Illinois governor’s race: Bruce Rauner is no choice

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Here in Illinois, a late dash and burst of political commercials have inundated the airways of television. I do not listen to the radio. But, I do use the internet. That said, I do imagine that political commercials have also inundated those fields of media as well. The Democrat, Pat Quinn, would be my choice for Governor of Illinois. Bruce Rauner, the Republican candidate for Governor, as educated as he seems to be in business, does not comprehend that the minimum wage could be raised.

He would, no doubt, lower taxes for businesses and corporations — not to mention individuals — but once that has been done it seems plausible that the minimum wage could be raised. Considering that the companies would have more money to spend on wages, if not on job training in and of itself. Of course, I might have commented before that the tax rates for “non-individuals” could be a mandated 15 percent, according to the fact that job training could be both paid and mandated. Then again, Republicans — defeating themselves — love to hate and do hate academia and education in general.

Senator Rob Portman commands the money for Republican election and reelection campaigns. I wonder how much he has given to the Republican running to defeat Senator Dick Durbin. That candidate’s name need not be mentioned here. He has fewer commercials, what seems like less money in his campaign fund, and no chance in hell of winning the election due to the fact that he is a Republican running in Illinois — a state in which labor unions rule every landscape.

I once wrote that Senator Rob Portman — a representative of Ohio — could become President. He could: if only, the Republican Party would acknowledge the divide between social issues and economic issues in terms of voters of modest to extraordinary means either being gay or being concerned with that same issue of civil rights in our country.

Gay rights are civil rights according to every legal or emotional argument. Isn’t it taxation without representation to deny them the freedom of marriage? I think so. As for this burst, this desperate burst, of television commercials — it seems to exist out of desperation to maintain power — even if such an opinion libels and labels these well education men.

To be blunt, it seems like businessmen who run for office do so to lower their own taxes. This perception reveals some of my own cynicism — a mentality I always attempt to ward off — but in the case of Bruce Rauner the perception seems correct. His myriad luxury vacation homes and ownership of nursing homes, his apparent rejection of public schools as even effective in any regard — all of these things might win him the election in southern Illinois. But, they do him few favors in the city of Chicago itself. In my city, people care about the nickname and all its glory: “big shoulders.”

In fact, all these ads do a disservice to any candidate. Why can’t we — as citizens — seek to have them banned to benefit an economy other than television networks? No wonder people wish to have or do have cable television; even if, those 24-hour news networks do the same disservice by virtue of the obnoxious and childish behavior of unwarranted opinions as opposed to numbers and facts. With a low labor participation rate — people going back to school or people retiring or even people dying — the numbers demonstrate that Lehman Brothers did long lasting damage that can be improved only through moderation.

The simple fact remains that all we have to do is recognize to the concept of “false advertising” in media and politics. Then, we might have better leaders of any kind and, to state the obvious, a reformed tax code toward a superior economy. The wealthy might not struggle in terms of finance but, speaking for myself, I would like to see that rotten capital gains tax and those rotten sales taxes done away with — along with those rotten television commercials, which reduce intelligence to the false curiosity of sound bites. Pride is pride!

Peter Bozic

In working for the Chicago Sun-Times, Peter learned the basics of journalism. The prose must be clear and the facts precise. He has worked in retail, customer service and sales as well, all of which made Peter want to return to writing — as he developed many opinions on issues ranging from LGBT equality to America’s economy. Peter’s journalism – as in what he believes journalism must and should be — will seek to clarify society through facts. Opinion pieces being something different altogether. From Pittsburgh, PA — and a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh — Peter knows how to speak his mind in clear and concise prose.