-By Warner Todd Huston
Jerry Agar is a Chicago area radio host and a member of the Illinois Policy Institute, a free-market centric policy center. Agar also has a column on the IPI website often centered around a list of one type of another. Today’s piece is titled, “10 Ways to Stop Political Corruption in Illinois.”
He begins:
Since 1970, more than 1500 individuals have been convicted, and the cost to Illinois taxpayers is estimated at $500 million a year. If we had that money back, instead of just watching an endless perp-walk, we would be in much better shape on several levels.
Agar goes on to list his ten points, but most of them seem to have an aspect of government transparency to them — such as number ten, “Appoint the Sunshine Commission”
Now, I have to say that I agree with an effort at state transparency. DuPage County has done a fantastic job putting all its business transactions, funding, and accounts online for everyone to see. This sort of thing can lead to two things. One, that govt officials might feel less likely to waste and steal tax money if their accounts are so easily discovered by the voters, and two… well, two is that the voters can see what their government is doing.
Still, transparency is not the only thing we can and should do to clean up government. We, the voters, need to be far more careful of who we vote into office in the first place. Being an informed voter is even more important than transparency.
Anyway, go on over and read Agar’s piece that is up today. “10 Ways to Stop Political Corruption in Illinois.”
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
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 Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, 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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