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Commentary: Hello, exodus deniers: No, it isn’t Illinois’ weather
Kristen McQueary
Jan 4, 2018
While imposing a stiff prison sentence on former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, U.S. District Judge James Zagel contemplated an issue that, just over six years later, continues to debase this state’s prosperity.
“In the United States, we don’t much govern at gunpoint,” Zagel told the courtroom on Dec. 7, 2011. “We require willing and creative cooperation and participation to prosper as a civil society. This happens most easily when people trust the person at the top to do the right thing most of the time, and more important than that, to try to do it all of the time.”
Corruption at the top tears and disfigures the “fabric of Illinois” and is “not easily or quickly repaired,” Zagel said.
Trust in government is essential to civil society — not only governance that is corruption-free but also competent and responsible. Unfortunately, much of our leadership in this state is neither. Taxpayers know it and they’re giving up. They are fleeing Illinois.
It’s one thing to harbor natural skepticism toward government. It’s quite another to take the dramatic step of moving your family, your home, your livelihood to another state to escape it. But it’s happening.
The naysayers and deniers blame the weather. They eye-roll the U-Haul rebellion. They downplay the dysfunction. Good riddance to those stingy taxpayers, they trumpet.
But that is a shallow, ignorant and elitist viewpoint that dismisses the thoughtful and wrenching decisions thousands of once-devoted Illinoisans have made.
For four years in a row, Illinois has lost population in alarming numbers. In 2017, Illinois lost a net 33,703 residents, the largest numerical population decline of any state. That’s the size of St. Charles or Woodridge or Galesburg. Wiped off the map. In one year.
Demographers pinpoint Illinois as an outlier. Even states losing residents to out-migration generally ameliorate the loss with growth from new residents moving in and steady birth rates. But Illinois is shrinking in all categories.
On social media this week, we asked the Tribune Editorial Board’s followers for feedback on the Illinois exodus. Here is a sample of their answers:
Excerpt - read at:
The taxpayer migration continues from the Land of Ever Higher Taxes.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/illinois-drives-people-away-1513125224