Long on problems, short on solutions

I am a great believer in knowing what you're getting when you vote for a politician. I am always careful to research a candidate and his positions. This year, the two issues that concern me most are gas prices and government spending. When I looked on Mr. Seals' Web site for his solutions to these serious problems I found plenty of righteous outrage, but almost no concrete solutions.

Seals makes much of the high gas prices. He huffs and puffs about how much gas prices hurt working families and claims to care. He even held a gas giveaway event that backfired hilariously and got him fined $2,000 by the Lincolnshire police. But nowhere on his Web site does he tell us how he will bring down the price of gas. He's against drilling off the coast of Florida, and he even says that he wants to raise taxes on oil companies, a move likely to increase the price of gas, not lower it.

Seals claims to be disgusted with out-of-control government spending, as every citizen should. But again, he's long on outrage and short on solutions. He doesn't name a single program he would cut, and he is lavishly supported by one of the most shameless earmarkers in Congress, Charlie Rangel. That doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.

Outrage is easy, and I could walk into any bar and be treated to a symposium on what is wrong with the world today. Congressmen are supposed to have ideas; they are supposed to be the problem-solvers. Dan Seals is rapidly running out of time to prove that he can actually solve problems instead of just point them out.

Meaghan Johnson

Glenview