After Brexit, will Chicago be next?
As soon as the Brits voted to depart from the European Union, I began listening for the first rumblings of discontent in Illinois. You know what I'm talking about: Should...
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Politicians should butt out of home-sharing
Earlier this month, I went on a weeklong business trip through Mississippi and Louisiana, but avoided staying in motels. Instead I lodged in strangers' spare bedrooms that I found on...
People deserve better than legislature of goofballs
A Champaign TV station has folks here stirred up because it caught two lawmakers playing video games on their phones while an important budget bill was being debated in the...
Walls and deportation? We’re better than that
For some politicians, immigrants seem to be the new scapegoats for America's woes. When I hear Donald Trump talk about building a fence along the Mexican border or speak of...
Former Gov. Ryan paved way for U.S.-Cuba ‘new beginning’
SPRINGFIELD — Cuba should become the 51st state. That revelation was shared with me last week by a man who knows Cuba and U.S. politics well — former Illinois Gov....
The bizarre world of Illinois politics
Realpolitik: Politics based on practical and material factors rather than on theoretical or ethical objectives. Meriam-Webster SPRINGFIELD — Imagine a place where the allies of a free-market Republican governor spend...
Battling for business with state subsidies plain wrong
For decades, state governments have engaged in the unsavory practice of doling out subsidies to businesses that pit one state against another when deciding where to locate an enterprise. Such...
Gerrymandering an affront to democracy
"Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others." Winston Churchill SPRINGFIELD — Illinois politicians like to extol the virtues of democracy, but avoid practicing it as...
Suing inmates for room and board is plain mean
SPRINGFIELD — Sometimes it seems state lawmakers are determined to keep punishing people even after their debts to society have been paid. A good case in point is a law...
Rauner’s address does little to right ‘ship of state’
SPRINGFIELD — As State Rep. Mary Flowers strolled from the House chambers last week after listening to Gov. Bruce Rauner's budget address, a reporter asked her reaction to the speech....