Springfield pilfered while we slept

So this is what it feels to wake up one morning, suddenly and inexplicably poorer by $1,200. No burglar crept in during the night, to abscond with a stereo or jewelry. No cyber-robber hacked into my computer, moving funds from my bank account to his.

No, the theft of my money was accomplished with far less skill, though with decidedly more daring, than those which an ordinary crook might demonstrate. There is a den of thieves in Springfield, Illinois, and with a single gesture, meaning “aye,” these scoundrels can confiscate billions of dollars of other people’s income, and appropriate them for the government.

The leader of this gang, Mr. Quinn, brazenly announced during the gubernatorial campaign that he would do just this very thing. Heady with success, he has already gone back on his word, implementing a 66 percent tax rate increase, rather than the 33 percent he had previously insisted was all he would support. Of course, he claims he is doing all this for the sake of the state, which is on the verge of bankruptcy, a situation long countenanced and made inevitable by the actions of Mr. Quinn’s cohort, Mr. Madigan.

Not content with stealing us blind in daylight, the Democrats in Springfield pilfer our savings even as we sleep. Why do we endure this rape of our finances? The giant sucking sound you hear is $8 billion draining out of the private sector, where profits are made, jobs are created, and taxes paid. That amount will reappear in the public sector, to be squandered in ineffectual programs, doled out to cronies, and used as bedding for well-heeled pensioners.

I hope one morning soon to awake and find myself transformed into an immense cockroach. The existential dilemma that would pose is nothing compared to the angst I experience as an Illinois voter.

Alexander Lee

West Chicago