Letter: Progressives aim to limit individual freedoms

There are so many things to write about, but in a limited space, I wish to write about two things that progressives are imposing over the will of the taxpayers in Illinois.

The first one is a bill sponsored by progressive state Rep. Mary Beth Canty that mandates that all public schools are required to have a full day kindergarten program by the 2027-28 school year. This is a mandate that overrules the voters in school districts that voted against referendums for all day kindergarten.

This bill is basically nothing more than a rejection of voters' rights and a move by government to take over total control of education in the state.

As Ms. Canty says in her statement "this gives working parents more accessible and affordable sources of child care." I guess all taxpayers must pay for someone else's child care.

The second thing which is also part of the progressives' plan to have government involved in every facet of our lives is the state "Peacekeepers" to patrol Chicago streets. The money in the budget is $11 million this year and is set to increase to $30 million next year. Most of the participants are not full-time outreach workers. There are 500 people that have been hired at $100 a day as Peacekeepers, trained to de-escalate conflicts in 102 "hot spots"in 14 Chicago communities. If anyone does not believe this is nothing more than a payoff to try to have people act right, has to be living in another universe.

These are only two of the programs that progressives support in this state and there are many more which will take more of our individual rights and freedoms away from us and give them to the government.

Richard Olhava

Arlington Heights