COMMENTARY: Threats of violence have no place in politics
(Heartland Newsfeed) — The lame duck session of the Illinois General Assembly got incredibly ugly Wednesday during discussion regarding overriding a bill veto.
A bill which would increase the cap on tort lawsuit payouts from its current $100,000 to a cap of $2 million was placed under an amendatory veto by outgoing Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
During debate in the veto override, in which legitimate financial concerns were made by Rep. Peter Breen (R-Lombard) were later mocked by Rep. Stephanie Kifowit (D-Aurora).
What would take place during Kifowit’s remarks could be considered as a death threat on a legislative colleague, as shown in this clip courtesy of Illinois Channel:
If you needed any further clarification as to what she uttered:
To the representative from Lombard, I would like to make him a broth of Legionella and pump it into the water system of his loved ones so that they can be infected, they can be mistreated, they can sit and suffer by getting aspirin instead of being properly treated and ultimately die.
What Kifowit and the Democrats refuse to realize is purely this obvious: this issue existed long before Rauner was in office.
This underlying issue existed through six other administrations and you’re choosing to blame the current governor. The bacteria existed in the water systems of the Quincy Veterans Home dating back to the Dan Walker administration.
Walker did nothing about it. James Thompson and Jim Edgar knew about the dangers and did nothing. Rod Blagojevich knew about the dangers and did nothing. People died under their administrations, yet they choose to point the finger at Rauner because the most people died under his watch.
(Spoiler alert: The same number of people died of Legionella in that same home when Blagojevich and Quinn were governor, but no one raised hell about it then.)
What is equally disgusting is that her Democratic colleagues applauded Kifowit’s remarks that she wanted a political rival and his family dead.
While more Republicans should have taken Kifowit to task on her remarks, outgoing Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) chose to do so in her remarks shaming the Democrat’s unnecessary remarks. (Video also courtesy of Illinois Channel.)
Kifowit claims after the fact that her remarks were taken out of context in a post made on her state representative page:
Later, the House voted to strike Kifowit’s remarks from the record (video provided by Edgar County Watchdogs:
In a hostile political environment which has resulted in a massive out-migration from the state, this kind of unethical behavior is unacceptable. You make threats on the floor and you deserve to be put in custody, pending charges.
I do not look forward to the same level of unethical and questionable behavior taking place under the 101st General Assembly or that of incoming Democratic governor J.B. Pritzker.
There has been an ongoing political question that has been uttered for nearly three decades and it still holds true now: “How bad does it have to get before you vote Libertarian?” I’d ask the same question to the nearly 50% of Illinois voters who endured the violence via junk mail that bombarded your mailboxes for months on end only to take a backseat because you didn’t like your options.
How bad does things have to get in Illinois to vote out Democrats AND Republicans and elect people who believe in non-aggression or people who won’t make threats or enact violence on their colleagues? How bad does things have to get in Illinois at the hands of both major parties to give serious consideration to Libertarian or Green party candidates? (Note that I didn’t include the Conservative Party. A fake political party created by a fake conservative bankrolled by Democrats to get back at Rauner deserves very little to no recognition.)
But, yet again, just another day in the political cesspool that is Illinois…
As someone who is treated like a political outsider as a hard-clad anarcho-capitalistic Libertarian, I don’t believe government has the right to inflict violence on anyone — citizen, alien or politician. What transpired Wednesday was a government official threatening to inflict violence on another government official and his family — three civilians. It is truly disgusting.
But at the same time, could the voters of Illinois consider the $500 million+ doled out by Rauner and Pritzker, as well as the Illinois Republican Party and the Democratic Party, as financial violence, forcing the will of their parties on people who despise Democrats and Republicans? I’d honestly like to think so, because of the constant assaults of our mailboxes with their garbage and that of our television, computer, tablet and smartphone screens, ruining what we’re watching or listening on any platform.
Violence, or the threat thereof, has no place in politics, just like it has no place in general society.
Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.
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