senators urging them to vote no, and I encourage you to do the same thing. We absolutely need "reform," but not the type you get by exchanging promises for dollars ... or what politicians call "compromises."

Phil Hanson

West Chicago