In this episode of "More Insanity From the Land of Lincoln"...

“You're going to see people doing what you see and hear about in different parts of California, where people are defecating in the streets ... and the police won't be able to do anything about it."

Those are the words of Illinois State Rep. John Cabello, also a law enforcement officer, in opposition to a Democrat state representative's bill to protect homeless people from fines and various criminal charges. Cabello suggested Illinois House Democrats are trying to make the state more like or even worse than California. 

House Bill 1429, which has now advanced out of the Illinois House Housing Committee, is being pushed by special interest groups like the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness (CCEH) and Housing Action Illinois (HAI).

CCEH explained its support for the legislation on its website:

Ticketing or arresting people for experiencing homelessness only worsens their situation by making it even harder for them to secure housing and employment in the future.

Au contraire, believes this writer. I mean, nice try, but the above claim is counterintuitive — particularly to and for the good people of Illinois. 

Raise your hand if you think allowing people to defecate in public streets without fines or legal consequences incentivizes them to stop defecating in the streets. (Zero hands raised.)

Now raise your hand if you think refusing to fine or file criminal charges against those who defecate in the streets would only increase the number and frequency of people defecating in the streets. (Bingo — all hands raised.)

The Illinois Municipal League and Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police agree with the latter — and then some.

Cabello is also concerned that if the legislation becomes law, law enforcement officers might not even be able to fine or arrest offenders on private property:

So are they talking about private property as well? Because I'll tell you what, if somebody comes on my property wants to live, I'm not calling the police. I'll take care of it myself and I would expect that many of the taxpaying citizens in this state would do the same.

While the above solution is a bit rash, Cabello's sentiments — which I suspect are the sentiments of untold numbers of other Illinois residents — are understandable, particularly given the ongoing efforts of Gov. JB Pritzker to protect illegal aliens from being tracked down and arrested by ICE.

In addition, Pritzker's administration launched the Home Illinois initiative in 2024, committing $118 million in taxpayer funds to support the homeless. Cabello said taxpayer dollars are going to programs for homeless people so taxpayers don't have to have homeless camps out in the open. 

Not to nitpick, Governor, but how about ending homeless camps in Chicago and other Illinois cities instead of forcing taxpayers to pay for hiding them?

Not to be outdone, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who makes former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot look like a saint, proposed a 2025 city budget that includes $195.6 million for homeless services — a 21 percent increase over the city's $161 million allocation.

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Did I mention that in 2021, more than $1 billion in Federal Emergency Rental Assistance funds were awarded to Illinois for providing rental assistance and housing support to individuals facing "housing insecurity?" 

This concludes today's "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results" lesson.

Chicago is Exhibit A in how progressive policies are ruining our cities.

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