The state of Illinois is America’s basket case. Except for a Republican governor every few years, Illinois as well as the city of Chicago have been operating under the iron-grip of the Democrat Party. And because of the short-sightedness of Illinois voters who far too often march to the polls every two years and like zombies to reach for the level marked D, the state is broke.
Illinois’ has a long history of Democrat mismanagement and acquiescing to the demands of organized labor in exchange for votes and monetary compensation.
By Walther Theodore
I was born and raised in Chicago and moved out as soon as I could afford it. Over the years I would look back at my friends who remained in the city and shake my head: Get out before you end up living on welfare and unemployment benefits. In fact, if you can, get out of Illinois altogether.
I admit, I never did escape from Illinois – too much family history and friends here. Woe is me.
The 2016 elections will be a good opportunity to start putting an end to the Democrat Party’s dictatorship of our state. Why? Why not!
This state is burdened with $150 billion in unfunded retirement liabilities: The worse overall fiscal condition of any state. Two governors and a host of other public officials have been sent to prison.
Corruption costs every citizen more than $1, 300 a year.
The state “boasts” two Democrat politicians who have been in office 43-years (House) and 38- years (Senate).
Democrat Michael Madigan has all but ruled the state with an iron fist since becoming speaker of the Illinois House in 1983 (he held numerous other positions before 1983). Every bad decision since happened with his approval. Many detractors now refer to the state as Madiganistan.
Democrat Senate President John Cullerton has been in the state legislature since 1979 and running the Senate since 2009.
My God, how stupid are we!
Stupid and we’re poorer for it.
Job growth in Illinois trails all surrounding states. Downstate Illinois manufacturing economy has virtually disappeared over the last few decades. Over 300,000 people have fled the state since 2010.
Local governments have seen their bonds downgraded. Chicago’s tourist agency had to lay off staff. State universities aren’t receiving government funding. Social services agencies are being squeezed. The only winners are the unions and public employees; top beneficiaries of the taxpayer’s miseries of steadily increasing taxes and government regulations.
Illinois can’t be fixed without putting an end to their clout. And the fact that clout is only being threatened by current Republican Governor Bruce Rauner – who is under constant criticism by the media and the Democrats for being unyielding in his efforts to right the state’s brankrupt condition – is a testament to how much power unions have in Illinois.
If you still don’t understand the power of the unions, I’ll spell it out for you:
Union members – like zombies – vote consistently Democrat. The unions funnel millions of dollars of union dues to the Democrat Party war chest.
This is a Democrat-controlled state where the previous governor (Democrat Pat Quinn) walked picket lines, where over 11,000 public retirees collect tax-free, six-figure pensions as high as $450,000 per year, and where union lobbyists get a full public pension worth as much as $1 million by doing one day of substitute teaching.
Madigan and Cullerton and other state Democrats want to give unions even more power. In 2015, they passed a law forcing 26,000 part-time home health care workers – hired by the patient, or relative, and without state benefits or civil service protection – to join and pay dues to the SEIU union.
Thankfully, the U.S. Supreme Court – not the Illinois Supreme Court) struck that down.
The tame Illinois media has stated that Rauner’s “vision has unsettled many in Illinois” is accurate. Rauner is the only reformer who managed to get elected in 2014. So it’s no surprise the Democrats are unsettled.
You should be too.
The choice for Illinoisans in the upcoming November elections is an easy choice to make. And the choice isn’t between Rauner and some ridiculous left-wing Democrat Soviet-style disinformation, It’s between Rauner’s (and conservative Republican) ideology and more Madigan misrule.
That’s an easy choice to make.
Illinois can’t afford any more Madigan-Cullerton style business a usual.
