Everyone in America saw what happened the day 410 ILCS 705/ became law. Long lines trailed down streets leading up to Illinois’ legal weed dispensaries under siege by too many eager New Year’s Day customers. We heard about too-long waits, enormous crowds, and incredible enthusiasm over being able to purchase something people in most states still go to jail for.
Illinois
Illinois is our most fiscally irresponsible state, courtesy of majority Democratic lawmakers who won't be happy until the Land of Lincoln becomes the first in the nation to be allowed to declare bankruptcy. At least there is bipartisan agreement on political corruption. Both parties share the blame for governors going to prison.
Illinois, an evolving fiscal catastrophe
Where to begin with this evolving fiscal disaster? Pensions that unions and public employees fight tooth and nail to keep in place even though the costs of are unsustainable and saddle taxpayers with unmanageable debt? Irresponsible social policies that cost too much money? Political corruption and waste? How about tax policies bent on extracting every dime from anyone who works and giving the proceeds to everyone who doesn’t?
Chicago epitomizes what’s wrong with the left
You can't discuss Illinois politics without focusing on Chicago, a train wreck of a city fighting tooth and nail to follow Detroit into bankruptcy.
Rahm Emanuel skipped out of Obama's White House to lead one of the most violence-ridden cities in the nation, a place where summer holiday weekends are celebrated with shootings. Emanuel is proud and fiercely protective of his town’s sanctuary policies, which makes Chicago and its appalling gun violence an easy target for Trump. Sadly, even Republican Governor Bruce Rauner endorsed the same dangerous permissiveness when he signed the sanctuary state bill, the Illinois Trust Act.
November 7, 2018: get out of Illinois while you can afford it
After an election campaign where he spent lots of money but didn’t put up much of a fight or have much of a record to fight over, Bruce Rauner is out. J.B. Pritzker, progressive taxes, state health care, and all the things Democrats bring to the table are in, though to be fair to Pritzker having Rauner in office didn’t stop another income tax hike.
It would be easy to argue that Pritzker’s big win over a lackluster four-year Republican governor mirrored what happened to Capitol Hill House Republicans last night. That might be true, or it might just be Illinois voters being stupid. We have a knack for that. Just look at the people we put in office and what they do to us year after year after year. The state is a financial wreck and we keep asking for more.
What is the Illinois category about?
This category covers the political and financial mess that my state has become. From pensions to taxes to angry teachers to careers ending in the slammer, this is Illinois.
Teachers Are Not Heroes. Taxpayers and Parents Are.
Author’s note April 15, 2020: two important events changed this discussion since the last update. Elizabeth Warren is out of the presidential race. It happened with barely a whimper. The other event is the arrival of the coronavirus. That one is a roar, but it may include a silver lining for taxpayers struggling to support the cost of public education.
Social Injustice in Illinois is All About the Money
I feel bad for Chicago Police Chief Eddie Johnson. His city stabbed him in the back when it deep-sixed a sensational, alleged, and maybe non-existent hate crime that sent his officers on a costly snipe hunt. Johnson’s anger at the dropped charges was more than justified, but like taxpayers’ unhappiness at the unacknowledged social injustice perpetrated in their state every day it simply doesn’t matter and changes absolutely nothing.
Pritzker Toilet Tax Break Won’t Matter to Illinois Voters
Was J.B. Pritzker’s toilet tax break payday legitimate? Who knows? With all that goes on in the City of Chicago we will never get a straight answer and Illinois voters will prove they don’t care. The fact that state Democrats decided to support a candidate from the 1% for allegedly doing what their party accuses wealthy Republicans of doing will not make a difference because Pritzker has promised to give Illinois more of everything, from health care to legal dope.
Pritzker, Rauner Election Race Won’t Matter. Here’s Why.
Why is the Pritzker, Rauner election race irrelevant to Illinois? The General Assembly will aid, abet, and empower Pritzker. They’ll tax too much so they can spend even more. We’ll still be broke. Nothing will change. The masses who vote but don’t pay taxes will not be appeased. Instead, they will demand even more because they were promised the ranch. With Rauner we get more of the same: higher taxes, no pension fix, and a sanctuary state.
Road Construction Work Zone Law Puts My Life at Risk
Am I going to die today? That’s my question every morning before I get in the car and drive through a road construction work zone on Illinois Route 53 that has a speed limit everyone ignores because no one enforces the law. The state tells me to disobey the work zone limit at my peril. Other drivers expect me to get moving or else. What’s a driver to do when you only want to survive your drive to work?
Protest Mob Tactics in Chicago Raise Awareness of Futility
Even if you are not from Illinois you’ve probably heard about the anti-violence demonstration that rocked Chicago’s Dan Ryan Expressway last Saturday. Using protest mob tactics to raise awareness of something we already know too much about by obstructing people who have nothing to do with the problem is pointless and futile.