Kadner: LOL means Land of Lincoln is a joke

If the entire population of Illinois urged Gov. Bruce Rauner and Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to work together to resolve the state’s financial mess, would either man care?

I would say absolutely not, but there are at least a few cockeyed optimists left in this state who still believe, despite all evidence to the contrary, that our most powerful political leaders are reasonable fellows.

The Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago (there’s a name for you) has launched a Web site, LOLIllinois.com, aimed at reversing the course of recent history in Illinois.

LOL in this case might stand for laughing out loud, but also for Land of Lincoln, although much of the country is indeed chuckling at the chaos created by elected officials in Springfield.

The idea behind the Web site is to generate personal stories of abasement and degradation caused by the state’s financial plight to demonstrate to legislators just how bad things are in the real world.

In theory, these will touch the hearts of Rauner and Madigan and move them to action, or at least generate an outpouring of public anger.

People are encouraged not only to describe their personal tales of woe (abuse, neglect, homelessness, general depression) caused by this state’s economic mess, but to write their legislators, both Republican and Democrat, to inform them that there are real people suffering due to their sloth.

Actually, I think it might be beneficial for every resident to write 1,000 times on a blackboard, “Rauner and Madigan don’t give a rat’s poop about the people of Illinois.” That’s why they have failed to pass a budget, which is sort of the one thing required of elected state officials.

The Civic Committee’s Web site drives home the point that Illinois is suffering by offering all manner of news reports and statistical evidence illustrating the incompetence of our elected leaders.

“102,000 immigrants and refugees left without access to immigration services.”

“750 human service workers cut that cannot be rehired.’

“700 seniors who will face reduced meal delivery service.”

“30 human service program that cannot be restored.”

“30 universities at risk of losing access to MAP grants.”

“$350 million amount owed by Department of Human Services to service providers.”

“$1.2 trillion in unfunded pensions.”

“67,535 more citizens moved out of the state in between 2014-2015.”

“47 percent of registered voters say they want to leave the state.”

“$150 million cut to 53 downstate transit districts.”

“812 total jobs lost in October.”

“420 manufacturing jobs lost in October.”

The list of unfunded programs, unpaid bills and the resulting human toll goes on and on, but I think you get the idea.

Everybody in this state has some idea of how bad things have gotten. The question is, does anyone really care?

The people who support the Republican governor seem happy to see him doing battle with Madigan, who they blame for everything that’s wrong with this state. There’s little doubt the Democratic Party leader is responsible for much of it.

On the other hand, Rauner has done absolutely nothing to resolve any of the major problems, other than confront Madigan. That alone seems to satisfy some people.

The fact that the state doesn’t have a budget bothers almost no one. People really don’t seem concerned that the pension debt, which was massive two years ago, has only grown larger as Rauner and Madigan have taken turns measuring the size of their egos.

It seems obvious to me that the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago is hoping to use its website to build a base for a public uprising against the do-nothing behavior of Rauner, Madigan and their followers.

But the problem is that these two men are impervious to public pressure. They simply don’t care. They don’t care what you have to say, they don’t care if their political strategy fails and they don’t care if people get hurt along the way.

As for the people of this state, I think they’re rather thrilled to watch the carnage take place, like the crowds in the old Roman Colosseum.

Email: philkadner@gmail.com

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