Look in the mirror for corruption cause

We’ve all now heard of the $53 million allegedly plundered from the taxpayers of Dixon, Ill., where the FBI has had to intervene with the incredible scam apparently taking place over the last 22 years. The amount is an absolutely staggering figure for a town of fewer than 16,000 residents.

It’s easy for many to laugh at others’ misfortunes. Laugh it up, but the joke is truly on all of us in Illinois. Dixon is merely a symptom, a product of our corrupted state. Those entrusted with power across northern Illinois are cheating us wherever they have built up a network of corrupt political “connections,” lying politicians and attorneys which aren’t exclusive to just one party. The corruption is rampant in both.

It’s easy to blame the parasites stealing from us or the worthless auditors or the corrupt political peers who look the other way or the corrupt state’s attorneys who won’t do their jobs to enforce our laws. What’s harder to do is to look in the mirror and take blame ourselves for not voting with education and principles — or, maybe worse, not voting at all. Voters must start holding accountable all corrupt mayors, township officials, county board members, state’s attorneys, legislators, all the way up the ladder of power in Illinois because the higher in power you go, the more corrupt it seems to get.

Failure to hold these charlatans accountable is nothing short of feeding the corruption. So the next time we laugh at the 16,000 “chumps” in Dixon who have been cheated of so much over the last 22 years, we should take a look in the mirror and make sure we also laugh at ourselves, particularly if we vote exclusively “Democratic” or “Republican” because it’s the “other party” that is the corrupt one.

Kirk Denz

Ingleside