I’ve lived in Illinois since August 1965. Since then citizens of the Land of Lincoln have seen their leaders range from the highly political and effective like Jim Thompson and Jim Edgar to those who spent time in prison for their misdeeds, like George Ryan, Rod Blagojevich, Dan Walker and Otto Kerner. (Full transparency — three of those were Democrats; Ryan was not.)
Our past two Governors, Bruce Rauner and J. B. Pritzker, are billionaires who attempted to convince those of us who lived under their rule that they really cared about us.
But now I posit the question, what next? What policy or directive will come at us from the Governor’s office? This question comes after J. B. imposed masking requirements on all who enter schools, despite the findings that children are not victims or spreaders of the corona virus on a scale even close to adults. This edict also contradicts studies that masking has adverse effects on children’s learning, both in their schoolwork and in their social development.
The second shoe dropped last week. Pritzker announced a masking mandate on all Illinoisans over the age of two when indoors, even if a person is fully vaccinated. Why now? Perhaps our good governor needs to be seen doing something to keep up with his counterparts in New York, California, Oregon and other places.
Illinois had a mask mandate in place from April 2020 until June 2021. After that expired, we Illinoisans felt free again until the inner dictator emerged from Pritzker.
What will happen next? Under the pandemic panic, shops and nonessential retail businesses were closed, churches were closed, gyms were closed, hair salons were closed. Is this what we are heading for again? Many of the closed businesses never reopened. Churches have seen their attendance permanently affected. Is another lockdown in our future?
One idea was to make what has been called Downstate, that area south of I-90, into a separate state. We could call them North Illinois and South Illinois. Since Chicago and environs is heavily Democratic, and the rest of the state mostly Republican, this would not alter the balance of power in the U. S. Congress, but would give downstaters some control over their own destiny. As of now, the north of Illinois has the population and political power to dominate how the state operates. With the approval of a Democrat Congress needed for such a move, it seems impossible to believe that would happen.
Democrats in Illinois have supermajorities in both the houses of the legislature, but some of the governor’s proposals get little support from Democrats. His aggressive agenda to limit the 2nd Amendment was watered down, though some new rules were put into place which makes it a little harder to get and keep concealed weapons.
What can ordinary taxpayers, especially in downstate counties do to counter the iron hand of government from the state capitol? One thing is the influence parents have over the control of their children’s education through the elected school boards. Our state can punish school districts who do not follow the masking edict, but what is taught can still be influenced by the activity of those who disagree with some of the far-left proposals put forth. Things such as the 1619 Project in history, the Critical Race theory and the push for LGBTQ acceptance bring out opposition from parent groups. Several districts have already defied the mask mandate and are facing sanctions for doing so, but just the publicity from these puts pressure on the governor and the legislature.
Perhaps a successful effort to elect more conservative members of the Legislature would lead to a lessening of the draconian measures mandated. Also, a widespread refusal to obey the executive order might be effective. Some of this was seen this week when we went to our church here in Paris. At a service which saw perhaps 90 in attendance I saw only about half a dozen people with masks on, in spite of our local news rag having a half page story about the mask mandate having the ‘force of law’.
I do not have a crystal ball which shows the future. But Illinois, like other blue states, has a growing sentiment against blindly following whatever policy comes from their political leaders. Does the state have enough law enforcement officers to arrest, imprison and fine hundreds of thousands of us? Stay tuned, for if the COVID – 19 variant does spread over our state, my guess is that some form of lockdown will be reimposed and there will be a lot of noncompliance, lawsuits and complaints. Two downstate school districts, Teutopolis and Carlyle, have already won legal backing for having the masking a local decision, and a judge found that according to Illinois law, mask mandates fit the definition of a modified quarantine and school districts do not have the legal right to impose quarantines. He ordered both school districts to stop the mask mandates immediately. Perhaps more of this will change the landscape.
If you read this in a red state, lucky you!