Slusher: About Wednesday's front-page editorial

On Wednesday, the Daily Herald is doing something we haven't done in more than three decades, if ever. We're publishing our editorial opinion on the front-page of the newspaper.

This clearly is not an action we take lightly, but we feel compelled to undertake it because of the woeful inaction of our government leaders. We are not alone. We are adding our editorial voice to the voices of some 65 newspapers across the state that adopted an idea suggested by Springfield Journal-Register executive editor Angie Muhs in order, in her words, "to amplify this cry for sanity on behalf of Illinois' citizens."

We don't know if our outcry will produce sanity or simply more of what we've all become accustomed to - brash, self-righteous finger pointing in a never-ending game of assigning political blame and collecting political credit. But it's a start.

More important, it also can be a call to action for you, the citizen and voter.

In large measure, we have the democracy in our state that we've allowed ourselves to have. We can demand more. Certainly we will have the opportunity to demand more at the ballot box this fall, but we also have that opportunity right now.

That's why we're publishing on this page the contact information - telephone numbers and emails - for every state senator and representative in the Daily Herald's coverage area as well as the governor, House speaker and Senate president. We hope you'll inundate these leaders today and in the days ahead with your outrage, with a single demand - that they do their jobs and provide the single most-basic function of any government, a working budget that provides adequate resources to meet the needs and expectations of the state's citizens.

We'll be happy to add your voices to ours, as well. Send us letters telling lawmakers what you think and expect of them. We'll publish in print and online as many of your thoughts as we can.

Write to us by email at fencepost@dailyherald.com or send us standard mail at P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, Illinois 60006. Keep in mind our 300-word limit and be sure to include your full name, hometown and (not for publication) phone number. Type "Enough" in the subject line of an email and we'll know to include your comments along with others who want to influence lawmakers to produce a workable budget.

In addition, we encourage you to join other commentators on social media using the hashtag #ILEnough.

Today, we and dozens of newspapers around Illinois have lifted our voices to get the attention of state leaders and try to force sanity on them if they will not accept it for themselves. But it's you, the voters, who they really care about. Join us. Let them know with the passions of your own voices and words that you've had enough.

Jim Slusher, jslusher@dailyherald.com, is an assistant managing editor at the Daily Herald.