The rebirth of the Illinois GOP

Illinois voters, especially in the GOP primary, will have
the opportunity to send a message to the president that his budget plans are
unacceptable.

They will do that by nominating several next-generation
politicians whose political careers will be defined largely by how they deal
with the out-of-control spending that has come from Democrats in Congress.

And there is a new generation of Illinois Republicans that
is getting ready to take the lead. The youngest member of the House is Aaron
Schock, an ambitious politico who currently holds the seat of longtime Minority
Leader Bob Michel and current Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Running in former Speaker Denny Hastert’s seat is his son,
Ethan Hastert, who is only a couple years older than Schock.

Adam Kinzinger, who is running in Jerry Weller’s old seat,
is the same age as Ethan, 31.

And running for the Senate is Mark Kirk, who, at 50, is an
old-timer to these young guns, but in Senate years is almost a teenager.

All of these Illinois Republicans are campaigning on the
long-term fiscal situation in this country. All of them are getting significant
traction on the issue of out-of-control Washington spending. And all of them,
should they win, will be faced with the tough choices that come with declining
revenues and expanding interest payments.

President Barack Obama consciously invoked Abraham Lincoln’s
memory when he started his campaign in Springfield, Ill. The imagery was
inspirational, and because Obama was our first very serious black presidential
candidate, it was historically fitting.

But there was another Illinois politician who left a mark on
our body politic who might serve as an inspiration to these young guns. Everett
Dirksen was the one who said, “A billion here and a billion there, and pretty
soon you are talking real money.”

The Obama budget has hundreds of billions here and hundreds
of billions there, and that budget is making the taxpayers very nervous. The
next generation of Illinois leaders, led by Kirk, will have to deal with this
spending spree for the rest of their political careers. And in the case of Hastert,
Schock, Kinzinger and Kirk, that is going to be a long time.

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