We Illinoisans are used to being outraged by our state government.
And why shouldn't we be? The conviction on corruption charges of former Gov. George Ryan aimed a spotlight on a system in which everyday workers were milked for campaign donations by way of mandatory fundraiser ticket sales. Meanwhile, service to the public and even public safety was put on the back burner. Insider deals favored the governor and his cronies.
Now former Gov. Rod Blagojevich awaits federal trial on somewhat similar charges, the heart of which allege that he attempted to use the powers of his office to gain for himself. Some of the governor's associates and advisers have pleaded guilty to charges from the same investigation. Blagojevich maintains his innocence.
But there is coming a time of introspection for us as citizens and taxpayers, and it's not going to be comfortable. And we're not going to be able to say that discomfort is the fault of George Ryan or Rod Blagojevich - who, by the way, we chose to lead our government.
The state has slowly but consistently dug itself into a hole in the billions. Some vendors are waiting 100 days or more to be paid for their services. Human service providers and schools wait long for promised payments, and it takes pleas to individual lawmakers to pry loose a partial payment from the statement.
Meanwhile, the "silly season," also known as campaign time, is upon us. Promises abound; solutions and specifics are rare.
But anyone who looked at or even read about the statewide poll taken by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale can see we, as an electorate, have a hole in our logic.
The majority of respondents, nearly 57 percent, think the state's budget problems could be solved by cutting waste in government, but they opposed most cuts suggested, including reductions to education, police or prison staffing, and help for the poor or people with physical or mental disabilities.
A deficit in the billions didn't sneak up on the state overnight, and we the people kept on finding ways to spend the money the state was willing to hand out.
The problem is, our checkbook is way into the red and neither credit counseling nor saving nickels and dimes is going to bring it back into the black. As state Sen. Dave Luechtefeld has told The Southern Illinoisan's editorial board several times, "If we weren't a state, we'd be bankrupt."
So what do we do now? We seem dead set against a broad-scale tax increase, such as in the state income tax. But there's no indication of public support for large-scale spending reductions.
As independent adults, we've all learned that there's money coming in and there's money going out. If the second amount is consistently larger than the first, we make changes in our habits or behavior. We know staying on the same path will lead to a hard slap from reality.
Well, that slap is coming to us as citizens and taxpayers of a state whose spending has been far out of alignment with its income.
Something - a sizable revenue increase, big budget cuts or some combination of the two - is coming. It probably won't happen until after the Feb. 2 primaries, and maybe not until after the November 2010 general elections.
But bet on it, something expensive is slouching toward Springfield. The state is going to have to take more money from us or spend less money on us. Or both.
Either way, there will be howls of protest, many of them righteous. There will be protests, speeches, political finger-pointing, news conferences, marches on Springfield, letter-writing campaigns and publicity stunts.
But whatever our response, our day of financial reckoning continues to bear down. The hard truth in the state of Illinois is that the late and famous cartoonist Walt Kelly was right: "We have met the enemy, and he is us."
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Source: The Southern
