In their latest round of TV ads, the Bruce Rauner campaign has enlisted the help of the governors of three of Illinois’ neighboring states, Indiana, Wisconsin and Missouri, to push for Rauner’s re-election. Their thesis is that Rep. Michael Madigan is responsible for all of Illinois’ problems and that we should vote against Madigan, who is not running for governor, by re-electing Rauner.
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First of all, I think we have to presume that these three governors are good men and good governors; otherwise the Rauner campaign would not have used them. And therein lies the problem. To be a good governor you have to put your states interest first especially as it effects your relations with other competing states. Why then, you should ask, would a governor promote the competitive ability of another state at the expense of his own state? The answer is that he probably wouldn’t.
Is it possible that these governors are promoting Rauner because they realize, as many Illinoisans realize, that Gov. Rauner is the cause of most of Illinois’ problems and that if we are silly enough to re-elect him their states will benefit?
Sneaky, huh?
Edward Levy, Homewood
The real collusion
The Sun-Times carefully lays out a timeline on the Paul Manafort indictment and indicates that Manafort tried to arrange a meeting between Trump and Putin, forgetting to point out that
Trump did NOT. Trump turned DOWN that suggestion. Three pages dedicated to this and nothing about the real collusion between the Clintons and Obama.
Connie Aitcheson, Darien
Bring back street cars
So the City of Chicago wants to promote increased ridership by making their buses “sexy”? Phooey! What they ought to do is dump those beasts with their smelly and air-polluting exhaust and replace them with the streetcars that once provided most of the city’s public transportation.
Those wonderful old Red Rocket cars had their own designated lanes, i.e, tracks. Autos seldom encroached because it made for a bumpy ride. The flip side of that is that streetcars didn’t pull to the curb for boarding passengers, leaving their large rear ends blocking the auto traffic. And their usually unobstructed lanes enabled them to move at a pretty good clip between stops.
At one time, there were over 1,100 miles of trolley track crisscrossing Chicago. With a transfer in hand, you could travel east or west, north or south, to anywhere in the city.
The bus manufacturers pulled a costly con on the city when they persuaded its leaders that a move to motor coaches spelled progress. The streetcars seldom broke down, didn’t slide on icy streets, they didn’t pollute and their electric power was cheaper than gas. In today’s social environment, a conductor keeping watch from the rear of the car would be a plus.
Many cities still use trolleys on a limited basis and find them efficient and rider friendly. There are miles of track buried under concrete on some of Chicago’s main arteries. If the city were to make a commitment to reconverting, these might be dug up to save the cost of installing new rails.
In any event, if they were to bring back those streamlined Green Hornet cars, even this old timer would occasionally get on board just to enjoy the ride.
Dan McGuire Bensenville
Increasing wealth disparities
Republicans seem so focused on getting a legislative win that the details and consequences of their “tax reform” bill appear at best secondary. Chasing faster economic growth through tax cuts has been shown over the last decades to always fail, and yet they persist. Also clear is that the “reform” bill will serve corporate interests and the bottom lines of the top 1 percent.
This result will only increase the income and net wealth disparities that are already hurting the many voters who elected President Donald Trump and created Republican majorities in both houses. The Republicans are effecting the very mantra they live by which is that government is the problem and not the solution.
Mary F. Warren, Wheaton
