Don't let lawmakers hide behind bills

Why is our government dysfunctional with voters frustrated that nothing really changes (aside from bigger government and higher debt and taxes), yet we keep electing incumbents to office?

Over 95 percent of state House incumbents in the 2008 election won.

Locally, our representatives say it's "the system," or "other lawmakers" that are the problem, not them, and they have "proof."

They claim to have "sponsored a bill that..." or "voted to..." fill in the blank here, but it's generally something that is poll tested and sounds terrific, so believe them.

In last year's 95th General Assembly, 9,866 bills were introduced and 1,056 of them became law.

Think about that. Of the 177 state lawmakers on the public dole, each one averaged the introduction of 56 bills. Each bill takes countless man hours to research and write, go to committee, be debated, maybe rewritten, etc., etc., and yet only about 10 percent of them pass.

Any reasonable person would correctly recognize this charade as a waste of time.

This process has a purpose: It is simply to provide cover for career politicians. They introduce bills that keep lobby money coming in while giving voters the impression they're actually doing something constructive.

They know most bills won't pass and hope the unpopular ones get lost among the 10,000 and not noticed.

One thousand new laws each year for years. What do we have to show for it other than more debt and a bloated government that is constantly touting how hard it works?

Check ilga.gov, click on "bills" to see what your representative is up to. We need to elect people with a real life and who don't have the time or the desire to play these games with our money.

Keith Gray

Mettawa