'Progressives' advancing us to ruin

I saw a TV ad for Raja Krishnamoorthi. He is proclaiming himself to be a "progressive." What does that mean? I get many different answers depending on who I ask.

To me a "progressive" likes to think that they are enlightened and superior to their fellow man. They think they have the biggest hearts because they see a need and make everyone else pay for it by creating a government program (which almost never works well).

Walter E. Williams calls taxation legalized theft. Why are the people with the power (and guns) entitled to take my hard-earned money?

The progressive would say, to help pay for "the commons" (roads/infrastructure) and to help "those in need."

This sounds good until you start counting other things as "the commons" such as food, shelter and health care. And I didn't know that the government was set up to be a charitable organization to help "those in need."

All the while, the government spends too much and runs out of money.

Which brings me to Illinois and the election. Mike Madigan has been speaker of the House in Illinois for over 30 years. He has been called the "real" Illinois governor. And look at the result of 30-plus years of Democratic/Progressive policies.

Illinois is going broke. People are fleeing the state. Property taxes are higher than the state income taxes. Property taxes keep going up even though property values keep going down. Education is a mess. And people still vote Democratic?

Can't you see what Democratic/Progressive policies are doing to this state? Oh, that's right. I forgot. This is a game of "blame the nearest Republican" - and the press just goes along with it.

To me, progressives are progressing toward ruin and taking the rest of us along for the ride.

John Zitkus

Mundelein