Brexton Isaacs
Happy Halloween, Illinois Wesleyan! Tonight there will be ghosts and goblins hitting the streets for candy, but there are much scarier costumes being worn these days.
Candidates like Bruce Rauner and Rodney Davis have dressed themselves up as moderates, trying to fool the voters of Illinois, but after Election Day, they will take off their moderate masks and reveal themselves for the frighteningly extreme conservatives they really are.
Rauner and Davis need to pretend they are moderates because voters, particularly young people, simply don’t agree with them on most issues.
Both men oppose raising the minimum wage, are opponents of marriage equality, propose policies that would make student loan debt even more burdensome, both support cuts to medical and scientific research and development funding and they have supported shutting down the state and federal government.
Republicans might try to dress up their policies as moderate, but don’t let them fool you with their costumes. These policies are frightening but they are real and what Bruce Rauner and Rodney Davis stand for.
Luckily, we’ve got candidates on the ballot this year who stand for common sense positions that we can agree with.
In the race for Governor, Pat Quinn is running against Republican Bruce Rauner. During his term in office, Quinn has worked to fix state government, curb wasteful spending and has successfully balanced the budget.
Governor Quinn inherited a mess and has made the tough decisions necessary that have resulted on steady job growth in our state and has been a champion for equality. Quinn is also advocating doubling MAP Grant funding to help more Illinois students attend school and get out with less debt.
Former Chief Judge Ann Callis is taking on Rodney Davis and his policies that have hurt students right here at Illinois Wesleyan. Callis will fight for students in Congress, and we’ll finally have the advocate that we haven’t had with Rodney Davis.
Judge Callis has made college affordability a large platform of her campaign because one out of every seven people in our district is a student. She believes that it’s critical that more people can affordable higher education and wants to see that students get out of school with less debt.
Davis can’t hide the fact he voted to double student loan interest rates and cut Pell Grants. His moderate mask won’t make people forget that he opposes letting people refinance their student loans at lower rates.
It’s Halloween, but let’s not let Rauner and Davis make these scary policies a reality.
Join me in voting for Pat Quinn for Governor and Ann Callis for Congress on November 4 in the Hansen Student Center.