When Emerson College unveiled its latest Illinois poll last week, its press release included three “Key Takeaways.” At the very top of its list was this: “Fifty-two percent (52%) majority of voters think things in Illinois are on the wrong track, while 48% think things are headed in the right direction.” The college is based in Massachusetts, a liberal state with a popular Republican governor. A recent poll taken in Massachusetts by Suffolk University found that 59 percent believed their state was on the right track while 33 percent said it was on the wrong track.

House Speaker Chris Welch reported raising a whopping $14 million in the third quarter, with almost half of that, $6 million, coming from Governor JB Pritzker. That gives Speaker Welch a huge cash advantage for the home stretch over his Republican counterpart. Welch’s personal campaign committee reported raising $7 million between July 1 and September 30 and reported having $11.6 million cash on hand at the end.

Scholars describe progressive societies as being akin to beehives.

What if both establishment Democrats and Republicans adhere to Progressivism, an ideology measures of magnitude different than liberalism or conservatism, while only fabricating a liberal or conservative identity just to win elections? It adds up. Progressivism advocates first and foremost that everything is political. All social and economic problems, no matter the size or scope, are best solved via government-driven political solutions. 

Progressivism concerns itself with groups and their highest functions. Progressives consider human beings to be group components, resources for groups' highest functioning.  Components of groups are tightly controlled and expendable as necessary. This is in direct opposition to the core individualism driving both classic liberalism and conservatism.  Therefore, it only follows that liberal and conservative individualism is an existential threat to Progressivism and must be eradicated.

The political-action committee affiliated with the Illinois Network of Charter Schools is always well-funded, well-organized, well-run, and often quite successful at electing legislative candidates who are supportive of their cause. But, unlike, say, Personal PAC, which focuses almost solely on the issue of abortion in its ubiquitous direct mailers, you don’t often see charter schools even mentioned in the cash-rich INCS Action’s mailers. And “INCS” is the only identifier on its mailers. They don’t mention the full name of the group itself.

“If we didn’t pass something, we wouldn’t have gotten anything from law enforcement. We wouldn’t have gotten a serious conversation,” claimed Representative La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) recently about why the SAFE-T Act was originally written and passed the way it was. Representative Ford was speaking about the cash-bail provisions within the SAFE-T Act during a public event in suburban Forest Park, according to the Forest Park Review.

Political Oath of Office Taker Cartoon Oct 2022 Cover Illustration by Ed Newmann & Monica Kendall

The 2022 midterm election will see voters pass the baton to candidates who will serve during a highly charged political environment as the 2024 general election approaches. Most candidates talk mostly about themselves, with an almost comical disregard for the subject matter they should be focused on to secure votes – the voters and our needs and expectations of them to represent us and not their own interests. With the Midterm General Election 2022 Questionnaire found below, we continue our longstanding practice of contacting political office candidates with what we hope are relevant and meaningful questions.

The labor-union and trial-lawyer-backed All for Justice independent-expenditure committee has so far reported raising $3.5 million, with, I’m told, at least another $5 million in pledges. The committee’s sole purpose is to back the two Democratic candidates running for the Illinois Supreme Court, Appellate Justice Mary K O’Brien, and Judge Elizabeth Rochford. And its spending is finally beginning.

Reader 30th Anniversary Edition Cover Concept  Sketch Courtesy,  Ed Newmann

Publisher Note: The River Cities' Reader has emailed the publicly available emails for all party's candidates in the certain selected Iowa General Election 2022 races, a candidate questionnaire with four topics and eight questions.  That communication is published in part below, along with the complete questionnaire.  The Reader will publish all responses in the printed October edition out on the streets October 6, 2022. All the printed responses will also be published online shortly thereafter. 

Reader 30th Anniversary Edition Cover Concept  Sketch Courtesy,  Ed Newmann

Publisher Note: The River Cities' Reader has emailed the publicly available emails for all party's candidates in the certain selected Iowa General Election 2022 races, a candidate questionnaire with four topics and eight questions.  That communication is published in part below, along with the complete questionnaire. 

The Reader will publish all responses in the printed October edition out on the streets October 6, 2022. All the printed responses will also be published online shortly thereafter. 

Far-right activist Dan Proft has proved time and time again that he is very effective at calling attention to himself and getting under Governor JB Pritzker’s skin in the worst way.

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