Snapshot · Up First from NPR
Chicago is the third most populous city in the United States, giving it outsized political power in Illinois's state legislature compared to rural downstate areas.
Where this was said
At 3:25 · chapter starts 2:41
Reporter Connor Towne O'Neill joins Ayesha Rascoe to explain the New Illinois movement in clear terms: all Illinois counties except Cook County (Chicago) would secede to form a new state. The driving frustration is political arithmetic — Chicago's size as the nation's third-largest city gives Democrats a veto-proof supermajority in the state legislature, leaving rural conservatives structurally powerless. [1] — Connor Towne O'Neill "Democrats hold veto-proof supermajority: Chicago-area Democrats currently hold a veto-proof supermajority in the Illinois state legislature…" 03:45 O'Neill is quick to distinguish New Illinois from the Confederacy: these are patriotic Americans who want to stay in the United States, just not in the same state as Chicago. They invoke the language of the founding — taxation without representation — as their philosophical grounding. Crucially, there is a legal path: Article IV of the Constitution allows new states to be admitted with congressional and state-level approval, but that second requirement is the Catch-22. The state legislature they want to escape would have to let them go.
Chicago's massive population gives it a veto-proof Democratic supermajority in the state legislature, leaving rural conservative counties politically powerless. Rural Illinoisans don't just feel outvoted — they feel colonized by a city with a totally different history, economy, and culture.
Chicago-area Democrats currently hold a veto-proof supermajority in the Illinois state legislature, leaving rural downstate conservatives with little political power.
The Constitution actually provides a mechanism to admit a new state — but it requires approval from both Congress and the existing state legislature. For New Illinois, that second requirement is the near-impossible catch: the very legislature they want to escape would have to let them go.
G.H. Merritt first conceived of New Illinois in 2018 out of frustration over high taxes and Chicago's political dominance, and formalized the movement in October 2020.
G.H. Merritt didn't want to leave Illinois — she wanted Illinois to leave her alone. Standing in her father's house, she had a simple, powerful realization: high taxes and corrupt governance were pushing her out of her own home, and she refused to let that happen.
Kierkegaard's concept of anxiety as 'the dizziness of freedom' predates Freud's psychological framework by roughly 60 years, yet modern research has since validated his core claims about commitment and identity.
Between 2003 and 2020, Americans accumulated roughly 24 extra hours per month spent alone — the equivalent of a part-time job's worth of isolation, and that's before the pandemic.
Median age at first marriage climbed from 21 (women) and 23 (men) in the 1970s to nearly 29 (women) and 30 (men) today — a rise of 6–8 years per gender, extending the 'emerging adulthood' liminal phase.
San Francisco's average rent rose 18% over the past two years to $3,728/month, surpassing New York City as the most expensive rental market in the country.
San Francisco's average monthly rent now stands at $3,728, surpassing New York City to become the most expensive rental city in the United States.
At a childhood sleepover, Bobby Lee's friends drew penises on his face and he walked 7 miles home on a dirt road before being picked up by Eric Purvis's mom.
In 1950, about 60% of the world lived in extreme poverty; today it's about 1 in 10, attributable to capitalist economic growth.
From 2021 to 2024, 6 million children fell below the poverty line in the US after the expanded child tax credit expired.
Private domestic infant and international adoptions typically cost $40,000 to $70,000, while foster care adoption is the most affordable route at $0 to $2,000.
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