-By Warner Todd Huston
Today’s spotlight falls on the Reverend Isaac Hayes who is running for the 2nd Congressional District. The 2nd comprises the towns of Harvey, Lansing, Chicago Heights, Park Forest and part of Calumet City all of which are well south east of Chicago and on the Indiana border. The 2nd is also spread across parts of both Cook and Will Counties.
Hayes is a native of Chicago’s South Side and earned a degree in Information Systems at Ill. State University. Hayes was vice president of ABN AMRO Mortgage and now ministers full-time to youth at the Apostolic Church of God in his community.
Hayes will face incumbent Democratic Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr.
Here is his announcement address delivered at the Cook County GOP Convention this year:
Good evening. I am here tonight to announce my intention to seek the Republican nomination for U.S. House of Representatives in Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District.
My story is an American story. . . As a young boy growing up on the South Side of Chicago I had the pain and privilege of life in the ‘hood. Pain, because I’ve seen the disadvantage, despair and death that poverty creates and privilege, because I’ve seen the power of the human will to succeed despite the most discouraging conditions.
It is both this pain and privilege that has brought me before you tonight. You see, while we may come from slightly different backgrounds and have lived in different parts of town, our commitment to family, fairness and freedom is what binds us together in an unbreakable bond as Republicans and as Americans.
Many people have asked the question, “Why do you want to be a Congressman?” Two words – STOPPING CORRUPTION. For the past sixteen years corruption has stymied economic development in Illinois’ 2nd District. First, Mel Reynolds was convicted of sexual assault of a minor, and his replacement – A.K.A. Senate Candidate No. 5, Jesse Jackson Jr. – tried to buy President Obama’s former U.S. Senate Seat.
And a national liberal group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Congress last week gave Jesse Jackson Jr. the distinction of being one of Congress’s “most corrupt” members. It’s like something you’d see in an organized crime film.
President Ronald Reagan once said, “There is sin and evil in the world. And we’re enjoined by Scripture and the Lord Jesus to oppose it with all our might.”
The president was talking about the Soviet Union, the Evil Empire, but he may as well have been talking about the South Side of Chicago.
My solution to sixteen years of corruption and fourteen years of failure is very simple; give parents more choices, give businesses less taxes, give entrepreneurs less barriers, and give pay-to-play politics the boot.
The August 26th issue of Wall Street Journal highlighted the tremendous disparity in the SAT scores across this nation. In Reading, Math and Writing, African Americans were at the bottom. Some will blame racism and culturally insensitive exams, yet Asians scored the highest in Math and Writing. So racism is not the problem.
Others will blame school funding, yet Chicago Public Schools receive more money per pupil than Naperville School District 203 but score 8 points less on the ACT. So school funding is not the problem.
Rev. Hayes’ web presence can be seen at isaac4honesty.com.
Hayes also has a Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/isaac_hayes.
He also has a FaceBook Account.
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as NewsBusters.org, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, TheRealityCheck.org, RedState.com, Human Events Magazine, AmericanDailyReview.com, and the New Media Journal, among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism” heard on BlogTalkRadio. Warner is also the editor of the Cook County Page for RedCounty.com.
He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston
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