Video poker won't solve anything

The Daily Herald was right to put "Fee for rejecting video poker?" on its front page. But I'd like to challenge more than video poker.

Unfortunately, the name of the sponsor of the bill, Democratic State Sen. Mike Jacobs of East Moline, didn't appear until page 11. I would have put his name on the front page in lengthy headline,"Sen. Mike Jacobs proposes fee instead of fiscal responsibility."

We know Illinois state and local government spending has created huge deficits, but deficits are just a symptom. The issue is fiscal irresponsibility. Most all still hope for responsible candidates to get past even the primaries, and be able to accomplish anything meaningful.

Unfortunately, squeezing a few responsible candidates in will probably not be sufficient. The electoral and governmental systems we allow to exist are too entrenched.

Getting back to one of Senator Jacob's quotes: "Everyone wants to benefit from this dirty money, but nobody wants to get their hands dirty getting it." First, everyone does not want this "dirty" money and second, this money was "clean" when it left taxpayer's pockets.

The Daily Herald recently selected a quote from Ayn Rand for its word puzzle, "The upper classes are a nation's past, the middle class is its future." That says a lot about why change is so difficult.

Related to this, some people, including many of our legislators, know but will not admit several dire issues such as deficit spending have already trashed our economy, unrestrained spending and economic growth is not sustainable, many essential resources are being rapidly depleted, and the retirement of 75 million Baby Boomers in the U.S. will put an unbearable demand on all of us. These issues form an "economic perfect storm."

I doubt squabbling over "video poker" will resolve any of these critical issues.

Guy Turnbull

Algonquin