A Chicago-less Illinois?

I can’t find fault with Kevin Schilt who is collecting signatures to get a question put on the Illinois ballot in 2020. A man in Athens, Illinois started the petition drive and Schilt is pushing it around Edwards County. They want to separate Chicago from the rest of the state of Illinois.

Now, while that idea certainly has merit…..it also seems as far fetched as California’s attempt to split into three states….and Texas’ succession plan from the United States….both ideas that didn’t get traction.

The Illinois Separation Group certainly makes a compelling case for a “State of Chicago.” Without Cook and some of the collar counties, the state looks much different politically. In the last election, Illinois was decidedly red with only pockets of blue. That might help in the fight against unbridled spending and cronyism.

The bar is rather low. Schilt says he only needs 191 signatures in Edwards and 447 names in Wayne County. That leaves 100 counties with many more citizens than we find here….. I don’t like the odds of seeing this on the statewide ballot in two years.

And even if we could dream of an Illinois without Chicago, where sanity could find a foothold in the legislature, what would happen to the billions of dollars owed? The pension system is just as broke in downstate as it is in Chicago. 

I can give you literally billions of reasons why this noble cause is doomed.

But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t sign the Illinois Separation Group’s petition. I’d do it---with relish—because I think it’s time for Southern Illinoisans to stop whispering about our disgust with Chicago.

It needs to be a shout.