Election Season Blues

We voted early this week and put the current elections behind us. We have done what we can do. Time to move on to other things.

However, other voters are still waiting to cast their ballots the old fashioned way. So the political ads continue on public air space. Too much clutter and most of it ill-tempered and misleading.

Misleading. That sums up most political ads. Especially the attack ads. Tit for Tat. Over and over again. He said, She said. The audience is no way able to make sense of it or know the truth from the statements aired.

I voted for Pritzker for Governor. Here’s why.

He is wealthy and does not need to be a public servant for financial reasons. Instead, he is a public servant because he can afford to be. He does not rely on a state salary or pension for his security.

Yet, despite his wealth, he has labored hard and deep in public affairs for many years. He founded 1871, the large and successful incubator for inventing new business entities. Located in the Merchandise Mart, 1871 helps entrepreneurs create new businesses and industries while also infusing fresh vision to old ones. This is a magical place where different generations mix and share ideas while discovering whole new futures. The city and state benefit from this groundbreaking work.

Pritzker has also studied the many problems of the state’s current circumstances. Fresh thinking and defining worthwhile outcomes is his methodology. That’s what we need to solve the huge problems of the state. The pension fund crisis could bankrupt our state. How do we fix that? And how do we do that while being fair and responsible for the thousands of people who have served the state with their careers honestly and tirelessly?

How do we improve our public education system so it produces graduates who are able to adapt to rapidly changing conditions? How do we teach citizens to adapt and engage life-long learning for strong career adaptability over the coming decades? How do we produce a labor force the envy of the nation to better support our corporations making Illinois their home?

How do we motivate our citizenry to keep up with vastly changing technology that will revolutionize the world of work, culture, education and transportation?

How do we begin to repair our public infrastructure and expand it where needed?

These are the challenges we all face as a state. We need the leadership and selflessness to accomplish great things. Finding breakthroughs in each and all of these challenges will take all of our effort and concentration.

Politics of old should be over and done with. We have new work to be done. That work requires collaboration and healthy discussion to discover pathways forward. It will take courage and discipline to do this work. Bickering and arguing over blame gets us nowhere. It got us here!

Let’s try better ways to govern going forward. Money, power and propaganda is out. Collaboration, cooperation and creativity is in.

March 12, 2018