Letter: Have you had enough?

The Republicans have posted a billboard that reads “Had Enough?” The posting then lists three areas of concern: illegal immigration, crime and inflation. Let’s talk about those concerns.

Immigration: A bipartisan bill written by a Senate Committee in which the lead Senate Republican was one of the most conservative members of the Senate passed the Senate on a bipartisan basis. This bill included over $20 billion for border security. The Republican Speaker refused to bring it up for a vote in the House of Representatives.

Crime: The homicide rate in Illinois of 7.8 per 100,000 people is equal to the lowest homicide rate in the Republican-controlled deep South. Moreover, there are four Southern states with double-digit homicide rates ranging from 10.9 percent to 16.1 percent.

Let’s examine the violent crime rate per capita. Four of the top eight are Deep South states. No. 8 is Tennessee with 5,658 violent crimes per capita compared to the Illinois rate of 3,545 per capita.

Inflation: Federal government monetary policy can have a direct impact on inflation. But the federal government has little control over gas prices and almost no control over food prices. Instead, individuals should look to corporation policies, such as Walmart, who hiked prices on its food brand and realized a 93% increase in its net income.

So, yes, I have had enough – enough of Republicans who would rather play on people’s emotions instead of developing and passing policies which would improve the lives of the people they were elected to represent.

Antoinette Vella, Dixon