by: Diane Benjamin
In a very recent Rasmussen poll, 80% said the country is going in the wrong direction. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/right_direction_or_wrong_track
But we are NOT powerless! Politicians do one of 2 things when challenged on their decisions:
1) They modify their policies to the will of the people
2) They dig their heals in a say “I will do things my way”
Both are winners for the people, but both require citizens to be informed AND speak up! Why is #2 a winner? Because the people making really bad decisions AGAINST the will of the people will make even more bad decisions and expose themselves further as ideologues instead of public servants.
Think about the Coliseum. EVERY Council member who voted for it was off the Council at the next elections. The biggest problem is the people woke up too late to avoid getting the thing built!
Don’t keep making the same mistakes over and over. Very few politicians are real public servants. When a person runs for office JUST to be a public servant, they frequently can’t get elected. The voters fall for the flashier candidate who has some good lines. That doesn’t mean all is lost, just that citizens MUST hold the elected accountable.
The citizens of Normal allowed Chris Koos to do whatever he wanted. I think they are up to 3 tax and fee increases now in the last few months. They are paying for allowing him to turn Normal into his vision of what Normal should look like. Does anybody remember when Normal was fiscally responsible?
Bloomington – you won a victory when Rob Fazzini announced he will not run for re-election. When the elected are held accountable for unacceptable statements and policies, they fold. You can win another one by defeating Modified Wards, but you’ve got work to do. Mayor Renner and David Hales presented a huge budget along with tax increases. Don’t be fooled into believing this is Hales’s budget, Renner is supporting every bit of it. The Council may be considering phasing in the tax increases so you won’t notice. When the City Council members hear from YOU, they do pay attention. If they hear from A LOT of you, they really pay attention. When you show up at meetings AND contact them, they have to pay attention.
If you have never watched a Bloomington City Council meeting on-line or attended one, Mayor Renner likes to say Chris Koos did this, or Chris Koos did that. Renner wants to do to Bloomington what Koos did to Normal. Only YOU stand in his way. The Council potted plants won’t stand up for the people paying the bills unless YOU tell them to. (7 of the 9 members normally vote YES on everything – hence potted plants)
You have the power to stop the spending in Bloomington. Use it! Here’s a link to the Aldermen: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=48
Here is a link to scheduled meetings, including boards and commissions: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=19 They are planning the spending of YOUR money. It’s easy to stop it. Just use your voice.
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Great point BLN News! These left-wing Progressives (Regressives) want US to feel defeated and powerless then We The People give up and don’t vote or be proactive for our Liberties and Freedoms but allow them to make the Deliberate Saul Alinsky wrong decisions that is bringing our cities and country down. THANKS FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT!!! 😛
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty” — Thomas Jefferson
It takes an almost willful ignorance to contend that progressives want “the people” to feel defeated, while championing conservatism, essentially the preservation of unjust hierarchies, as empowering.
Please study up on capitalism – not crony capitalism. When people compete for the best products, the best jobs, and the best services the entire country wins. If you keeping thinking government has the answers to problems, America will keep declining.
You keep espousing something, which you haven’t fully elaborated beyond trite phrases, that has never existed (“pure capitalism”), and would probably descend into absolute tyranny if it ever did. That establishment GOP figure who showed up here a few weeks ago alluded to these same questions and you never answered him/her – you went straight to the debt, which is a total cop out.
*fingers crossed for an on point response*
Study history. We don’t need regulation to control commerce. The bad guys get weeded out automatically. Competition is the key to success in every industry!
You know madboy, It seems like you have a hard time understanding Conservatives and Capitalism because you are a Liberal. Please, do not be offended by what I am about to explain to you, because I am only laying out the reason why, from what I have found, that liberals seem to never understand Conservatives and Capitalism. Liberals operate from a foundation of emotions and feelings where Conservatives operate from a foundation of logic and facts. Liberals usually view people in terms of their membership in clubs and groups while Conservatives view people as individuals with individual rights. Liberals think government made America great while Conservatives think that Freedom and Liberty is what has made America great. As there are more and more left-wing liberals in power of our political system today we are seeing more people loosing their jobs and becoming dependent on government welfare, so the actual “tax-payers” are decreasing in numbers while the “tax-takers” are increasing. Somewhere in this “payers vs takers” agenda of the liberal left-wing we are going to reach a critical point of no return and that point is that those on the taking end will recognize their electoral dominance (power) and will start greedily wanting more and more, then madboy, the Liberals will have constructed their unbeatable Congress and the ballot box will ceased to work, at least for the people still paying their bills! I know you love my quotes madboy, especially from our Founding Fathers, but Thomas Jefferson so wisely warned of this demise when he wrote:
“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”
Frankly, I’m not a liberal, at least in the sense that contrasts with conservative, so you are wrong in your presumption there.
Nonetheless, your claim that liberals are a bunch of emotion-filled children while conservatives take the logic-based high road is empty. Why should I believe that, other than the fact that you say so? Who’s on the side of denying the scientific validity of the climate concerns? Not the left.
Chuck probably meant that liberals think with the heart instead of their heads. That is why more problems are constantly created than solved. They don’t think through the consequences. Conservatives are using their brains with climate concerns. It isn’t settled science by any stretch of the imagination. Remove any opinions from people who make money off global warming, and then show me consensus.
Thank you web staff……………………sometimes I have a hard time explaining things to Liberals who do not know that they are Liberals! 😛
Well, we’ve already had this debate and I’m not going to beat a dead horse, so all I’ll say is those evil-minded, profit-driven scientists happen to pretty much agree about the climate.
Chuck, keep on viewing things through those ideological glasses you seem to never put down. The fact that you see everything through the liberal/conservative lens suggests a small mind incapable of critical thought. But then again, thinking critically is only part of a liberal conspiracy intent on one-world government, so it’s not worth the time anyway.
The scientists aren’t profit driven – they are job driven! This government isn’t going to fund their research if they get the wrong answer!
“thinking critically is only part of a liberal conspiracy intent on one-world government, so it’s not worth the time anyway”………………………………………………..hmm…..well madboy, I guess JFK was a “critical” thinker also because 10 days before he was assassinated he stated at Columbia University, “The high office of President has been used to foment
a plot to destroy the American’s freedom, and before I leave office I must inform the citizen of his plight.” They (left-wing Progressives & right-wing RINOS) have taken many years to arrive at the position they are in today. Personally, I believe that getting rid of JFK was the beginning of their coup d’ tat for America. It was not done overnight with great blood shed like the Russian Revolution of 1917 but through years of cultural Communism through Progressive gradualism that was taught by Saul Alinsky’s mentor, who had also been Vladimir Lenin’s advisor, Antonio Gramsci. Then Alinsky wrote his book in 1971 on how to destroy and dethrone Capitalism to make everyone equal, equally poor that is, to be totally dependent on big brother government. His book was so warped and evil that he rightfully dedicated it to Lucifer, the fallen Arch Angel who became Satan, god of corruption. Take the advice from web staff because it is the best advice………….STUDY! Seek and ye shall find madboy! President John F. Kennedy could not be bought or bribed because he was already wealthy. He was going to pull the rug out from under this wicked shadow government BUT unfortunately they would not allow it, so they assassinated him and started their coup. Like a frog in a pot of water “slowly” being boiled, it never jumps out madboy but stays in there and cooks. This is how their coup has been working on America. If you want some knowledge on this madboy, and please double and triple check it, but here it is:
http://www.tpromo2.com/gko/jun02/061902.htm
Oh, and by the way madboy, after he was assassinated and his Communist Vice, LBJ was sworn into the office of President and the first act that LBJ did was to resend executive order 11110.
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We’ve never had “pure” capitalism and we (probably) never will. In general however I agree with web staff as it is highly workable without over burdened interference. Crony capitalism is the big problem. We see it nation wide, state wide, and locally as well. We see councils continually vote ignoring conflicts of interest and there you have it.