The republicons have been and presently are the biggest corrupt bunch of crooks this country has ever seen. I would first ask Mayor Lightfoot to reflect on the Virden Martyrs (miners) who are interred at the Union Miners Cemetery in Mt. Olive, Il. Or better yet, reflecting on the hell the republicons put Mother Jones through, who is also buried there. Now that's a piece of downstate Illinois we should ALL be reflecting on.

Seriously, once you’re south of Rt 30, you might as well be in Mississippi. It’s a cultural wasteland. They’re never getting their wish of gaining two more senators.

I'm a downstater, and while his rhetoric may make people down here feel good, separating Chicago from the rest of Illinois would be a boneheaded move of gargantuan proportions. Chicago and the collar counties are the goose that lays Illinois' golden egg, because they provide far more revenue to the state than they get back. Counties south of I-80 are the states 'welfare queens', contrary to what they think.