A man made disaster. Illinois is a beautiful state with a proud and colorful history. In 5th grade each student used to compile a book on Illinois with cutouts about the State. I loved doing mine. It makes me weep as to what the rotten politicians and the feckless voters who, like sheep, election after election, back them, have done to my beloved Land of Lincoln.
A Short Primer on Why Illinois is a State to Avoid
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Making Massachusetts look good.
David WS, I was born and raised in Taxachussetts. I am certain the state can out-do Illinois! 😉 Look, we gave Ted Kennedy and John Kerry to the country!
Michigan too is slipping into the dark-side.
Gov. AG. SoS.
When I read todays 1st reading it gave me Hope.
I hope it does for you too;
Reading 1 Ez 37:1-14
The hand of the LORD came upon me,
and led me out in the Spirit of the LORD
and set me in the center of the plain,
which was now filled with bones.
He made me walk among the bones in every direction
so that I saw how many they were on the surface of the plain.
How dry they were!
He asked me:
Son of man, can these bones come to life?
I answered, “Lord GOD, you alone know that.”
Then he said to me:
Prophesy over these bones, and say to them:
Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!
Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones:
See! I will bring spirit into you, that you may come to life.
I will put sinews upon you, make flesh grow over you,
cover you with skin, and put spirit in you
so that you may come to life and know that I am the LORD.
I prophesied as I had been told,
and even as I was prophesying I heard a noise;
it was a rattling as the bones came together, bone joining bone.
I saw the sinews and the flesh come upon them,
and the skin cover them, but there was no spirit in them.
Then the LORD said to me:
Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, son of man,
and say to the spirit: Thus says the Lord GOD:
From the four winds come, O spirit,
and breathe into these slain that they may come to life.
I prophesied as he told me, and the spirit came into them;
they came alive and stood upright, a vast army.
Then he said to me:
Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.
They have been saying,
“Our bones are dried up,
our hope is lost, and we are cut off.”
Therefore, prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD:
O my people, I will open your graves
and have you rise from them,
and bring you back to the land of Israel.
Then you shall know that I am the LORD,
when I open your graves and have you rise from them,
O my people!
I will put my spirit in you that you may live,
and I will settle you upon your land;
thus you shall know that I am the LORD.
I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD
I will put my spirit in you that you may live,
and I will settle you upon your land;
thus you shall know that I am the LORD.
I have promised, and I will do it..
Your Illinois, my Michigan, all the land that our countrymen fought and died for…to make it free.
God isn’t done yet.
What if I find only ten men? Will you spare the land if only ten exist?
The Lord said yes, he would spare them and all the inhabitants.
…..then again…
Texas monkey business isn’t a good sign for holding back God’s anger;
https://spiritdaily.org/blog/news/a-towering-monkey-statue-god
I have never been so ashamed to be an Illinois resident (not to mention a state employee) as I was this week, with all that was going on at the DNC. The conservative blogosphere folks all like to say “why don’t you just move” — some even go so far as to say that there is no excuse for not leaving and those who don’t are either stupid or willingly complicit in the evils (abortion, transgenderism, legalized pot, etc.) promoted by our current state government; and that thought haunts me a lot of late. Perhaps it’s no wonder that Illinois is what I would call the most self-hating state, with the greatest percentage of residents (according to a 2013 Gallup Poll) who say it’s the worst possible state to live in.
On the other hand, we now own a house in a small downstate town in a VERY red county, filled with good salt of the earth folks who have been kind and welcoming to us. This town has a well attended Lutheran (LCMC) church and the nearest Catholic parishes are within a 15 to 20 minute drive. The priest assigned to (both of) them seems quite good, doesn’t mess with the liturgy, preaches solid homilies, and encourages frequent confession.
We often see young kids in our town riding bikes up and down the streets, playing ball in the park, etc., like we used to do. They even set up lemonade stands during the town garage sales, and a couple of weeks ago we bought fresh sweet corn from two kids on the corner near our house. It was so good it didn’t even need butter or salt. 🙂 I have grown to love these people and I hate to turn our backs on them, especially now that we’re past 60 and probably going to have to rely on them more as we get older.
In case anyone was wondering what “LCMC” means: it stands for Lutheran Churches in Mission for Christ. It’s an alliance of former ELCA parishes that left the ELCA in the late 2000s/early 2010s because they could no longer tolerate ELCA ordaining openly gay bishops and pastors, and diverging from Biblical truth in other ways. They are in between the liberal ELCA and the more conservative Missouri Synod.
I am bothered by the critique about taxes and inflation being tied.
If you have a 4% tax and an item costs $1, you’ll pay 4 cents in tax. If inflation raises the cost of the item to $1.50, you’ll pay 6 cents in tax, unless you lower the tax rate. Inflation and taxes are thus inherently “tied”.
Did the gentleman mean something else?
Born in Illinois and left when I joined the army, never to return. State is controlled by a rotten legislature and gov, part of Chicago machine. Downstate is treated like a step-child. No hope in sight.
I would leave Illinois in a heartbeat, but my family has been here for over 200 years, and in America for 400 years. And I have a sweet little granddaughter that I”d miss terribly if I left the state.
Supplementing what Phil N. said … God’s faithful in Michigan are trying to hold up under the oppression of ALL three branches of state government being dominated by the Pernicious Party: Executive (Guv-AG-SoS)**; Legislature; and Judicial (Mich Supreme Court, many other judges incl. Federally-appointed)
** Our State Police Superintendent (Colonel) is also appointed by the Governor … hencecthe Covid crackdown by that department
“Elections matter!”
I visited Illinois twice this year, first for a church conference in April, and then I drove with family across the state for another conference and back. I thought the Indiana roads were worse, and I looked into finding a way around it for the return trip.
We saw the good side of Illinois again this weekend. The Lutheran church in Emden (about 12 miles NW of Lincoln) had a Harvest Festival to which the whole community was invited, with pulled pork sandwiches and other refreshments. It’s only 3 blocks from our house and almost all of our neighbors were there so we went. There were LOTS of kids from babies to teens there, and multiple generation families. The pastor, his wife and others spoke about the place of the farmer in Creation and how it’s a prime example of God and man working together. Illinois still has some of the best farmland on Earth, and still has tight knit communities like Emden which it would be a shame to just give up on.