Note To Fiscal Conservatives: Fiscal and Social Issues Are Related And Do Matter

After State Sen. Bill Brady lost the Illinois gubernatorial race to Pat Quinn, it was no surprise to me. If the election was close enough, the Daley Democratic Machine would find some way to make sure Quinn had the votes to hand him the election.

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I am 56 years old and I lived in Chicago for the first 50 years of my life. I remember how the presidential election was stolen from Richard Nixon in 1960. As usual, late returns from Cook County put John F. Kennedy over the top in what was one of the closest elections in our nation's history, up until that point. In fact, did you ever notice that when an election is close, the last votes to be counted are from Cook County? This is not an accident, in my opinion. Therefore, it's not a coincidence that absentee ballots are the last to be tabulated in Chicago because the Democrats need to know how many votes it will take them to win. In fact, it is no longer conjecture whether the 1960 election was stolen by the Democratic political apparatus in Chicago and Cook County. Deals were made with the Mob by Joe Kennedy, the then-patriarch of the Kennedy clan. Louisiana, one of the three most corrupt states in America (along with Illinois and New Jersey) also played a part in the theft of a presidency in 1960 and the rest, as they say, is history. This year it was reported Bill Brady won every county in Illinois, except for three. Out of millions of votes cast in the state, Brady ended up losing by a mere few thousands votes. I wrote a column (see related article below) which, essentially, said Brady possibly lost the election because he did not energize the pro-family base of the Republican Party. But I no longer believe this is true. Every socially conservative Republican knew Brady was better on the issues they cared about than Pat Quinn. I believe it was the fiscal wing of the GOP which, in far too many instances, saw Brady as a tax-and-spend Republican. In fact, this past summer, I attended a banquet for a public policy group and outside there were individuals who were handing out anti-Brady flyers. They were calling Brady the "Tax Villain of the Month" and depicted Brady behind bars. When I questioned members of the group, National Taxpayers United, I was told the degrading and doctored photograph on their hand-outs was simply meant to encourage Brady to sign their group's pledge stating, if elected, Brady would not sign any legislation which would raise taxes. What I have learned after nearly 20 years of following Illinois politics is that there is a chasm between social and fiscal Republicans which often leads to the demise of good GOP candidates. Fiscal Republicans refuse to make any connection between social and fiscal issues. But one of the reasons America is in such dire financial straits is due to the fact that fiscal policies led to the demise of the American family. In the 1960s, Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" actually created many of the social problems now facing America. Minorities and poor people were encouraged to depend on government largesse. Johnson's "Great Society" created a welfare state where parents were rewarded for not getting married and having children out of wedlock. The more children a mother had, the more she received from the government, i.e., rent subsidies, financial assistance and food stamps. The group hardest hit by these programs was the African-American community which previously had stable families where both parents took part in raising their children. The government actually made sure fathers stayed away by checking homes to make sure the mother was on her own and not receiving any assistance from the father. Today, the number of children born out of wedlock in the black community is over 70%. But President Johnson's "Great Society" also bled over into other races, including poor whites, where today over 40% of children live in single-parent households. But none of this took place in a vacuum that only affected poor blacks, whites and other groups. Johnson's policies had a negative impact on American society over all. Latch-key children became the norm. Radical liberal women's rights organizations, like NOW (National Organization for Women), actually advanced the premise women could have it all. Being a stay at home mom became a bad thing, according to these groups, because simply raising children was not enough to fulfill their lives. There were perfume ads which touted how a woman could "bring home the bacon, fry it up in the pan..." But there was only one catch to Johnson's "Great Society" which cost American taxpayers $5 trillion before the turn of the 21st century. And with the dependence on government, came higher taxation which eventually made it impossible for a family to survive on one income alone. In the 1950s and 60s, my father worked and my mother stayed at home. She did not feel unfulfilled as a woman, as was the case with a vast majority of women who were mothers in American society at that time. My father's income was more than enough to support our family. We did not live in a palatial home, but there was always food on the table, money to pay the bills and then some. Today, there is a reluctance by fiscal conservatives to recognize that big government and high taxation are inexorably connected with the social ills which plague our nation. I heard from some of these fiscal conservatives who blamed Brady's loss on his pro-family voting record, saying the state Senator from Bloomington did not pay enough attention to fiscal matters. Some even compared him to his Democratic opponent, Pat Quinn, who after elected, stated he had a mandate from the electorate to raise taxes on Illinois residents. This monolithic thinking has driven a wedge between those of us who care deeply about social issues and those who only care about money. I'll never forget one individual who said that whenever he's around a candidate who's labeled as a compassionate conservative he puts his hand on his wallet. However, the facts regarding the downfall of American society are clear. According to FBI statistics, most crimes committed by young people take place in between the hours when school lets out and their parent(s) get home from work. America's juvenile justice system is overloaded, costing taxpayers billions of dollars. The impact of drugs and pornography have arrested the social development skills of children who end up being adults who are not equipped with the psychological tools to function productively in our culture. Abortion has devalued life on both ends of the spectrum...from the innocent unborn to the elderly who are now looked upon as a drain on society and the fiscal bottom line. Children are abused and, sometimes murdered, often by their own parents. Sex abuse and other forms of psychological and physical abuse leave millions of children scarred for life. These children become adults who end up abusing their children and the cycle continues. Here is an example of how fiscal conservatives are out of touch regarding the issue of same-sex "marriage." If homosexual "marriage" becomes the law of the land, the financial cost will surely doom the Social Security system because survivor benefits will have to be paid same-sex partners or, more accurately, "husbands of husbands" or "wives of wives". Yet we rarely hear fiscal conservatives addressing this issue. They spend more time complaining that Social Security was not meant to be a retirement program than they do quantifying the cost to Social Security if same-sex "marriage" becomes the law of the land. This is a myopic view and many fiscal conservatives just don't get it. Another example is school vouchers. The best way to stop the cycle of poverty is by providing poor children with a good education. But many fiscal conservatives vehemently oppose school vouchers and inner-city children of all races are locked into an educational system which leaves them lacking in the skills needed to live a productive life and become taxpayers themselves. In many cities, the school drop-out rate is over 50%. This has led to young people joining street gangs, committing crimes and costing our legal system many more billions of dollars. In a perfect world, the cost of social ills in America would be considered in the argument which advances fiscal responsibility. Unfortunately, this is not the case and we are left with a society spinning out of control and Americans are left with a huge bill, both in a human sense and monetarily. What's the answer in Illinois? Many politicians believe the expansion of gambling will cure the state's financial woes. At the same time, they deny the human cost of gambling addiction which devastates the addicted individual, his or her family and society. There is no candidate who everyone will agree with on every issue. But there are individuals and organizations who insist that a person running for office agree with them on just their issue alone. If they do not do so, they become the enemy, as was the case with the hand-out targeting Brady from the single-issue group, National Taxpayers United. Yet the Republican Party does have a political platform in Illinois and nationally and Bill Brady's voting record adhered to that platform. Abraham Lincoln, one of our greatest Presidents, and one of the founders of the GOP, said, "you can't please all the people all the time." But literally, the Devil is in the details and there are those who, apparently, seem willing to sacrifice the greater good. Hopefully, one day we'll see a breakdown of how Brady lost his gubernatorial bid. In fact, I wish Brady would have called for a recount, especially in the three counties where he lost and specifically Cook County. But the election is over. Brady conceded and we are left with the same corrupt political system called "The Chicago Way". Vote early, vote often, where even the dead vote. Related article: Bill Brady's Loss To Pat Quinn: Was The Illinois Gubernatorial Election Stolen? Or Did Failure To Adequately Energize Pro-Family Conservative Base Play A Role In His Defeat? Posted on 11/08/10.