Today is election day.  “Primary” election day, to be sure, but election day nonetheless.

For too many people, this isn’t a “real” election because it doesn’t decide who will actually win a particular office, just who gets to compete for it in November.  And, for some strange reason, that doesn’t seem to mean all that much to them.

Sadly, we understand how that came to be…at least here in Illinois, one of the most mismanaged and corrupt states in the country.

For over 30 years Michael Madigan and the Democrats have dominated the General Assembly.  And with the help of co-conspirator Republican governors like “Big Jim” Thompson, “Slim Jim” Edgar and George “No. 16627-424” Ryan, they created “The Combine” that changed our state from a prosperous leader into a pathetic, quasi-bankrupt shell.

And, over those same 30 years, they have provided far too many choices that seem like brain cancer versus congestive heart failure.

So we’re not saying conclusively that things would have been different if more voters had turned out for primary elections.  But how could it NOT have improved things, given how badly they have turned out?

Case in point: The biggest blow to corruption in this state in at least 50 years was struck by former Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, who pushed through the appointment of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald over bi-partisan Combine objections.  But the only reason Sen. Fitzgerald had the opportunity to strike that blow was because he was able to buck the Republican establishment in 1998 and defeat favored Loleta Didrickson in the primary – giving him the chance to beat an inept and ethically-suspect Democratic Sen. Carol Moseley Braun in the general election that year.

No Sen. Fitzgerald, no U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald.  Simple as that.  And no 11 years of prosecutions and convictions of Govs. Ryan and Blagojevich, of Combine guru Bill Cellini, and of other corrupt politicians and Outfit crooks, etc.

All because of primary election results.

Whether there’s one or more Fitzgerald-Didrickson choices on either the “D” or the “R” ballot today is an unanswered question.  Sometimes you can’t see these things clearly except in hindsight.

Which is why even choosing between brain cancer and congestive heart failure can still be a meaningful choice.  One might be more treatable than the other, just like one candidate might be slightly less terrible than the other.

Or maybe, as in the case of Fitzgerald v. Didrickson, just plain better; and in certain ways most of us never even anticipated.

If you want change for the better in Illinois, you aren’t going to make it happen by staying home.

VOTE!

Robert J. Trizna

Editor and Publisher

UPDATE (03.20.14)  Figures from the Cook County Clerk’s office indicate that a measly 11.29% of registered Maine Township voters showed up at the polls for this primary election.  No wonder representative democracy in Illinois is verging on terminal.

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