Tweeted in by Next Gen of

Conservative Leadership?

At a GOP fundraiser a few weeks ago George Mette intro-duced me to his grandson who just graduated from law school and recently came back to work in Effingham. This is the way it should be. George is playing the role of a seasoned leader and mentor. He brought with him the next generation of conserva-tive leadership. It was Saturday night and his grandson surely had friends to hang out with or even a party to attend. Instead, he came with his grandfather, partly as a sign of tremendous respect his grandfather George surely deserves, to be with us mostly older party loyalists. I recognized that evening in my speech the seven young peo-ple who have worked tirelessly for our campaign throughout the summer by walking in parades, knocking on almost every door in Effingham, showing up to debates, and helping keep our social media fresh. Those of us elected to public office, no matter what our age is, need to have as a priority the mentoring of our young people as conservatives. We want them to be involved in the GOP not just because their parents were. We want the next generation of leaders to understand why they are conservatives, why it makes sense to have conservatives in office so that their families have the ability to prosper and build communities via the freedom our nation currently still affords. Some older politicians see me as young and aggres-sive. I know that; however, being 50 years old myself, I recognize the importance of bringing the youth into the leadership of the conservative movement now. The pres-ent time in our country and in our state is critical. We must act now. We must take a stand now. We must elect conservatives and put them in charge now. And if we tru-

ly believe that conservative principles are worth fighting for, as we will soon become again the decision makers for our coun-try, we must invest in those who will soon replace us through as much preparation and mentoring as possible. The role of our older political leaders is to share the wisdom that comes from the experience of living, making mistakes, and having learned from them. Our role is to always bring the youth along, pay their way, pick them up, give them responsi-bilities, and listen to how we can reach their generation with the proper lingo and communication. We must allow them to teach us how to tweet. Yes, the message of conservatism will be tweeted in. The next election will have significant consequences, as they all do. However, the difference in who we put in charge of the State of Illinois this time may decide whether it takes us 15 min-utes to go across town to see our kids or grand kids or 15 hours to go see them in another state. If we leave Illinois in the hands of the Democrats, as we have for the last 10 years, our youth will be forced to leave and our small towns we are so proud of will suffer. Home values and the taxes they generate for our schools will decrease and the tax burden per Illinoisan left will become unbearable. Our children are obligated to pay the national debt but they are in no way obligated to pay the State’s debt. They simply have to leave and go to another state. Therefore, it is up to conservatives to communicate the urgency and the impor-tance of this election. George Mette is a blessed man to have his grandson come back home to Effingham. We all hope to be so fortunate. If conservatives are going to take Illinois back, we cannot forget the important role our youth will play. The “well seasoned” GOP establishment must be prepared to tweet them in.

I support and have sponsored legislation that requires a person who seeks to vote on election day to present a government-issued photo identification card to the election judge. Photo ID’s are often required in everyday life. Here are just a few instances where and when you need a photo ID: 1. To open a bank account. 2. When applying for a passport. 3. To get on an airplane to take a trip. 4. When applying for a hunting license. 5. When you purchase a gun. 6. Many times when you use a credit card for a purchase. 7. Stores require you to show a photo ID when you want to cash a check. 8. Applying for a job. 9. Buying cigarettes and alcohol. 10. Go to a sporting event and order a beer, and, regardless of how old you are, they will ask for a photo ID. 11. Ordering liquor in a bar or restaurant, if you look too young. 12. Applying for food stamps, housing, welfare checks, unem-ployment checks, and Social Security.

13. Even UPS requires a government-issued photo ID to enhance security measures around shipments that originate at retail shipping locations worldwide.  Voter ID is a simply but common sense measure to protect the integrity of the ballot box, which is essential to our democracy. It is voter fraud protection and it helps ensure election results accurately reflect the will of the people. Adding a photo ID requirement to voting is not asking too much. The fact that a voter ID provision is not in place makes our elec-tion system unable to detect voter fraud because how do we know there isn’t any fraud? The Bi-partisan Commission on Federal Election Reform (head-ed by former President Jimmy Carter and former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker concluded: “The electoral system cannot inspire public confidence if no safeguards exist to deter or detect fraud or to confirm the identity of voters.” Do we really want to wait for the fraud to occur, a direct assault against our democracy, before implementing common-sense safe-guards? No, we must protect the democracy we are so fortunate to have.

Voter ID: A Common Sense Solution

www.votemccarter.com E-Mail: info@votemccarter.com

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I’ve been fortunate to work with and learn from Sen. Dave Luechtefeld.