Bill Foster has right approach for 14th

Recently, Republican candidate Jim Oberweis was greeting folks at the Geneva train station. As one of his would-be constituents, I told Oberweis that I am alarmed about America's $9 trillion deficit and that I favor Democratic candidate Bill Foster for his pledge to balance the budget.

Foster's commitment to fiscal responsibility, coupled with his principled position on immigration that "America must remain a nation of laws," has earned him the scorn of Democratic rival John Laesch, who described him as "Republican light."

But Laesch has it wrong on two points. One, Foster has correctly identified America's debt crisis as a vital issue that our generation needs to remedy for the sake of future generations. Second, fiscal and legal prudence are not the intellectual property of the GOP.

For his part, Oberweis agreed that we need to balance the budget. His strategy is to lower taxes and cut wasteful spending. It's hard to argue that government should be wasteful. Yet, Oberweis does not give any specifics on how he would measure waste or what programs he would cut.

For instance, what is his position on the $12.7 billion that the administration sent to Iraq and lost? Likewise, how would he characterize the $1 trillion we have spent on the war only to find no WMD and to install a failed democracy?

As our congressman, would Oberweis or Lauzen use the power of the purse to put an end to such recklessness? Bill Foster has affirmed that America must be fiscally responsible and must remain a nation of laws. He has pledged to end our involvement in the war in Iraq.

But, most of all, he has affirmed the need to think our way out of difficult problems rather than appeal to partisan ideologies. For that, he has my vote.

Brian Doyle

St. Charles