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Health & Fitness

Is The Other Side Always The Bad Guy?

There's always more than one side to an issue, but that doesn't mean that the other side is evil or criminal, does it?

Why, There needs to be an investigation!

Someone needs to go to prison for it!

Come on Fitzgerald, indict someone!

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What for? Anything I don’t like, I guess. It seems as there can’t be an ongoing debate about a political issue without the calls for someone to go to jail. Locally, the latest round seems to pertain to the Main Street development. Folks who don’t like this project have suggested that the Mayor is corrupt because he is pursuing this project. Not that this is one sided, though, others have said the same thing about Liz Gorman and Jim Hickey because of the changes they want to make in the Fire District. If Kyle Hastings got a nickel every time someone said that about him, he’d own Orland Hills and have a nice down payment on Tinley.

Folks who defended George W. Bush are calling for Obama’s impeachment the same way that Obama’s defenders called for George W. Bush’s impeachment. Clinton, Bush 41, Reagan, and so on. If you don’t like them, impeach them (OK, Clinton actually was impeached). Never mind that they won the election that put them in the office in the first place.

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Now I’m not saying that sometimes people don’t deserve to be indicted because they do. George Ryan is exactly where he should be; setting up a cell for Blago. What they did went way beyond just upsetting some people with a controversial position on an issue.

Maybe I’m more sensitive to that because when I was President of School District 135, I was accused of everything it seems. Granted, it was just by a half dozen people; a half dozen very, very vocal people. Heck, even Phil Kadner compared me to Nixon. I guess that’s just politics. Complaining about it would be like a running back in the NFL whining about getting tackled.

It would be nice if we can have these political debates without thinking that the other side is stupid, self-serving or corrupt. I’ve heard legitimate arguments on both sides of the Triangle debate. I don’t think either side is stupid, self-serving or corrupt. I feel the same way about the events in the Fire District or both sides in the debt ceiling debate.

Usually peoples’ opinions on various topics are shaped by what they value and by what they stand to gain or lose on the subject at hand. During the debt ceiling debate, congressmen, both on the far left and the far right, were demonized for doing exactly what they promised to do; exactly what their constituents elected them to do. There’s nothing wrong with a good debate. In fact, I’d rather see politicians argue than hold hands and go along to get along. I’m glad we have sites like this one that allow people to debate issues. While I think that I’m right on any issue that I write about, I also try to understand why someone else may feel different.

Want to debate that?

Or have me indicted?

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