I propose...

...an Amendment!

Actually, it is not mine, but I am on the bandwagon now.

A couple of weeks ago, I stopped by the Emergency Operations Center in my hometown to check on the weather and see if it looked like we would be storm spotting that night.

While there, the father of one of my very good friends and I got into a hour and 40 minute conversation about politics, some about the POTUS race, and some about the FUBAR that is Illinois government right now.

As the conversation progressed, we began talking about how the districts for the Illinois General Assembly are divided. Currently, Senate districts are based on population with 59 districts in the State. Each Senate district is divided into 2 representative districts, for 118 total.

The horrible problem with this: WWWWAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY too much clout to the USSC (Union of Soviet Socialist Chicagoans).

By my count-there are 27 Districts outside of Chicago and the Suburbs. See the map below for the "downstate" map.
Which translates to 32 Senate Districts in Chicago and Suburbs. See the striped area in the upper right had corner of the above map? Yeah, that little area has more Senators that the rest of the State.

Now translate that to State Reps and there are 64 in the USSC and 54 for the rest of Illinois.

So, the USSC hold a majority in BOTH houses of the General Assembly. How it is that the State hasn't gone communist is beyond me.


Now, how do we remedy this significant problem? Simple. Amend the Illinois Constitution to redistrict the Illinois Senate to more closely mimic the way the U.S. Senate is set up.

***History Education Alert. Learning Ahead***
When the founding fathers were drafting the Constitution, they more populace states wanted the legislature to be based on population-giving states with more people more power. This would be like states (at the time) of Virginia and Massachusetts. However, states like Rhode Island said that every state should have an equal voice regardless of population. Thus we ended up with a bicameral legislature (consisting of 2 houses). One house based on population (House of Representatives) and the other house equally distributed between the states (Senate).

The solution in Illinois is to leave the Illinois State House of Representatives organized based on population like it is now. Then, reorganize the Senate by reducing the the number of Senators from 59 to 51, and then district the state based on county lines. Thus we would have 2 counties represented by one Senator. Thereby, putting all the counties on a level playing field like the U.S. Senate (In theory it is level-but party politics is really what drives it). So Cook County would have the same voice as Putnam or Stark or Williamson County. Knox County and Lake County would be equal.

Now, of course the USSC will fight this proposal fully tooth and nail. But, there may be another option.

Article XIV, Section 1. (b)-

If the question of whether a Convention should be
called is not submitted during any twenty-year period, the
Secretary of State shall submit such question at the general
election in the twentieth year following the last submission.

So what does that mean for us? We are due for a vote this year on whether or not to hold a convention. It takes a 3/5 majority to force a convention and we DEFINITELY need a convention. This is the best time get this injustice corrected. Along with a bunch of others. Go over to the Part Time Pundit to read some other ideas of things to work on.

The one thing that Mr. Bambenek doesn't bring up that we should also be pushing for is to include Concealed Carry to the IL Constitution.


So come November, vote "YES" for the Con Con. And tell EVERYONE YOU KNOW in the state to vote "YES."

h/t to Ogre for alerting me to the vote.