Promote personal responsibility

I never worked in Springfield so I only have an idea or guess at how things get done there. Our legislators have been working at controlling some runaway pension costs. However, from what we see in local news, union demands are behind the ever increasing costs for retirement fund demands of our cities and state.

Each new effort by the unions for additional pay and benefits is accompanied by the call of “this is a safety issue” and we must take care of our police and firefighters that are there to take care of you.

If that is what the unions are really concerned about, we have other workers providing safety to our citizens. Why not provide special benefits to them as well? If safety is the key word here, how about the mechanic that did that great brake job on your vehicle? Like police and firefighters, your brakes are there for you and many times a day. How many accidents and injury have your brakes saved you from?

We could donate, say, 2 cents each time you step on the brake pedal. This would work similar to the thought behind the gas tax, the more you use the vehicle the more gas tax you pay. That would create a nice retirement fund.

One concern might be whether the funds still be there when your mechanic retires?

We, like so many lemmings, are heading for an even bigger hole than we are already in. Our federal government is broke, our state is hurting, Springfield is not able to repair the damage and our cities are constantly in financial pain.

Just stop the madness already. How about promoting personal responsibility in our citizens?

Ron Petrucci

Campton Hills