Editorial: As voters, we need to take our jobs seriously

In Illinois, the 2012 elections officially get under way this week. Candidates may begin filing petitions for most county, state and national offices on Monday.

There is an exception to that. Petitions will not be accepted in congressional races until Dec. 23 because the newly redrawn district maps are being challenged in court.

These are gloomy times for a variety of reasons. The economy continues to struggle. Partisanship seems like it has never been so bitter or so self-serving. Retirements feel like they’re under siege just as the baby boom generation arrives at their gates. Illinois state government is so deeply in debt that it can’t pay its bills. The federal government’s debt is $15 trillion and growing by $3.99 billion each day.

Yes, these are gloomy times even for perennial optimists (like us). It would seem an opportune time to have some elections. Thing is, we want our government to start getting serious about these problems, but will we?

There are some who say elections don’t matter, that they don’t really change things, who say that it doesn’t matter whom you elect because all politicians are the same.

Listen, the problem doesn’t start with the politicians. Some politicians are good and some are bad, some are owned by special interests and some not as much, but the problem doesn’t start with politicians.

The problem starts with us.

It starts with you and me and all of us who fail to do our homework. It starts with all of us who listen to sound bites but don’t read position papers. All of us who go to the polls and vote for people and offices we never heard of, who vote for a candidate based on an influx of distorted direct mail or because we saw the name on a campaign sign or because the name doesn’t sound ethnic or maybe because it does. Or maybe we don’t vote at all.

The problem starts with us.

It doesn’t start with them.

If we’re going to get our country and our state back on track, three things need to happen:

First, we the people need to get serious. We’ve got to accept our obligation in a representative democracy. We’ve got to research. We’ve got to ask questions. We’ve got to set standards.

Second, we need to insist on toughness. The problems we confront have no simple solutions. We’ve got to be willing to elect people with the strength to tell us things we don’t always want to hear.

Third, and above all, we must demand integrity. Politicians who run off to Springfield and vote for blatantly political redistricting maps are self-serving. Politicians who use Washington to pay off lobbyist interests in exchange for campaign support are unethical. Politicians who get in line to mouth party dogma rather than collaborate as a handful of people trying to solve a problem are disingenuous.

These are gloomy times. They don’t have to be. We can do something about them. Let’s all get going.