Exactly what has Illinois become?  In the immortal words of Obi-Wan in Star Wars:

Obi-Wan: Mos Eisley spaceport: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.”

Though Illinois is obviously no spaceport (though our state debt and deficit is out of this world), it seems to have become the Mos Eisley Cantina bar of the left.  To quote another movie,

K: You remember “Casablanca”, right?
J: Yeah.
K: Same thing, just no Nazis.

No Nazis, but we got us some lefties though.

Illinois has become the new California or has become the refuge for all things on the left.  We have Wisconsin Democrats who bolted a vote in the Wisconsin Assembly on reforming the unions.  Not to be outdone, Indiana Democrats also decided to come to Casa de Illinois to avoid having to cast a similar vote.  As I do my student teaching (in high school American Government among other classes), and I see these elected officials shirk their democratic duties for those who elected them to do a job, I almost feel I am lying to my students when I teach them about the basic principles of a constitutional republic.  Am I lying to them when I tell my students one of the basic tenets of our system of government is representative government, but yet those representatives in government refuse to do their jobs?  We know Illinois is a secret sanctuary state for illegal aliens (they get state benefits under Kid Care and other programs), but now we are becoming a sanctuary for all things liberal.

Last year, we saw 20,000 public sector unions march in Springfield demanding that our taxes be raised to protect their pensions and benefits (protected anyway by the Illinois Constitution).  The result?  Newly re-elected Governor Quinn raised income and business taxes. Quinn also signed a civil union bill straight out the box from his re-election.

Where I work, I have the opportunity to meet with people from all walks of life, especially those that pay dues to certain organizations called unions.  You know its bad when these union members are throwing their union brothers under the bus.  Some of them even throw the UAW under the bus – and these are the same union members that deliver the cars that UAW members made!  But it gets better (or worse) here in Illinois…

Recently, there was a bill in front of the General Assembly that would require home schooled children to be registered with the state.  The bill was tabled, but is not dead.

Then of course the Dead Fish was elected as mayor of Chicago.  And to make matters worse (or scarier), Gov. Quinn thought that he and Dead Fish would be able to “do good things”.  One can only imagine.  God help us.

A few days ago, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (daughter of King/Speaker of the Illinois House Mike Madigan) decided that she would like to release the names of all gun owners in Illinois.  This is the same Lisa Madigan that has refused to even consider joining the suit against the federal government regarding Obamacare, but that’s no surprise.

But what really took the cake and showed what the Democrats in Illinois are really made of is what transpired early this week.  My local State Representative David Reis introduced a bill that would do nothing more than reaffirm the 10th amendment to the Constitution of the United States.  In fact, as Rep. Reis says,

“This was a watered-down version compared to other states’ resolutions,” Reis said.  “And we can’t get this out of committee.”

So we can see where the Illinois Democrats sit.  I almost guarantee that if there was a bill honoring the contributions of Karl Marx to political thought and economics, the Illinois Democrats in Springfield wouldn’t hesitate to pass it.  In fact, they’d probably erect a statue somewhere in Springfield that would end up in some Illinois Democrat’s office.  On a side note, Rep. Reis has also tried to get concealed carry (Illinois is just 1 of 2 states without such a law) passed in Illinois only to be thwarted by the same protectors of liberalism that have made Illinois the destination state for lawmakers on the run.

Ladies and gentlemen, while all our eyes are on Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and other states trying to peel back the decades old layers of liberal policies, Illinois seems to be doubling down on those same policies.  All I ask is that while many of us are cheering what is taking place in some of these other states, don’t take your eyes off Illinois.  Many of us will need your help combating the continued liberal slide into oblivion in the next few years…before the Land of Lincoln becomes the Land of the Lost.