Creating an Illinois Republic: A Thought Exercise for the Land of Lincoln

I’ve wanted to write about this subject for a while and keep getting sidetracked. My goal has always been a genuine thought exercise — exploring ideas about Illinois governance without claiming to have all the answers. I’ve enlisted help refining these thoughts so I can better articulate why certain changes feel worth considering.

I’ve been using the word Republic a lot more deliberately. The U.S. Constitution guarantees every state a republican form of government. That guarantee is not just formal language; it is a commitment to representative self-rule, accountability, and government that exists for the public good. One aim of this exercise is to find ways of making Illinois a more distinctive state — a place people would actively choose to live, work, and build their futures.

We should not be proud of corruption or of functioning as a one-party state. Illinois ought to stand alongside states like California, New York, Florida, and Texas in terms of confidence and civic pride. California’s flag still proclaims “California Republic.” Texas was once an independent republic and carries that history with unmistakable pride. Both states have turned identity into energy. I want to explore what an Illinois Republic could mean — not as a name change on paper, but as an aspirational frame that strengthens representation, competition, and shared ownership of our state.

Some states have chosen a related but distinct word to express similar ideals of self-government. Four U.S. states officially refer to themselves as a Commonwealth: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. They adopted the term during their early constitutional periods. “Commonwealth” draws from an older English tradition meaning a political community organized for the common good — the “common weal.” In practice today there is no legal difference between a commonwealth and any other state. The word was chosen to emphasize that government exists for the people rather than for a monarch or privileged few. It is a proud, historical declaration of self-governance.

Why prefer Republic for Illinois rather than Commonwealth? Both terms point toward government for the public good. Commonwealth stresses shared welfare. Republic more directly highlights elected representation, the rejection of hereditary rule, and the active role of citizens through institutions. For the Land of Lincoln — a state whose most famous son defined government as “of the people, by the people, for the people” — Republic feels like the clearer link to the constitutional tradition we already inherit and to the competitive, responsive governance this thought exercise hopes to imagine.

This series will continue as an open exploration. Some ideas will feel practical. Others may seem more ambitious. The point is to think together about how Illinois can live up more fully to its republican foundations and become a place that inspires lasting pride.

What does a stronger republican Illinois look like to you? Which aspects of our state’s identity and history should guide that vision?

Reclaiming Illinois Pride: Addressing the Loathing and Building a Better State

In my earlier post on the NBC Chicago documentary "Separation: A State without Chicago", we saw real frustration bubbling up across Illinois. The idea of downstate and suburban areas breaking away from Cook County and Chicago highlights deep divides—political control from the metro area, burdensome taxes, quality-of-life concerns, and debates over whether Chicago functions more as a fiscal drain than an economic engine for the whole state. Rural and small-town Illinois often feels overshadowed. These tensions feed into a broader sentiment: many Illinoisans seem to loathe the state or at least complain about it constantly.

This isn’t new. Back in 2022, the Geography King profile of Illinois noted a sense of self-loathing among residents—no one seems eager to defend the state. And during that year’s governor’s race, I shared thoughts on "IL Governor's race and trashing Illinois", observing how some political talk focuses more on tearing the state down than on fixing it and making the Land of Lincoln better.

For some folks, trashing Illinois has become a perverse pleasure https://t.co/tPAX9DJX6K

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) May 23, 2022

But why exactly does this persist, and what can we do to foster genuine pride instead? 

CapFax: Illinoisans should not have to live this way

 I found this interesting on Capitol Fax, yesterday

* One of my top complaints about Democratic rule in this state is the super-majority party’s unwillingness to firmly step in to help some small Black-majority suburban and Downstate towns find their way to fiscal solvency. East St. Louis is just one of many…

What caught my eye is that there is a complaint about Democratic rule in Illinois. The bad news is there's no serious opposition in this state.

It won't solve all problems, however, the right politician could use this. Hopefully this theoretical politician would be serious about getting this done. 

Knowledgia: The History of Illinois in 20 mins.

 

[VIDEO] Well it's not often we show a video with regards to the history of this state. They did note Illinois' population decline, the election of Barack Obama as President, and the scandal involving former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

I hope you learn something new from this video.

Rating the 10 finalists for Illinois' state flag.

UPDATE (2/4/25): The video that I had embedded was made private but here is that same segment via Illinois Public Radio that you can listen to.

[VIDEO] This video was published to YouTube last month before voting started for a new IL state flag. And the guest on this segment - Ted Kaye of the North American Vexillological Association takes a look at the designs for a future state flag.

He notes that the states of Utah, Minnesota, and Mississippi most recently had adopted new state flags and all of those flags were discussed by Kaye on this segment. Mississippi broke the rule of not having words on a flag though allowed this was more or less a political or historic compromise.

I think his views on the state flags designs are semi-similar to mine and I slept on (the wild-card) that I think could make a great flag. The one you see in the screen cap the very top left corner - almost a true tricolor with the white space that is shaped as the letter I - the letter I is for Illinois :P. And I feel as if this could be the most American design possible.

My favored rejected designs for the Illinois state flag

Generated by GrokAI

I wanted to dig into this, perhaps some of these rejected designs for a possible new state flag could be the proposed symbol for the Illinois Republic. My vision for this republic is not only to revamp how this great state could be governed, but what could be done to unify this state and give it the pride that it deserves.

My vision could put Illinois up there with places like Texas, Vermont, or even California states that actually were independent republics before they became part of the United States. Either way it's difficult to create something resembling a "new regime" without creating symbols (i.e. a flag) to represent it.

So the so-called state flag reject pile was shared on Capitol Fax on Monday linked below.

The Illinois Flag Commission’s reject pile https://t.co/21vedtR5Oj

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) January 6, 2025

While I haven't gone through every submission so far, there are a few that I do consider favorites and then from the 10 designs that were chosen I also want to share the ones I do like best. In addition, other than the grassroots designs shown it's also important to show the favorite choices of others.

Of course click on the screencaps below to see the text description of each design. You will see 20 below the page break.

Voting for a state flag is now open

Generated by Google Gemini

I wanted to write about the rejected designs that I really liked. However, we can further discuss those designs that Illinois' citizens can vote on as of last Friday, January 10th.

We can start with already established designs such as our state flag. Then we will look at those designs I really like submitted by Illinois residents.

I've included screen caps and the text with the designs, feel free to click these pics for a full view of these designs and accompanying text descriptions.

Creating an Illinois Republic

Happy New Year to you all.

In about 2007 or 2008 I became aware of a blog - Con Con Illinois 2010 - which had a brief run back then proposing some ideals for how to reform Illinois state gov't. In 2008 - which was the one where Barack Obama won the Presidency - one item on the ballot at the time was a State Constitutional convention or what was popularly know as the con-con which would commence in 2010.

Of course to my disappointment at the time it got voted down. Opponents of a con-com seemed to often cite concerns over the possibility that a con-con would threaten the pension language in the 1970 IL constitution. Perhaps there wasn't great political support for one anyway.

We're at the point now where a con-con is again on the ballot, which would be in 2008. The political scene is vastly different in 2028 though I don't know how this will play out. I'd probably have to buy a subscription to the Capitol Fax newsletter to be able to tell you all for sure. However, what I can say definitely is that the players of the political scene in Illinois has largely changed significantly and who knows if they could effectively scuttle any possible enthusiasm for a 2030 con-con.

Generated by Google Gemini

However, what was on that Con Con 2010 blog is something worth exploring as we talk about an Illinois Republic.

I think many points that were shared on the Con Con 2010 blog's first post applies to what I hope to do in this thought exercise. Although I may not necessarily use the term democracy, I do prefer the term republic. I doubt any politico in this state would use the word republic, however, the idea is to go for  a vision.

• Imagine elections where there is more than one name on the ballot.
• Imagine there being many names on the ballot. Imagine there being more than two political parties to choose from.
• Imagine there being three, four or five viable political parties to choose from.
• Imagine that voting for a "third party" doesn't mean "spoiling" an election or having to pick from the lesser of two evils.
• Imagine every election in all parts of the state being competitive, not just in a few swing districts.
• Imagine there not being any gerrymandering.
• Imagine the winning party actually having to enact the platform they ran on.
• Imagine money not playing such a big role in elections.

It's unknown how many of these planks could be achieved, however, some of them I think are somewhat easy to implement.

I would like the idea of having multiple viable political parties and they could get elected at least to the state legislature. And thus the Republicans and Democrats would have to compete a lot better than they do now. 

Competitive elections everywhere throughout the state would be another great idea no one party should dominate in one region or another.

What this blog had discussed during it's brief run was how to compose the IL General Assembly, the state's legislative branch. That is something that I do intent to explore using some of the posts on that blog. Though I want to throw in some of my own ideas.

Another thing under consideration is local governance. For example, I came of the understanding that cities in this state don't have charters. What kind of city charter could I write for the city of Chicago? How is Chicago governed without one or what would be the purpose of a charter.

I look forward to going through this exercise.

Proposed designs for the Illinois state flag

 

[VIDEO] I have my own favorites, but what are yours? Some of these designs catch my eye, I'm sorry it's too late for me to submit my own design.

I think simplicity is key but in keeping with my idea for an Illinois Republic, the new state flag should be something of a Tri-Color like the French flag although not necessarily the same colors and not a mere replication.

Visit this site: www.ilsos.gov/stateflag

I wish I could see the other proposed designs that didn't make the top ten you will see at the link above.

An Illinois Republic

For the moment we're going back to the "Shedd School of Pol. Sci."

I've often flirting with the idea of posting a political platform of some sort. This time my goal is to think about longterm what my vision would be let's say for a particular position within the U.S. gov't. My attention in this case is turned to the State of Illinois.

It's almost fitting given that we've just gotten out of a Presidential Election and the President-elect (Donald J. Trump) is looking to make significant changes to the US Gov't. He even brought in an industrialist and a very vocal, articulate activist to head this new Department of Gov't Efficency (DOGE) to cut as much of the nat'l debt as possible.

Also consider that in this state we're less than two years away from the next Gubernatorial race and we don't yet know who's running. Could Gov. Pritzker run for a third term? We already know his vision since he's been in office since 2018. What could anyone who wants to run for Governor bring to the table once they throw their hat in the ring for 2026?

Well to be honest I'm a long way from thinking I can jump into that ring and be successful. I'm just a citizen and chances are I'm on no one's radar. A blog is something of a soapbox and also in sharing these ideas, the door is open for someone to take advantage of them.

Not worried about it, I have no crystal ball. Besides these are just theories. And I do look forward to sharing them with you all in the near future.

So let's start with this and give you a teaser.

What is my vision for an Illinois Republic?

Illinois was admitted to the Union on this day in 1818

 I almost missed out on marking this most important day for this state and the Governor's post on IG helped to remind me.

J.J. McCullough: Reviewing tourism ads from all 50 states

 

[VIDEO] In the embed above JJ McCullough who is Canadian reviews the tourism campaign for Illinois. While he might criticize the campaign of visiting Chicago, I do like the fact that he reviewed an ad that shows a bit more of what the Land of Lincon has to offer beyond the Windy City.

Illinois is portrayed as a place where you can buy locally owned products such as art, furniture or food. And certainly you can do that in the city or even in the surrounding suburbs. However, what if you can do this in other parts of this state. Springfield, Rockford, Champaign-Urbana, Peoria, Rock Island, and I could go on with the various large cities in this state.

Of course click the video links in to see all tourism videos for all 50 states for good or bad. If I could find that one tourism video for Illinois to upload and share with you, I will. Meanwhile Enjoy Illinois does have a website.

JJ McCullough on bad US state flags

 

[VIDEO] He goes through the history of state flags and how them came to be. Early in the history of America most states didn't even have flags. The more enduring civil symbols of a state were the seals and McCullough who is a Canadian goes through the history of "seals on a bedsheet".

Most commonly most states seem to have a seal on a dark background. Illinois is no different except that well it's a version of the state seal on a white background. And don't look at that as criticism if the only symbol of a US state is a seal then McCullough says that's OK.

That's not to say some states aren't changing their flags, he doesn't discuss Utah as they have changed their flag. And in 2020 the state of Mississippi changed their state flag as it used to contact the Confederate battle flag. Instead another symbol of the state - the magnolia flower - is used instead.

Capitol Fax: Updates on Capitol renovations

One of the goals I've had is to go to Springfield, ILL and see the state capitol and I never realize that it's currently undergoing renovations. Rich Miller has some updates on the renovations which are taking place on the north side of the building in the state senate chambers.

Updates on Capitol renovations https://t.co/DJ8AuhCTkg

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) June 15, 2023

And allow me to share one tweet of what is going on inside the building. This time from the inside of the state senate chambers.

Here’s the inside of the Senate. It won’t look too different but will get more natural light from the ceiling. Pictures are taken on the floor from the president’s desk and from the gallery at the front pic.twitter.com/x1ZjsOnGp0

— Ben Szalinski (@BenSzalinski) June 14, 2023

I hope to one day see the finished project and share it on YouTube.

Lord Spoda visits Springfield, Illinois

 

[VIDEO] This video dropped on March 18, 2023. Lord Spoda visits a number of places throughout America and they especially visit State Capitols as they do here in Springfield and get a stamp on their state capitol passport.

Aside from the fact that Springfield, ILL is the seat of state gov't it's also a historic site associated with the 16th POTUS, a man named Abraham Lincoln. The man who freed the slaves who was a longtime resident of Springfield before he became President of the United States in 1861.

His home is still in Springfield as a nat'l park. His law offices are still there and nearby that is the building where he had spent most of his career as an Illinois state legislator. Also his grave is there, he has a tomb which Lord Spoda visits where Lincoln, his wife Mary Todd, and three of his sons are buried. Also there is a presidential library for Lincoln in Springfield as well.

Going back to his family, Lincoln only had one son who survived into adulthood named Robert Todd Lincoln who himself as Secretary of War (we call that the Secretary of Defense these days) and a US Ambassador. Sadly the three younger sons of Abraham Lincoln died before adulthood. 

Now I want to visit Springfield for real! 

Time for a new Illinois state flag?

 I had been sitting on this since I first saw this over at Capitol Fax. Is it time for a new state flag?

Has the time come for a new state flag? https://t.co/PqMwPGXsB9

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) March 3, 2023

Basically the Illinois state flag is really Illinois' state seal with Illinois on the bottom. That version of the flag had been adopted in 1969 thanks to a Vietman serviceman who realized that most Americans don't know the state flag of Illinois. Of course this isn't much different than a number of other states such as Iowa, one of our neighbors.

Here is a site that shows possible new flags for Illinois. Below is our current flag.

Last #ILGovDebate from Tuesday

 

[VIDEO] Darren Bailey the Republican challenger to Incumbent Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker sparred in a very heated debate for the last time on October 18, 2022. It aired live on WGN and a lot of overtalking with the Governor and Bailey literally bickering over the interruptions at one point.

I'm sorry to be late with this, however, I will share from Wednesday the Capitol Fax roundup of coverage with regards to this debate.

If you missed last night's #ILGovDebate

 

[VIDEO] Watch it here! It aired on WGN in the Chicago area on Thursday night. The next debate will be in Chicago in WGN's studios on October 18th, 2022. I very much hope that it is much different than last night's debate between Gov. Pritzker and Darren Bailey. A lot of over talking and distractions and side comments. Although there were a few good moments and good answers on both sides.

I got to share this interesting react via CapFax from a member of Darren Bailey's staff. Nice touch I thought, however, could it translate to voters?

I will also add this round-up also via CapFax regarding last night's debate.

Lord Spoda visits Cairo, Illinois

 

[VIDEO] I didn't realize Cairo (Kay-ro) was at the southern most point of the State of Illinois. It's a city characterized as a ghost town and perhaps a sign of how well the rest of the state is doing compared to Chicago. The Chicagoland area is the most populous area of this state, that's where most of this state's people are. 

It's also why in spite of what some in downstate might want that they can force Chicago out of Illinois.

Either way this was a very interesting recent visit to Cairo. In my recollection I've only passed through Cairo once and then it was on a Greyhound bus and I barely remember it. This town just seems so rural and almost in another state like Kentucky or even Mississippi. As we see here however there are some landmarks worth seeing.

It was interesting to see Lord Spoda visit some levies that protect the town from flooding by the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

Political Forum: IL Secretary of State candidates

 

[VIDEO] It's unclear when this aired on CAN-TV however as host Sylvia Snowden noted we're voting for a new Secretary of State for the first time since she was in middle school. Jesse White the incumbent who's stepping down at the end of his term has been in office since 1998.

Here's the description:

Host Sylvia Snowden sits down with 4 candidates for Illinois Secretary of State; Dan Brady (R), Alexi Giannoulias (D), David Moore (D), and Anna Valencia (D).

As you see Dan Brady, a state representative from downstate, is the only Republican interviewed in this almost hour long video. He does have Republican opponents in the primary June 28th.

On the Democratic side David Moore is a current Chicago Alderman, Anna Valencia is Chicago City Clerk, and Alexi Giannoulias is known as a former state treasurer and ran for Barack Obama's old U.S. Senate seat in 2010 though he lost that bid to Republican Mark Kirk.

So far I've only heard the answer from State Rep. Dan Brady and he gave some precise answers as far as what the Secretary of State does and his plan for improving that constitutional executive office.

Is there anyone here you would choose to succeed Secretary White?