Why Vote “Yes?”
Illinois is Broke
The Civic Committee of Chicago, as long ago as 2006, has estimated that
“The total of all of the State’s unfunded obligations and associated debt for pensions, health care benefits and Medicaid is about $106 billion – roughly $8,800 per person for the 12 million residents of Illinois.”
If you want to know what that means, realize that that to pay these unfunded liabilities, Illinois Citizens are going to be on the hook for virtually every dime of that money. Why? Because the existing political class - a group that CAN NOT be voted out of office under current Illinois electoral and ballot access laws - WILL NOT cut spending or even cut the rate of growth.
Instead, the current political class is essentially lying to the electorate, talking about Capital Bills, Health Care for Children, and numerous other spending plans, in the hopes that the legislature passes revenue increases (gambling or income taxes). These funds WILL NOT go toward Capital Improvements or Health care. They will go toward pensions and pension benefit expansion.
The “No” campaign, like the political class that they protect and serve, are cynically hoping to slough off the mess they created on the next generation of taxpayers, many of whom will just leave Illinois rather than pay “Past Due” bills.
By voting “Yes”, we will have the opportunity (not a guarantee) to elect 118 fresh faces that actually have the political courage to first stop the bleeding, and second, create a system where smarter, better, and more intellectually honest people can get elected.
Illinois can’t be “fixed” with “better leadership”
Some “No” proponents argue that we can improve the state through “better leadership”. That’s fine on paper, but it reminds us of all the “guaranteed rights” in the Soviet Constitution. You can talk about better leadership, but how will we ever get better leaders.
It is our position, and we lay it out quite effectively in our book, that while there are many good people in Illinois who could do a better job than their current legislators, they have precious little chance of getting elected, given Illinois gamed system of election laws and ballot access hoops.
If a persevering soul actually does get elected to office, they are forced by Illinois ethics to either become a non-entity, or they acquiesce to becoming another cog in the Illinois machine, manufacturing pork, contracts, or no-show jobs for their family and friends.
Try this on for size. From 1997 to 2006, 569 Illinois officials were convicted of crimes committed while in office. If you take into account the lax enforcement of corruption by Illinois officials and judiciary, it is fair to say that Illinois may just be the most corrupt state in the USA.
This can’t be fixed by “electing better people” for one very simple reason. “Better people” are locked out of this system. ONLY dynamic changes of the kind brought about by a Constitutional Convention offers the opportunity to bring “better people” into the process.
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For more information about how Yes for Illinois will achieve a yes vote and the benefits you will gain from it, buy our book here!
