The Communist State of Illinois: Voting Does Not Work, an Analysis

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By: Shane Radliff

July 21^st, 2015

Since I found true libertarianism, I have become morally objected to any method or strategy of working within the system. In addition to that, I cancelled my voter registration this past April, so I couldn’t vote, even if I wanted to.

As I’ve explained in previous articles, voting is a violation of both, the non-aggression principle and the axiom of self-ownership.

Voting is just one of many, reformist activities. It has proven to be ineffective and the ever-growing number of uninformed, unintelligent voters should be enough to deter the more-philosophically sound reformists from participating; but unfortunately, those same folks attempt to use the political process to violently force their ideals and beliefs (no matter how well-intentioned), onto the rest of the citizenry.

In every state, voter fraud is also an issue, whether it be a minor or major one. Adding in the fact that individual voter strengths are far below one vote, voter fraud only makes your “one vote” that much more miniscule, and that much less “democratic.”

There’s also one other point that needs to be discussed before we move forward, and that would be the Downs’ Median Voter Theorem. Kyle Rearden from the Last Bastille blog has already covered this topic and has put it in a more succinct manner than I could, so I will provide you with his explanation:

“Downs’ Median Voter Theorem narrows the range of options down to a set of strict binary “choices,” that are, in fact, so very similar to each other as to be nearly indistinguishable in substance, even though they may seem superficially dissimilar. Any other choices that may be presented from time to time are not given equal weight as the two primary darlings are. The Left-Right Paradigm manipulates the median voter theorem so as to artificially limit the “serious” political candidates to those who are beholden to the dual hegemonic political parties.”

The Downs’ Median Voter Theorem surely assists in “seeing through the fog” of this dualistic, false dichotic, political system America is encompassed by. It also explains why third parties are hard-pressed to even have a chance at becoming the next political rulers.

Now that I have laid out some of the major issues when it comes to voting, I’d like to focus strictly on the Communist State of Illinois.

Some people believe that I call Illinois that as a “joke”, and to some extent, that is true, although I would rather describe it as a form of Simon Jestering. Nonetheless, I don’t say it lightly. The “Communist State of Illinois” is a multi-faceted monster and I do intend on tackling all of the various facets, but for this endeavor, I will focus on voting in Illinois.

Part 1: Is this so called “democracy” really “democratic”?

First off, I think it’s important to examine what “democracy” is, objectively. Democracy at its most basic form, is simply, tyranny of the majority. If 51% of a nation’s citizenry decide that you should be hung in the streets, you can expect to be hung in the streets because, “The People have spoken.”

Additionally, “democracy” is simply a political buzzword with another connotation, one with much deadlier ramifications. Karl Marx, co-author of The Communist Manifesto and a revolutionary socialist, stated that, “Democracy is the road to socialism.” Vladimir Lenin, Head of the USSR and communist revolutionary, shared similar sentiments: “Democracy is indispensable to socialism.”

One Citizen, One Vote? Not Even Close.

One of the major misconceptions when it comes to voting, is that it is the majority making these coercive, politically binding decisions, regardless of which of the various states we are talking about. Not only is that not the case, a voter’s “one vote” isn’t even relatively close to “one vote”.

It would first be wise to mathematically determine what the voter power is of each Illinoisan. Using the Banzhaf power index, we can calculate each individual’s voting power in the United States, using this document as a guide, which shows the data sets necessary to perform the calculations.

The first thing you need to determine is the population of the state, in this example, Illinois. The population of Illinois is around 13 million.

Next, using the table provided in the document, you will need to determine the Electoral College votes, which for Illinois, is 21.

Next, divide the Electoral College votes by the total population of the state. In this case: .

An Illinoisan’s voter share of the state’s electoral votes would be: .00000161538.

The next step would be to quantitatively analyze the voting power of an individual in Illinois.

No matter what state, “1” will be in the numerator, and the respective state population in the denominator. In this case, , multiplied by the Banzhaf power index, .387.

For Illinois you get: 1 ÷ √13,000,000 × .387 ≈ .0011 (1 divided by the square root of 13,000,000 times .387)

The Banzhaf power index of each voter in Illinois is roughly, .0011. I will hedge my bets on the fact that “democracy” isn’t so “democratic”, at least here in Illinois.

Voter Turnout Percentages

The next data set to analyze is the actual voter turnout percentages. For this example, I have chosen McLean County and the City of Bloomington.

For both of these variables, I gathered the amount of registered voters, ballots cast, the “unofficial voter turnout”, the population in the various years, and then the actual voter turnout, when factoring in the entire population, instead of just registered voters. (Full Excel Spreadsheet)

What I found was not surprising, but surely unsettling.

For the City of Bloomington, the data set contains every election from 1996-2015. When I averaged out the voter turnout percentage provided by the website that hosts their statistics, it came out to be 31.43%. The only problem with that statistic is that they are only factoring in the registered voters and the ballots cast, not the entire population of Bloomington.

31.43% of the registered voters making coercive, politically binding decisions for the rest of the citizenry is bad enough, but don’t worry, it gets worse.

When I took into account the entire population, the average dropped significantly, down to 17.82%.

The same process was used for McLean County, except they only make the statistics for 2007-2015 available. Using the voter turnout percentages provided by McLean County, the average voter turnout was a mere 29.33%. Again, those numbers are deceptive, as they only factor in registered voters and ballots cast, not the entire population of McLean County.

The official voter turnout, when taking into account the entire population of McLean County, came out to be 7.11%.

Let’s summarize what has been covered so far. First off, an Illinoisans’ voter power index is about .0011, far under “one vote”, and far away from anything “democratic.” Next, in the City of Bloomington, on average, 17.82% of the population make these coercive, politically binding decisions upon the rest of the citizenry. In McLean County, it’s much worse, as it is, on average, only 7.11%.

It should be easy to realize, just from what has been covered so far, that voting in Illinois is a complete waste of time and any semblance of “democracy” is an illusion.

Although, there are a couple of other factors that need to be taken into account, to further reiterate that point.

Part 2: Election Fraud Run Amok in Chicago

If you ask any Illinoisan what they think about Chicago, you will typically get the same response. Most acknowledge (especially if they are south of Interstate 80) that Chicago is the cesspool of politics and the amount of political corruption and voter fraud is a major concern for those who still believe in the legitimacy of the State.

It’s first important to explain the structure of the electoral system in Illinois. After the newly adopted constitution in 1970, responsibility was transferred from the secretary of state to a newly created board of elections. The Illinois election process is highly decentralized and the previously mentioned State Board of Elections’ has limited authority over the many jurisdictions, which leads to inconsistencies and illegalities. Most jurisdictions are ran at the county level, by a county clerk, but in Chicago, it is operated under City Election Law, which allows cities to choose to govern their own elections independently of their county.

Those details were mentioned to emphasize the fact that every county or city operates their elections in their own manner and separate from any central election authority, which has been prone to an increased level of voter fraud and overall political corruption.

In a Moritz Law School (Ohio State University) 2007 publication titled, “From Registration to Recounts,” they mention that, “According to news reports in the last twenty-five years some fifty separate election fraud prosecutions have occurred, many of them involving multiple offenders…”

One of the more egregious examples is after the 1982 gubernatorial elections. There were widespread allegations of fraud in Chicago and there were nearly sixty convictions and a civil grand jury concluded that 100,000 illegal ballots had been cast.

Additionally, after the 1987 primary, it was discovered that between 36,000 and 52,000 votes had been cast by unregistered voters.

Years later, in 2003, there was an attempt to cast 250 illegal votes in a city just outside of Chicago.

There was another example of both voter fraud and political corruption, when in November of 2004, in East St. Louis, a number of political leaders were convicted of vote-buying.

The major concern in most states is tampering of the digital voting machines, but in Illinois, the major issue is absentee ballot fraud. In the previously mentioned Moritz Law publication, they state that, “…absentee fraud is a different issue entirely, as Illinois administrators also acknowledge. It is not a matter of whether such fraud occurs, but how often and in what magnitude.”

Even though absentee voter fraud is more prevalent, in a 2014 election, there were multiple voting machines that were switching votes from Republican to Democrat, which surely isn’t an isolated problem only known to Illinois.

It’s quite simple to tell, that voter fraud in the state of Illinois is a major issue. Even though the election laws have become more stringent and there are more precautions, it’s naïve to think that the political corruption is coming to a halt anytime soon, in the cesspool of politics, otherwise known as Chicago.

Additionally, the Illinoisan voter power index continues to become marginally lower, thanks to the phenomenon of voter fraud.

Part 3: South of I-80? Your vote really doesn’t matter.

From what has already been covered, any Illinoisan should at least, stop voting altogether, or better yet, cancel their voter registration. Especially, if you live in a jurisdiction south of Interstate 80, you should cut up your voter registration in sheer anger and frustration; that is, if you still believe in the most dangerous superstition, the belief in “authority.”

Cook, Dupage, and Will counties, are a few of the most populated counties and therefore carry the most weight when it comes to State elections. The most significant being Cook County, the home to 40.6% of Illinois residents.

Cook County alone, racks up 65-70% of votes for the Democrats. Additionally, in the 2010 gubernatorial election, Pat Quinn could have been elected, even if he’d only won Cook County.

In a 2011 Wall Street Journal article, Allysia Finley accurately states that:

“Chicago pols control almost all seats of power in Illinois. Gov. Pat Quinn, House Speaker Mike Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton, Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Secretary of State Jesse White are all Democrats from Chicago. So was former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who this month was sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption, including trying to sell President Obama’s vacated seat in the U.S. Senate.”

Illinoisans can thank the democratic controlled Chicago for that disparity.

It’s also important to mention that the majority of extortion, I mean, “tax” dollars in Illinois are spent in Chicago. Additionally, in a 2013 Illinois census, the population was virtually unchanged, as a lot of businesses and citizens are fleeing to other states, where the tax burden is much lower.

In the previously mentioned 2011 Wall Street Journal article, Finley continues:

“In 2008, lawmakers in Springfield cobbled together a $530 million rescue package for Chicago’s transit system, which was on the brink of collapse because of sky-high labor and legacy costs. Just this week they pushed through $300 million of tax credits for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange and Sears to prevent the businesses from fleeing to lower-tax climes. Both Indiana and Ohio have been aggressively poaching Illinois businesses, especially since January, when lawmakers raised the state income tax to a flat 5% from 3% and the corporate tax to 9.5% from 7.3%.”

It’s no surprise that businesses are fleeing the Communist State of Illinois, and it’s even less surprising to see corporate bribery (using stolen tax dollars) being the method utilized to keep the big businesses in Illinois.

The frustration felt by the citizens south of I-80 has been reflected in the Illinois House of Representatives as well. In 2011, representatives, Adam Brown and Bill Mitchell, proposed legislation to make Chicago the 51^st state. Of course, it was a massive failure, but an accurate representation of the I-80 divide.

To conclude, an Illinoisans vote was already worthless, and if you are south of I-80, a voter registration card could be better utilized as kindling to start a fire of resentment for all things authoritarian.

Part 4: Let’s imagine for a moment, that your vote really DOES matter.

Let’s imagine that we are venturing through a magical forest, dancing with the unicorns, under a rainbow; and at the end of the rainbow is Putin, the leprechaun, who is handing out rubles, to all of the naïve little voters.

Let’s imagine for a moment, that an Illinoisan’s vote really does matter.

It has been emphasized heavily that Illinois has a long history of electoral corruption and voter fraud; but let’s examine another angle.

Most Illinoisans are well aware of the criminally tainted past involved with Chicago politics, the most recent criminal politician, being Aaron Shock, a former member of the House of Representatives.

Outside of going through every gruesome political detail, let’s simplify this experiment and take a look at the effectiveness of voting in the Communist State of Illinois (list compiled by Thrillist):

• William Carothers (1976-1983), a former Chicago Alderman, was charged with conspiracy and extortion and was sentenced to three years in prison.
• Isaac Carothers (1999-2010), also a former Chicago Alderman and son of William, followed in his father’s footsteps and got charged with the same exact extortion charge; he was sentenced to 28 months in prison.
• Daniel Rostenkowski (1959-1995), a former member of the US House of Representatives from IL, was convicted of dishing out postage stamps and adding imaginary employees to his taxpayer-funded payroll and bought himself gifts; he was sentenced to 17 months in prison.
• Dan Walker (1973-1977), a former Illinois Governor; after leaving office, Walker entered into the private sector and was convicted of fraud and was sentenced to 7 years, but only served 17.5 months.
• Otto Kerner (1963-1968), a former Illinois Governor, was a fan of “under-the-table” deals, and obtained $356,000 worth of below-market-stock from a horse racetrack operator; he then rigged choice racing dates and expressway exits that funneled crowds to the track; he was sentenced to 3 years.
• Fred Roti (1951-1956, 1970-1993), a former Illinois State Senator and Chicago Alderman, was convicted of 11 counts of bribery, extortion, racketeering, and racketeering conspiracy. Roti also served as a member of the La Cosa Nostra mafia, while he was in political office. He was sentenced to 4 years, but only served 3.
• George Ryan (1991-1999, 1999-2003), a former Illinois Secretary of State and Illinois Governor; this one is too good, so I will quote an article done by Thrillist, in regards to Mr. Ryan: “A fatal truck accident in 1994 got the ball rolling on an investigation cracking down on illegally acquired truck operators’ licenses in Illinois. More than a decade later, Operation Safe Road had followed a trail of money and favors that led all the way to Governor George Ryan’s doorstep. 79 others were criminally charged, and Ryan was found guilty of a whopping 18 felony counts, including racketeering conspiracy, tax fraud, lying to the FBI, and mail fraud…” He was sentenced to 6.5 years.
• Rod Blagojevich (2002-2009), a former Illinois Governor, was charged with conspiracy, the shadiest of his dealings being, when he attempted to sell President Obama’s former Senate seat. He is currently serving a 14 year sentence.
• Orville Hodge (1953-1956), a former Illinois Auditor of Public Accounts, embezzled $6.15 million worth of state funds. He was sentenced to 12-15 years but only served 6.5.
• Mel Reynolds (1993-1995), a former member of the US House of Representatives from IL, was indicted for sexual assault and criminal sexual abuse after he engaged in a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl. He was also convicted of 16 counts of bank fraud, lying to investigators from the Federal Electoral Commission, and misusing campaign funds. He got 5 years for the first sentence, 6.5 years for the second, and President Clinton commuted his second sentence after 4 years.

The list is incomplete, but nonetheless, many of these charges are quite egregious and it paints a pretty clear picture. It doesn’t matter if voting in Illinois matters or not. Illinoisans are still stuck with the same corrupt, criminal scumbags.

Conclusion

As a resident of Illinois, I have been bound to Illinoisan politics, whether I want to be or not. There is always a new politician facing prison time for some immoral, unethical offense, there are constant attempts to strip Illinoisans of their natural right of self-defense, and the extortion fees (taxes), are relatively high compared to neighboring states.

This article was going to be a more general overview of why I call this geographic location, “The Communist State of Illinois”, but with the vast number of topics to cover, I decided to stick to voting and make this into a series.

To conclude, the voter power index of each Illinoisan is a mere .0011. In both of the variables selected, the average actual voter turnout percentage never went above 17.82%. The ever-rampant voter fraud in Illinois decreases the impact of voters in Illinois even more, and could even cause a misrepresentation of the ballots cast in both of the examples I analyzed. Lastly, the long history of political corruption, just puts the icing on the cake—no matter how you look at it, in the Communist State of Illinois, you always lose.

The goal of this article was to convince Illinoisans that voting here absolutely does not matter. I don’t plan on converting anyone to the philosophy of liberty, but at the very least, I hope to save my fellow citizens the time, effort, and money, that is wasted when it comes to Illinois politics.

There are a couple of recommendations that will be reiterated. First off, if you still believe in the State, you could trade the opportunity cost of voting and spend your time doing something meaningful and more efficient, such as reporting on your political field trips, as I have done. Secondly, and what I would recommend the more strongly, is to cancel your voter registration altogether.

There is a crucial point that Kyle Rearden made in his article titled, “Voting Does Not Work”. Granted, it was about voting in general, and not necessarily specific to Illinois, but it still applies.

“The greatest tyranny is the tyranny of malicious illusion. Endorsing organized coercion by pretending it is somehow voluntary is not just unconscionable, but downright cruel. Deceitfully passing off vice as virtue is the last thing that truly consistent political dissidents would want to risk doing, lest they be discovered to be just as hypocritical as those they intend to defeat.”

Voting, in and of itself, is forcing your beliefs upon others, the complete opposite of “freedom”. It’s not even “democratic”, which has been proven, at least in the state of Illinois. So many citizens and politicians will tout America as this “great democracy”, when in reality, it is nothing more than a malicious illusion.

This entire system of oppression grinds us down under its jackbooted heel, and it does so primarily through its very irrationality. I hope I have demonstrated here, that with not much else other than logic and math, the reformism permeating contemporary American dissent is, truly, authoritarianism clothed in liberty’s garments. My frequent references to the Communist State of Illinois is to impart upon you all that tyranny is nothing to be played around with, as if it were a young child’s toy; if you are serious about restoring liberty, then some overdue maturing needs to take place about the nature of your relationship to the State.

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