July
3, 2008
Dear Friends:
In Illinois we
are learning that the July 4th weekend brings not only the celebration
of our nation's founding, but another new fiscal year without a state
budget. The remarkable thing is how commonplace, even predictable, this
seems. Few of us are surprised, and I detect little sense of public outrage.
Where do things stand right
now? We are in the middle of an "avoid the blame" game. The Illinois
House on Monday forwarded to Governor Blagojevich a budget that even Speaker
Michael Madigan describes as $2 billion out of balance. The Governor is faced
with the choice of making painful budget cuts or unpopular revenue increases.
He talks about a special session starting on July 9, but knows well the anger,
perhaps even talk of impeachment, that such a return to Springfield will bring
to the surface.
Why the lack of public
outrage? I would guess that there are at least two reasons. The first might
be that we have come to the point where we do not expect very much from state
government, so we are not surprised when we don't get it. The second is that
in a world increasingly of "media as entertainment," the serious matters
of state government do not get much coverage. We have very little way of knowing
what is at stake in our budget debates, and that even comparatively small cuts,
which the Governor is threatening, will hurt. For example:
- Elimination
of $.50/hr rate increase for direct care workers for mental health and developmentally
disabled providers who have not seen a dedicated increase since 2002 ($27.5
million)
- Elimination
of funding for a new homeless youth shelter, housing and services program
($1.6 million)
- Failure
to provide an increase in the TANF welfare grant which has been held constant
since 2002 and provide payments at 29% of poverty, or $396/month for a family
of three ($8 million).
How we respond to each
of these possible cuts, along with many others, says something about whether
we will treat with humanity the most vulnerable in our midst. We should care
about each such line item.
But there is a much deeper
concern, linked to the values of the Day of Independence that we will be celebrating
this weekend. In the current budget debate, we are not even beginning to address
the basic needs of Illinois residents that determine whether they will have
the opportunities promised in the founding of our nation over 200 years ago.
In a land that truly offers
equal opportunity, we must fund our educational system in a full and equitable
way. This is not happening in Illinois right now.
In a nation that promises
"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," it should not be the
case that almost 50 million Americans, 15% in Illinois below age 64, face the
possibility of financial calamity because of lack of health care.
On this July 4th weekend,
consider that we have become what can only be called a "prison nation."
The United States is the number one incarcerator whether in terms of numbers
or per capita. One of every 32 Americans is under the jurisdiction of the criminal
justice system (including parole). Today, in Illinois, more African Americans
enter the criminal justice system than enter college.
Our chronic budget stalemate
shows how far we are from seeking the common good in Illinois. We have lost
sight of the basic values that our government should be seeking to promote.
We are living in a world of petty government bickering that reflects little
concern about why our public officials were elected in the first place.
As this weekend
we recall the aspirations
and ideals that led to the founding of our nation, we should be expecting
more.
Rev. Alexander
Sharp,
Executive Director
