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Rep. Peter Roskam’s Townhall (IL 6th District)

-By Warner Todd Huston

U.S. Representative Peter Roskam held a townhall back home in his 6th Congressional District in Illinois this weekend in Roselle, Illinois. This was a sort of dual purpose event, part one meant to advertise the GOP leadership’s new website project AmericaSpeakingOut, and part two being an open forum for anyone to ask the congressman a question.

I must say, it was refreshing to see a townhall where both left and right leaning questioners were able to interact with a congressman without yelling and screaming. The left was well represented in this right-leaning district by an email blast from MoveOn.org that alerted the lefties in the area to attend. It seemed that about 1/3 of the questions were from the left perspective.

First up Roskam discussed AmericaSpeakingOut.com.

Of course, I’ve been aware of this site since it debuted and discussed it here. Since it came out, of course, the nay sayers (or should I say the neigh sayers) have taken the long knives out to denigrate the whole idea. As for me, I find the scoffers to be simple-mindedly cynical. A site like this is what WE make of it. In fact, politics is what we make of it, people. There is not a thing inherently wrong with this idea and if we participate honestly it just might result in worthwhile political ideas being generated.

So, before you scoff, check it out, register, and offer your ideas for the GOP leadership to peruse. I am hopeful that this isn’t just window dressing and that the GOP leadership will take some of these ideas to heart and it will influence politics in D.C. One thing is sure, though, if we the people don’t bother to tell our representatives what WE want, they will do what THEY want without any guidance at all.

This country is built on an informed and involved citizenry. Speak up, America.

Anyway, after the discussion about AmericaSpeakingOut folks lined up to ask the congressman their questions. There was talk of bi-partisanship, talk of cuts in social programs for folks with disabilities, talk of jobs and the economy, and discussions of the military. I made an audio recording of the afternoon, but none of the questions brought forth any new positions from the congressman, at least nothing we’ve never heard from him before.

There were two speakers worth highlighting, though. One was a 76-year-old man from Cuba and one was an immigrant from Taiwan. Both warned us of the same thing, and rather eloquently at that. Both warned us that the United States is in danger of going down the destructive and dangerous socialist path that both Cuba and China took. Both men warned us that we Americans are taking our freedoms and liberties for granted and that we should reverse this socialist road down which this president is taking us.

These warnings should serve as a wake up call to every last one of us. These two elder gentlemen have lived under the horrors of socialism and communism and they fear their adopted nation is heading down that same evil path. We should not dismiss these men. They’ve been there. They’ve lived as prisoners of the sort of evils Barack Obama wants to impose on us. They should know just how bad it really is. We ignore them at our own risk.

As always, Congressman Peter Roskam conducted himself with honor and aplomb. I think Roskam is one of the nicest, most down to earth congressmen on the Hill. No pretensions, just a real guy. The arrogance of Washington does not show on this guy, for sure.
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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. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 200 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDailyReview.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.

Huston 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. Huston’s work has appeared on Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Neil Bortz, and Michael Savage. He has appeared on the G. Gordon Liddy show, dozens of local shows from coast to coast, and many blogtalk radio shows.

Mr. Huston has appeared on local TV news to discuss his writing, has been a guest of CNN’s blogger lunch, and has appeared on Breitbart TV’s B-Team show.

Warner is also the editor of the Cook County Page for RedCounty.com and has a blog on the Tribune-Owned http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/publius-forum/ChicagoNow.com website. He is a well known writer on Illinois politics.

He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the 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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