The decline and fall of Illinois

Anybody who has read Edward Gibbon's famous book "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" had to be amazed that the most powerful nation on Earth at the time committed suicide "through the insidious poison of free bread and circuses." Today, we would call that "poison" government welfare and the government's endorsement and support of immoral activity like making pot and late-term abortions.

Now scroll 1,600 years later and we are watching the people and politicians of Illinois following Rome's path to suicide. Illinois is the most bankrupt state in America with the lowest bond ratings of any state. And residents and businesses of Illinois are fleeing Illinois because of that corruption and our insanely high real estate taxes which are crushing the value of our homes.

Alex de Tocqueville warned us of this disaster when he said "Democracy can exist up to the point when politicians realize that they can bribe people with their own money." Illinois Democrats have been giving away "welfare" to addict the people of Illinois to "free stuff" to get reelected for decades and now the bill is due.

It is easy to blame our corrupt Democrat politicians in Illinois for this disaster, but I am sorry to say that we have to hold ourselves accountable for this disaster. "We the people" elected these horribly destructive politicians either by voting for them or by not bothering to do our duty and vote.

There is only one way to change Illinois' path to collapse and that is to "flush the toilet" in Springfield and replace these corrupt politicians with honest politicians who care more about our state than being reelected and making more money at your and your kid's expense.

Randy Rossi

Grayslake