During his recent State of the State address, Gov. JB Pritzker pretentiously proclaimed, “We don’t have kings in America, and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one,” referring to President Donald Trump.
Ironic when you consider Pritzker issued at least 41 consecutive disaster proclamations related to COVID-19 between 2020 and 2023 and dozens of executive orders tied to the pandemic. These orders included stay-at-home mandates, school and business closures, mask requirements and vaccination mandates for certain workers.
Pritzker’s unilateral rule in Illinois disqualifies him from making public complaints about kings, fascists and tyrants in America. Moreover, his repeated attempts to redefine and paint political opponents as “Nazis” is getting very old.
The National Socialist German Workers’ Party — the Nazi Party — was organized to advance socialism. They advocated big government policies, putting them on the left side of the political spectrum.
The governor doth protest too much, methinks.
— David E Smith, executive director, Illinois Family Institute
Pritzker, look in mirror
I didn’t vote for President Donald Trump, but I find it a bit ironic and disingenuous of Gov. JB Pritzker to rant about Trump creating a Nazi-like state when the state of Illinois under his watch has rigid one-party rule.
When it was time to remap voting districts in Illinois, Democratic leadership gerrymandered the districts so well that many elections across the state last year had only one candidate. (Editor’s note: As a candidate, Pritzker pledged he would veto maps drawn by politicians.)
He signed into law a revised ethics bill that supposedly carried stricter rules to prohibit, for instance, abuses involving lobbying, yet the Better Government Association said the law needed more teeth. The Tribune and other news sources repeatedly have reported on elected officials misusing campaign funds, for example.
In short, all Pritzker needs to do to see the head of a one-party Nazi-like government is look in the mirror.
— Tom Sharp, Chicago
It’s time to wake up
I continue to be stunned by the Tribune Editorial Board. The editorial about Gov. JB Pritzker’s recent speech (“Pritzker reads the electoral tea leaves and, hooray, delivers a budget free of tax hikes,” Feb. 20) is one more example of the editorial board burying its collective head in the sand when it criticizes the governor for his observations about the federal government’s path to authoritarian rule, chiding him for overreacting.
First, as the governor is of Jewish descent, I’d say he should have a right to observe and comment on the early similarities between the beginnings of Nazi dominance in Germany and President Donald Trump’s current regime.
Beyond that, however, I and many other Americans would rather have a leader sound a too-early alarm than to live with a false sense of hope that this president is just trying to rattle our cages. Trump is doing all he said he would do (except for reducing the cost of goods) and many things that he denied he would do. Most immediately concerning is the about-face on the situation in Ukraine. What was black is now white, and what was white is now purple. The Big Lie just keeps developing because so many people are waiting for cheaper eggs, ignoring the larger picture and the damage being done.
So, to the editorial board and the coterie of one-note letter writers such as Dan Schuchardt, Sue Atkenson and Dave Roberts, I say: Wake up. While you wait for your tax cuts and the occasional correct identification of true waste in the government, this administration is stealing away the rights of its citizens and even money in the form of the outsize impact of tax cuts for the wealthy that penalize the poor and needy. It will take years and a lot of luck and hard work to reverse the damage.
And, to those on the left, it’s too late to revel in schadenfreude. Shout now — often and loud. It will take hold only after something goes really bad, but you will gradually be eroding the willful ignorance of the people who are still looking the other way while they vainly wait for their share that is not going to ever be delivered to them.
— Richard Ramlow, Wilmette
Indiana-Illinois border
Let’s stop all this nonsense about redefining the Indiana-Illinois border. It’s never going to happen!
So far, 33 Illinois counties want to secede from the state. That’s not going to happen. If the residents of those counties do not like living in Illinois, just move.
If Indiana residents want marijuana legalized in their state, then they should vote in lawmakers who will make it happen.
Try to work to create change in your state government if you don’t like what’s happening. No one is going to move state borders to make you happy.
— Mike Slechta, Lombard
What DEI is about
DEI stands for diversity, equity and inclusion. Do not these three words define what the American experiment is all about? Diversity: a land of many people of different ethnicities and races. Equity: justice for all and freedom from bias. Inclusion: forbidding no one from following their American dream. We don’t do these things perfectly, but isn’t it true that genuine patriots strive to make us a “more perfect union”?
But we now have a president who does not believe in diversity, equity and inclusion, who wants to take away all the progress we have made toward these goals. May all true patriots do whatever they can to work for the restoration of our true American values!
— Janet Kittlaus, Glenview
Who is being funded?
Why has no one published a detailed list of all of the people and organizations that are receiving funding from our federal government’s coffers? For example, the U.S. Agency for International Development.
I haven’t seen any detailed lists published in a newspaper or aired on our local news stations. Why not? We as taxpayers should have the right to know who receives government funds and how these funds are being used.
— J. Chwalisz, Skokie
Not in my name
In March 2003, my husband and I drove to Washington for a demonstration against the invasion of Iraq. It was exciting to be in the warmth of those gathered for our expression of the voice of the people.
During the rally, I walked among the crowd and photographed many homemade signs. Back in Chicago, as I looked over my pictures, there was one special one, which I hung in my kitchen for many years. For me, it summed up why we were there under the Washington Monument. The sign read: “NOT IN MY NAME.”
We are again at a crossroads. Many people may feel powerless to effect change, such as to the way our president is mischaracterizing the Ukrainian president and people. For those who want to do something, to be perhaps a part of history, we can spread the message: “Not in my name!”
— Mary Ellen Creighton, Forest Park
None of the above
There are local consolidated elections coming up on April 1. I still don’t know everything that will be on the ballot.
I have a thought on this that I think should be an option in all our elections.
We should have the option to vote: “none of the above.” It won’t change the results of any elections, but I think people should know that as much as they know the numbers on all of the candidates.
We often hear about voter apathy, but not wanting any of the candidates is not apathy. I am tempted not to vote at all, but I think that sentiment should be an option to be made known as much as ballot totals for candidates.
— Larry Craig, Wilmette
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