Hope in the Shadow of Lincoln

I came across this wonderfully-written, insightful piece about the state of affairs in Illinois and what today's problems mean for the next generation.  And how the 2014 election for governor can have a significant bearing on getting things turned around.

On this Presidents Day, the Land of Lincoln is hurting.  We need changes made, as we're well on-track to be the first state to do what Detroit did.... the unthinkable.

Out for now.....

Matt

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Civics 101: Looking for Hope in the Shadow of Lincoln

Madeleine Doubek

The question posed was this: How can we fix Illinois?

How can we fix the financial mess, the corruption, the mismanagement, the rising unemployment, the shrinking schools. How can we average citizens fix it?

The answers varied. Get involved in politics, in political campaigns. (Of course, a lot of us are turned off and don’t really want to get that involved.) Put term limits in place. Limit campaign contributions, especially from corporations, the students said. Don’t vote if you’re not informed. Well, OK, I suggested, but how about getting informed and then casting a good vote?

Any other ideas? Don’t just vote on fleeting passions. Don’t vote for the same people every time. Don’t think emotionally.

The conversation came in Lisle at Benedictine University, specifically at The Center for Civic Leadership. Along with some university expert professors and another journalist, I had the opportunity to speak at the Center’s Youth Government Day last week with several hundred mostly upperclassmen from a half-dozen public schools in DuPage County. The theme for the day was “Corruption and Mismanagement in the shadow of Lincoln.”

The students were engaged. They’d done their homework. The Center sponsored an art contest in which the students were encouraged to create something that represented the day’s theme and the final entries were impressive.

Two students recorded a rap about Illinois’ corrupt history. Others created a Lincoln newspaper page. Another created a 3-D diorama of a cut-out map of the state labeled with “dishonesty” and “corruption” and a young Abe Lincoln was struggling to hold the state up beneath it because the pillars of good government that had been supporting it were broken. Another featured a silhouette of Lincoln and within the silhouette was a cut-out of broken Illinois with images of convicted former state politicians pasted atop the pieces. And yet others produced a slick-looking movie poster for “Abraham Lincoln: Corruption Slayer.”

The other speakers and I immersed the students in a crash course or three about the extent of corruption and debt in Illinois, about Rod Blagojevich’s tenure and trial, about how difficult it can be sometimes to separate right from wrong and take the ethical path. We talked to them about the state’s pension crisis and about how they very well could be the ones paying that $100 billion bill in just a few very short years if something isn’t done soon.

They asked more excellent questions about all of that, these young people, most of whom revealed they’ve filed tax returns and will be old enough to vote in the next governor’s race in 2014. Why can’t you just base a public retiree’s raise on a base amount rather than a whole salary, they asked? Why can’t you cut corners when everyone else is doing it or it seems like it? What is being considered to solve the pension problem? Do companies who pay bribes get punished along with the politicians? What about Wisconsin and its labor battle and will Illinois be the next state like that?

The questions, the discussion, the thought that went into it all was energizing. Still, something was missing. As with so many of us across Illinois, it seemed it hadn’t fully occurred to this group that they can do something now. They can do some little thing, every day and not just when it comes time to vote.

They can communicate with the elected officials who represent them. They can speak up. They can be watchdogs of Illinois government. Day in and day out. Blow the whistle. Challenge something you think is wrong.

The message came clearly from The Center for Civic Leadership’s Director Jim Ryan, former attorney general and DuPage County state’s attorney Jim Ryan. We need more civic education. We need all of us to be active, educated, thoughtful citizens. Citizenship doesn’t happen only on Election Day. It doesn’t come from one class in which you learn only that there are three branches of government.

Citizenship, good citizenship, is work, responsibility, a lifetime duty and privilege.

How can we fix Illinois, all of us, young and beyond? By staying informed. By being engaged. By speaking up and encouraging and persuading our family, neighbors and friends to do the same. By thinking things through and not deciding based on fleeting passions, as one student said.

We have the power. And if this group of next year’s new voters stay at it and keep up with their civic education and engagement, we have all have a reason to hope for a better future.