- Alex Wroblewski
- The “at least he’s not Rauner” candidate
In 1986, Lyndon LaRouche candidates no one had heard of won the Democratic nominations for lieutenant governor and secretary of state of Illinois. “I will never run on a ticket with candidates who espouse the hate-filled folly of Lyndon LaRouche,” said Adlai Stevenson III, the Democrats’ nominee for governor, who formally abandoned his party, ran on a third-party ticket, and was clobbered. It perhaps says something about this year’s race for governor that twice in the space of 24 recent hours I was asked if LaRouche is still alive. It turns out he is (he’s 92). But he doesn’t have anyone on the ballot running for governor in Illinois, so put that thought right out of your mind no matter how tempting it is.
Here’s a way to approach our common dilemma. Think big picture. Frenzied campaigning has gone on all across America to win the hearts and minds of voters who think their local race is the important one while who becomes governor of Illinois doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. Does anyone planning a trip to Paris really care who’s president of France? Paris is Paris. And Illinois is Illinois. Neither Quinn nor Rauner will save our state and neither one will ruin it because big institutions like our state stumble along continuing to be what they are.
