Illinois should be first to cast votes in 2024 presidential primary

I read Lynn Sweet’s column “Illinois Democrats poised to bid to hold early presidential vote,” and I believe Illinois should be the first primary state in 2024 for both the DNC and RNC. The first state to cast votes in a presidential primary should be one that represents America.

Illinois is a microcosm of the entire United States. We have urban, suburban and rural communities. The Chicago metropolitan area has one of the most diverse economies in the country. According to Fortune Magazine’s 2021 list of 500 top companies in America, 10 companies that made the list and are headquartered in Illinois employ about 911,000 people and bring in about $1.29 trillion in revenue annually.

Illinois is a major transportation hub, linking the various regions of the U.S. Chicago is the largest city in the fabled American heartland, surrounded by swing states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio. We have hundreds of small, rural villages and a long history of immigration dating back to the early 19th Century.

If any one state most accurately represents the American people as a whole, it would be Illinois.

Alexander Dean, Lincoln Park

I must take issue with Sen. Dick Durbin’s rationale for demolishing State Street’s historic Consumers and Century buildings to better secure the Dirksen Federal Building against hypothetical terrorists.

If federal courthouses are to be treated like bunkers or moated fortresses, then they must be moved to a suburban or rural location where land is available to serve as a buffer zone. But if federal bureaucrats want the complex to remain downtown, then they must learn to live with the tall buildings and dense streetscapes that define the Loop.

As I see it, to raze two landmark early skyscrapers on Chicago’s most emblematic street in order to protect against phantom evildoers is to concede that the terrorists have won.

Hugh Iglarsh, Skokie