A message from Lakewood Village Trustee Paul Serwatka:

As an avid student of the founding of our country, Independence Day is an important day to me, so I wanted to take a minute to share some thoughts on Independence Day. I hope you’ll take a moment…

My hope is that my thoughts may offer a bit of a different perspective on “Independence”…   a perspective that, perhaps, you’ll find a little more relevant today, as it pertains to us… a perspective that might help shed some light on why I serve as your village trustee and why I am so passionate about restoring truth, transparency and accountability to our village board.

Some of these thoughts I have already shared with some, but even so, I believe they are worth sharing again. I truly hope you will take a moment…

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I often speak about the principles of Freedom, Liberty, Independence and the likes… More specifically, I speak of how I believe we are losing our freedom – How I believe our liberties are being stripped away and how we seem to be ceding from a nation of “Independence” to a nation of “Dependence”.

Today being Independence Day, I thought I would elaborate a bit…

When we think of “liberty”, we typically think only of “political liberty”. How many times have you said, or heard someone say, “We live in a free country.”?

But, what does that really mean?

There are three components to true “Freedom”/”Liberty” or “Independence”.

– Political Freedom/Liberty/Independence
– Spiritual or Religious Freedom/Liberty/Independence
– Economic Freedom/Liberty/Independence

Take away any one of these components and are you really free?

Without possessing all three of these, do we really have Liberty or Independence?

In the course of my role in local government, county government and even statewide government, I don’t hear much talk of Freedom, Liberty or Independence. In fact, I speak of it quite often and in doing so I am all too often met with contempt.

I AM DETERMINED TO CHANGE THIS!

In the last couple of years, I have met literally thousands of people at their doorsteps and in their living rooms & kitchen tables. I have had countless conversations with families and discussed the economic struggles they have come to face in recent years/months and the #1 factor hurting these families – even devastating some – is the punishing property taxes they are forced to pay on their home.

One family I met with showed me photos and shared stories of their two daughters and how active they were in the private school they attended. They then explained how, in light of their new property tax assessment, they could no longer afford tuition for both daughters and are struggling with how to choose which daughter to pull out of school.

I sat with an elderly man in the Gates area who showed me his heart medications, his prescription bills, his Medicaid coverage, his social security check and his property tax bill which was past due. I literally had to fight back tears as this man broke down in front of me, telling me that he can’t afford to pay his tax bill AND buy his heart medication.

I spoke with another elderly man who was being forced to leave his home of more than 50-years… The first home he and his wife bought together… the home they spent their lives in together… the home they raised their children in… the home his wife of 50-years died in… This time, I wasn’t able to hold back the tears as he told me all the memories he would have to leave behind because he could no longer afford to pay the exorbitant property taxes with his fixed income.

Are these stories of Freedom?

Are these stories of Liberty?  of Independence?

These stories don’t just sadden me… They infuriate me! And these are not stories from 240 years ago that took place in Lexington, Concord or Boston – these are stories of today, July 4^th 2016, happening right here in Lakewood, IL!

One of our lesser known Founders, Chief Justice John Marshall ,said “The power to tax is the power to destroy!” And that is exactly what I see happening to too many families, today!

Here is a scary fact – Our property taxes are ranked among the top 1% in the nation. The top 1% in the entire nation!

There are 3143 counties within the United States. In 2015, McHenry County was ranked the 29^th highest in property taxes among these – and property taxes in the village of Lakewood are among the highest in McHenry County.

In spite of this, we still have far too many in local government who are hell bent on using our tax dollars to; promote and preserve their bureaucracies, to protect and reward fellow bureaucrats, to spend recklessly on unnecessary/unused programs and pet projects such as building prestigious new Village Halls.

We can no longer allow this kind of rogue government to go unchecked!

This is the exact reason I became your village trustee and this is the exact reason why I take the positions I do on our village board.  But, I need YOUR help.
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This Independence Day, I want to challenge you to do more than just celebrate our founders and the sacrifices THEY made for all of us.

I want to challenge each of you to consider what YOU can do… what sacrifices YOU can make… How YOU can get more involved… to help restore the Freedoms/Liberties/Independence that are being eroded and stripped from us today, right here in our own little village.

If we do not stay informed and, at least somewhat, engaged in who we are electing, in what they stand for (if anything) and exactly what those we elect are doing with the power and the money we entrust them with, then we have only ourselves to blame.

To quote Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration of Independence that we celebrate today, “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance…”

I promise you, I will remain vigilant in doing my part.

Happy Independence Day!