Why we fight: The faces of Illinois Policy 2015
Changing hearts and minds starts with telling the stories that Illinois’ political machine has forgotten.
Policy changes lives.
And when it comes to average Illinoisans, it’s typically been for the worse.
Decades of shortsighted and corrupt decision-making in Springfield and across the state come with consequences. Effects of poor policy are easily observed in data: with food-stamp rolls outpacing payrolls, all-time highs for out-migration and a 17-year jobs recession.
More importantly, those effects are seen in the everyday struggles of residents in a broken state.
You don’t need to see a precipitous drop on a line graph to know Illinois is home to the Midwest’s worst manufacturing climate. It’s shown plainly on the face of Anthony Goodwin, whose family faced homelessness this year because he couldn’t find steady work.
Without the efforts of generous readers, Anthony and his wife, son and daughter might have been spending Christmas in a shelter.
Speak to Jesse Huerta, and he’ll tell you how his first manufacturing job changed his outlook on life, and why he’s forging a future for his family in Indiana instead of Chicago, his hometown.
And the highest property taxes in the Midwest don’t just exist on ledger lines. They weigh on moms and dads who must tell their children they’ll have to make new friends next year – in a different state.
Just ask Cassandra Bajak. When she and her husband, an Army veteran, built their home in Crystal Lake, Illinois, she never thought 13 years later she’d be paying more in property taxes than on her mortgage.
And take Chicago’s ban on food carts: It crushed spirits as much as it crushed commerce. Claudia Perez worked hard to cook and sell delicious food to build a future for her children – food later strewn across Chicago concrete by police officers enforcing a morally bankrupt ordinance.
Chicago City Council lifted the ban on Sept. 24, bringing a shadow economy into the light. Claudia’s eyes lit up when she told city officials the name of her business: “Tamales La Leona,” or “Lioness Tamales.”
Her pride was palpable.
It goes to show that changing hearts and minds starts with telling the stories of those hearts and minds that Illinois’ political machine has forgotten.
May 2016 bring prosperity to a state long lacking it.