Political Quotes

“Winston Churchill famously said: ``If you're going through hell, keep going.'' Persevere, don't give up. It is good advice. Here is another bit of good advice for weathering hard times: Look to a brighter future, but also study the past. Look at how others before you have triumphed over similar difficulties, and learn from their example. During these hard, pandemic times, leaders and communities--and anyone, really--would do well to study the life and accomplishments of an exceptional leader, the former mayor of Rockford, IL, John McNamara. John died on September 30 at the age of 81. As Rockford's mayor from 1981 to 1989, he helped guide Rockford through a national recession, which crippled the manufacturing industry in his city. When he took office, Rockford's jobless rate stood at 11.5 percent. Eighteen months later, it had ballooned to nearly 25 percent, the highest unemployment in the Nation. For the first time since the Great Depression, the city's population declined. The New York Times reported that Rockford was ``bleeding away its jobs and its people.'' Speaking with a Rockford Register Star reporter in 2006, John McNamara recalled those times. He said: ``People would come into my office to tell me about their situation. It was very heart-wrenching and emotional. It hit you in the gut.'' John McNamara steered Rockford through those dark years with a strong leadership style and an irrepressible, infectious sense of optimism.…”