Once again, the state has decided on a band-aid approach to funding public education and bypassing education funding reform that would not only equitably fund our public schools, but also put in place a sustainable funding structure for the foreseeable future. H.B. 750, a bill that was supported by grassroots organizations as well as educators and school districts would have meant property tax relief for many and spread the tax burden more equitably between those who are able to pay. Education is key to the health of our state. Without education funding reform, Illinois will remain near the bottom of the list of states in terms of per pupil expenditure. That in turn triggers a cascade of costly problems from increasing delinquency, gang violence and crime, to unemployment, teen pregnancy and child abuse.
I was talking with my teenage daughter recently about the definition of gangs. My daughter hangs out with a "gang" of friends. It's natural for young people to hang together in groups. It is part of growing up. These days, a group of teens is seen as a bad thing especially if they are wearing certain attire that is associated with criminal gangs who are armed and sell drugs.
Our first defense against criminal gangs is educational opportunities. Good schools and after school programs as well as strong communities and community programs that offer activities, employment and leadership opportunities for youth are our best resources for building a society of responsible adults who see the connection between their behavior and the good of the wider community.
I would encourage community service programs, restorative justice programs for youth and support for alternative schools for those who require intervention. We can change the definition of "gangs" to get rid of its criminal connotation if we put our minds to it, and the state can play a role in this effort.
Governor Blagojevich's Kids Care plan is a step in the right direction to cover all children for basic health care including dental and eye care. I would support a single-payer state healthcare plan that covers all Illinoisans. Universal Healthcare would not only relieve the anxiety of all those who have no health insurance or have pre-existing conditions and cannot obtain coverage, but it will also attract businesses to the state who will be able to offer their workers healthcare at a much less burdensome cost.
We also need to curb the mandates of the Illinois Department of Public Health. This department creates ever increasing vaccine mandates forcing medical experiments on our children as early as their first day of life without regard to public protests. As a result, chronic illnesses and autism have skyrocketed in the state over 1,000 percent since the 1990s.
In 2004, I passed a resolution at the state PTA convention calling for the IDPH to rescind the mandate for the Hepatitis B vaccine because far more children are killed or injured by the vaccine than could ever contract this very rare blood born disease. (<1 in 100,000 children contracted it before the vaccine was invented, yet 1 in 100 suffer serious adverse effects).
It is time that IDPH works for the health of Illinoisans and not for big pharmaceutical companies who profit by giving rise to chronically ill children and then offering the drugs to treat them.
Using the government's own prediction models, Physicians for Social Responsibility estimates that thousands would be killed, 200,000 would get sick, and 6.5 million people would have to be evacuated if there were a nuclear plant accident near Chicago. Nuclear plants have spent nuclear rods housed in insecure--big box type buildings that are vulnerable to attack. And there is still no long term plan for nuclear waste storage.
Stop the insanity! Instead of lifting the moratorium on building new nuclear power plants, we need to phase out this dangerous source of energy and replace it with cheaper and benign renewable sources.
Investment in renewable energy sources could prove an agricultural and industrial boon for the state of Illinois. We must move away from fossil fuels including coal, which cause unacceptable levels of pollution and are not sustainable. Illinois has made positive moves toward funding renewable energy with the passage of SB 1184 that mandates that 25% of Illinois energy must come from renewable sources by the year 2025. In order to achieve this goal, the state must offer opportunities to new renewable energy businesses small and large.
We can also make strides by offering more incentives for individuals to become energy producers and to conserve energy. We can borrow a lot from other states which have such programs including incentives for utility companies to help individual home and apartment dwellers to conserve energy and other resources.
Illinois could be on the cutting edge of renewable energy. We should be working toward the day when we can decommission all of the 13 nuclear plants in Illinois and stop producing 30 to 50 tons of high level radioactive waste from them each year. I hope that day comes before a future inevitable nuclear disaster--either by accident or purposefully perpetrated.
Along with renewable energy, the state of Illinois must invest in mass transit. Illinois already subsidizes car use through tolls and road work done by the state. Mass transit deserves equal treatment. I believe that we must support and expand mass transit in our larger metropolitan areas including the suburbs of Chicago. The more we limit the driving freedom of our young drivers, we must shore up their mass transit options. We will save money on road repair and construction, on road accidents and their aftermath. We will have cleaner air, less polluted run-off to our waterways and it will make transportation more affordable to everyone in this age of rising gasoline prices. Excellent mass transit encourages tourism, the creation of businesses, a burgeoning student population and senior access to the city. The CTA, PACE, and Metra systems still desperately need improvements to allow disabled riders equal access to the system.
I support amending the Illinois constitution to institute a graduated income tax. The flat tax system may sound fair, but it is a burden to those least able to pay and a boon for those who can. Illinois needs a truly progressive income tax — not the two sizes-fits-all that was recently proposed. Such a graduated plan that is based on ability to pay, taxes at a higher level those who have benefited the most from the current social infrastructure and therefore, have the greatest obligation to return something to society.
All Illinoisans stand to see a return on this investment in our state structure, from a better funded educational system to universal healthcare.