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Health & Fitness

Post E - Rob and Katie Discuss a Question Inspired by WSPY's Ryan Morton.

At the Yorkville candidates forum last spring, WSPY's Ryan Morton asked some candidates to "say something nice about your opponent." That question inspired this post.

Please kindly forgive the long downtime between posts on our little web log, here. Katie has been kind of up and down over the last few weeks with her second round of treatment for some massive kidney stones. Additionally, she has been busy honing her baking skills and developing a little homemade baked-goods trade. I’ll go ahead and mention KadyBug The Baker. You can find her on Facebook.  

What really has held us up, though, is that it’s my turn to initiate the post, and I haven’t had a clue what to write about. Sometimes writer’s block is slow to break. We’ve discussed a great many things, but nothing I felt would really make good fodder for what I want this blog to be, which is something that provokes discussion hopefully.   

Then Katie reminded me of a great question asked by Kendall County’s premier radio newsman Ryan Morton, of WSPY (107.1 FM, Plano),  when he and Tony Scott of the Kendall County Record were moderating the Yorkville candidate forum leading up to the April 5, 2011, election. Mr. Morton solicited Ward 1 and mayoral candidates to simply say something nice about their opponent.  

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So thanks Ryan, and Katie for the inspiration for this week’s post – I’m a Republican, Katie is a Democrat. Let’s each say something nice about the other party.   

 

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Rob Says -  

 I like the organization and execution of the Democratic Party. For the better part of the last 6 or 7 years the Democratic Party has been able to get out in front of issues with generally clear objectives. The party is in the emotional driver’s seat of the nation and, nowhere more than Illinois, generally able to move government in any direction it has chosen.  

The Democratic Party seems to have found a way to stay in touch with its base, while appealing to swing voters. Over the last year issues like that which happened in Wisconsin with the teachers union have energized and galvanized the support the party receives by default from various trade and labor unions. There is a very strong connection between much of the rhetoric and tone of the Democrats and their actions. The party has done a great job of going to bat for its supporters’ ideals, and has unapologetically introduced a number of conversations to the national debate and made things happen.  

The Democratic party, to me, is a juggernaut right now and we Republicans have a lot of work to do to catch up. As a whole, I think it’s better for our nation to have the 2 big parties pushing harder and challenging each other more for the national spotlight and the right to pass laws and advance its agenda. As a taxpayer, I want everyone involved in government to be the hardest working individuals. The Dems simply have outworked Republicans over the last few years. 

 

Katie Says -

I hear a lot about the Republican Party. Probably more than I ever wanted to. It is a little hard for me to think of something nice to say simply because of the path the party as a whole has seemed to take. I think they are moving further from their roots as a fiscally conservative party that champions the rights of individuals. I hope that they move back in that direction because that is what I like most about them.

I think Americans are unique in that even our most liberal citizens still have an independent streak and believe in hard work. I think is especially true in the Midwest. I think that the classic Republican Party champions the individual and small business and tries to ensure that they can work toward their prosperity.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to the kitchen.   

 

I was hoping for a little more quality after such a long time away, but this is what you get. Can you think of anything nice to say about "the other team?"

(P.S. In the interest of full disclosure, Rob covered Montgomery for the WSPY as a freelancer last summer.)

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