Big JB Has a Plan. Where’s Ours?

Written by Pastor Calvin Lindstrom

Even before the dust fully settled on the dismal election on Tuesday, November 3, Governor Jay Robert Pritzker released on the next day a 211-point, 75-page document entitled, Fighting for Illinois: The Day One Agenda.

The document contains his marching orders for the 120th United States Congress, which begins January 3, 2027. As far as I can tell, no other governors released such a document. Obviously, Pritzker is thinking of the presidential election in two years.

The preface to this document mentions that Gov. Pritzker:

“directed his Deputy Governors and state agencies to analyze the most harmful and irresponsible federal decisions, funding cuts, and programmatic changes impacting how state government serves its residents. He then directed them to identify immediate actions the 120th U.S. Congress can take to help Illinoisans recover from the destruction brought on them by the Trump Administration and to build a stronger, more secure future for families across the state.”

Deputy Governors (I was not even aware that Illinois had four Deputy Governors) overseeing state agencies led the reviews across their respective four key policy portfolios:

1. Health and Human Services (Deputy Governor Grace Hou) – 64 proposals
2. Education (Deputy Governor Martin Torres) – 34 proposals
3. Budget & Economy (Deputy Governor Andy Manar) – 59 proposals
4. Public Safety, Environment, Energy, and Infrastructure (Deputy Governor Bria Scudder) – 54 proposals

In these 211 proposals, 120 are for bills for Congress to pass, 50 are for funding requests, and 41 are requests for the administration to do or undo.

Interestingly the word abortion is only mentioned one time in this document in the last paragraph on page 2:

In addition to these policy priorities,

“Governor Pritzker also renews his calls on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage, pass measures to provide universal healthcare and childcare, secure the border (?) and pass comprehensive immigration reform, implement AI guardrails, and codify abortion rights into law.”

However, in the actual proposals abortion and the killing agency, Planned Parenthood, are to be protected:

“Protect Medicaid reimbursement for qualified reproductive health care providers” (page 11) and “Restore reproductive health protections removed by Dobbs and protect interstate” (page 12)

Not surprisingly, the document asks the President to cancel two excellent executive orders:

14168 has the federal government recognize two sexes.

14201 is “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”

Instead, the President is to bring back Biden’s EO 14075: “LGTBQ+++++ equality order.”

Here are several other items of interest:

• Tariffs. A $1,700 refund per Illinois household, about $8.7 billion statewide. Corporations getting tariff refunds would have to show how they pass the savings on to consumers. (page 47)

• Discrimination law. Change the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to cover “disparate impact,” meaning lenders could be liable for unequal results even without intent (pages 53-54). It also asks to let DEI be considered in federal grant applications (page 62).

• Two items even some might support: banning prediction-market betting on sports and elections (page 54), and letting the federal ban on intoxicating hemp take effect (page 54).

• Artificial intelligence gets one bullet, combined with data privacy and data-center efficiency (page 65).

This document gives no price tag or total cost for any of his big government proposals like universal healthcare and childcare. Who will pay for such proposals? The taxpayer is not mentioned. Neither the words God nor church appear. Predictably school choice is not supported, but somewhat surprisingly nothing is directly stated about gun-control.

Without giving the least bit of support to this document, I think conservatives should learn from Pritzker and his expressed agenda:

1] What is our strategy both in terms of a positive vision and standing against immorality, confusion, and the killing of the preborn? Thirty-two years ago, Republicans won a majority in the U.S. House after President Clinton took office two years earlier. Part of the Republican strategy was a very clear plan called the Contract with America. This plan contained just ten points. I would suggest that it gave a clear vision for Republican candidates. I would suggest that a similar document advancing the cause of godly and conservative principles should be drafted in advance of the next election.

Proverbs 29:18 states,

“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”[1]

2] We can learn to frame issues in a local way detailing how they hurt taxpayers, families, and businesses leading to even more families and businesses to leave our state. Gov. Pritzker in reality was running against President Trump rather than just against Darren Bailey. Pritzker consistently tried to argue that Trump’s policies were hurting Illinois. I believe there is incredibly hypocrisy in Pritzker doing this. Why is gas so much more in Illinois vs. our neighbors? However, there is something that we should learn in terms of taking issues and framing them in terms of their harm to taxpayers.

3] We can be thankful that some donors in previous election cycles gave generously to try to defeat Pritzker unsuccessfully. This money was quickly gone after the TV ads ran. Is it possible to use donor funds to build something that will last longer than just the next election cycle? We need to think not only of the next election but beyond.

4] Those who are in elected office must also seek to use their platform to clearly articulate conservative and Christian principles in support life, liberty, and proper pursuit of happiness.

Republicans will be a super-minority party for the next two years. There are still some races being counted, but Democrats will likely have an 84-34 majority in the U.S. House and a 45-14 majority in the U.S. Senate (73% of all the elected legislative seats will be controlled by Democrats).

I mentioned in a previous article that some conservatives like to mock Pritzker as being a fat slob, someone who has just lived off his family’s fortune. We should definitely oppose Gov. Pritzker and resist his foolish and often wicked agenda, but I think it is wrong and dangerous to simply fight with mockery.

Pritzker has spent over $400 million on his three gubernatorial races and even more in supporting the killing of the preborn and trying to influence other elections. His inherited fortune makes him a force to be reckoned with even if we think he won’t get anywhere on the national stage. He has done enough in Illinois, and we might be stuck with him for four more years.

My prayer is that God will turn him from his support of evil and open his eyes to see the only way of salvation in Jesus Christ. And until God either brings him to judgment or salvation, we must be vigilant and alert.

The next two years in Illinois are going to be a fight. Are you awake and ready?

[1] I recognize I am using this verse a little bit of out context, but I think a point can be made from it to the subject at hand.