Illinois: Where Good is Evil and Evil is Good

Written by David E. Smith

Here in Illinois, we are used to seeing governors, aldermen and judges go to prison for federal crimes. We are accustomed to the mind-numbing violence and senseless shootings every weekend, especially in Chicago.

We are used to high property taxes, which primarily are used to fund our failing government schools. While data from our own Illinois Report Card details widespread, systematic failure of schools to teach basic reading, writing, and math skills to students.

We are used to being the number one state in the union for citizens packing up their households and moving. And of course, we are used to seeing Texas and Florida, not to mention the states that border Illinois, landing big companies and jobs because they know how to have a business-friendly climate.

We are used to our elected officials crowing about being a sanctuary state (or city). They are quick to spend taxpayer funds on accommodations for illegal immigrants, including funding for academic needs, transportation, and mental health counseling. Wirepoints estimates that Illinois and Chicago’s “welcoming” programs have increased the cost of illegal immigration in the state by at least $2.2 billion over the last two years.

We are used to seeing those things, but that doesn’t mean we like it.

The source of these problems is having one-party that controls this state with an agenda far different from other family-friendly states. And we’ve had it for some time, obviously, as all of the things mentioned above have been problems for decades. The surprising thing is that we’ve had anti-family policies in this state regardless of whether we’ve had a GOP or a Democrat governor. The agenda of those in charge has been to cater to leftist special interests who seek power over others to advance their radical godless anti-traditional family agenda.

To put it in plain terms: the left actively seeks to destroy the traditional family with policies that harm traditional family values. Our politicians then wrestle with the consequences of those policies (crime, drugs, family destruction, people not working, those who do work barely getting by, etc.) by instituting more policies that make matters worse, not better.

Whether they do this knowingly or in ignorance is hard to determine. But God knows.

It’s easy to see why Illinois is hurting. It didn’t happen overnight. Many people have been very intentional and worked very hard to get us where we are while good folks have been busy tending to family matters.

The agenda that’s been advanced in Illinois is that whatever is good is evil and whatever is evil is good. Obviously, politicians don’t frame it that way. But it’s apparent to the rest of us when one party, and sometimes both parties, vote down policies that would support the traditional family and law-abiding citizens who work hard and follow the rules; yet policies that hurt and undermine families become law.

Here’s a tiny sample of those policies:

1. Here in Illinois, we pass laws to take guns away from law-abiding citizens while lessening penalties on those who commit crimes with illegal guns.

2. Here in Illinois, we intentionally teach scientifically proven lies that boys can transition to being girls in our schools, but we may not teach the truth that males and females are a biological reality or that traditional marriage is defined and instituted by God to help us thrive. And under no circumstances can we teach that even if you don’t believe in God, these have been the ways humans and societies have operated since the beginning of time.

3. Here in Illinois, taxpayers spend $19,000 per child in our government schools yet 80 percent of children cannot successfully read, write, and do math, according to the state’s own published Illinois Report Card. However, we prevent parents from using half that tax money to put their child in private schools in the same neighborhoods with the same demographics where 100 percent of children successfully read, write, and do math.

4. Here in Illinois, we tax and regulate cigarettes to discourage people from smoking and polluting the air, but we legalize marijuana for people to smoke, pollute the air, and become inebriated, often incapacitating users.

5. Here in Illinois, we welcome illegal immigrants by taking resources away from under-privileged citizens to provide health care, lodging, and jobs while advocating for their right to vote.

6. Here in Illinois, it is “hateful” to prevent food stamp recipients from buying donuts, potato chips, and Twinkies with taxpayer money while it is considered smart and caring to prevent school lunch programs from serving the same items.

7. Here in Illinois, if your business is unsuccessful, you usually go out of business. If a government program is unsuccessful, it usually gets an increase in taxpayer funding.

8. Here in Illinois, if you cash a check at Wal-Mart, you have to show your photo I.D. However, if you go to vote, showing the same photo I.D. is considered “discrimination.”

9. Here in Illinois, when Governor JB Pritzker thought hard about what should stay open during the pandemic, his executive orders allowed cannabis dispensaries and abortion clinics to remain open, but required churches and synagogues to shut down. In fact, Pritzker had to be sued in federal court before he acknowledged the First Amendment’s guarantee of the “free exercise of religion.”

10. Here in Illinois, if you engage in sex trafficking in any state and bring a girl to our abortion clinics for an abortion, the state prohibits, by law, any agency or law enforcement officer from working with out-of-state authorities on information that would stop or apprehend the sex trafficker.
11. Here in Illinois, our tax dollars provide tampons in boys public school bathrooms to advance and celebrate the LGBTQ+ agenda, further confusing impressionable young children.
12. Here in Illinois, if you find vulgar inappropriate books in the children’s section of your public library or your child’s school library, you are not allowed to request they be removed or placed elsewhere. It would violate the law.
13. Here in Illinois, in order for your eight grader to graduate, he/she must show proficiency in LGBTQ+ history. (Don’t worry that they are not proficient in basic reading and math.)
14. Here in Illinois, your hard-earned tax dollars are used to kill others children in their wombs. God help us!

These facts can certainly be discouraging if we dwell on them. Yet those of us at Illinois Family Institute/Action are more determined than ever to stand firm in our convictions and continue our work to uphold the biblical truth and the institution of family as the foundations of a free society.

We are called to be Christ’s ambassadors, “as though God were making his appeal through us.” We are His light in a darkening culture. But remember, it does not take much light at all to dispel the darkness.

Speaking to your family and neighbors about God’s Truths and the lies permeating our culture should be a top priority with every believer. And we’re not lacking issues to talk about, as indicated above.

We are reminded in 2 Chronicles 20:17

Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you…
Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.

And in 1 Corinthians 15:58, we are instructed:

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.