The (election) night Chicago died

H. L. Mencken said that "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."   In that spirit, I'm loving this story on the comeuppance of decades of mismanagement in Illinois from City Journal: "Are Democrats Cornered in Illinois? - The defeat of an amendment establishing a progressive income tax may force the state’s dominant party to pursue real reforms."

The opening paragraph explains the situation pretty well:

One of the most surprising results of the 2020 election was the defeat, in Illinois, of a state constitutional amendment to permit a progressive income tax. The Graduated Income Tax Amendment would have eliminated the Illinois constitutional requirement that tax rates remain flat across incomes. Its defeat is likely the most important political event for the state since I moved here 18 years ago. The proposed change in the state constitution was an effort by the dominant Democratic Party to continue its model of high taxes and high spending to support the base of its political muscle—public-sector unions. The party retains control of the legislature and the governor’s office, but it is politically cornered. Legislatively, it faces a choice between a reform agenda that would undermine its political base or a substantial tax increase on every working citizen.

So, as usual, the plan was to soak the rich but it was rejected in part because virtually none of the new money was going to be earmarked to pay down or otherwise reform a public pension system that has unfunded liabilities over $100 billion leading Illinois to have the worst bond rating in the country.

Now what?  Well, since Illinois can't tax "the other guy" to pay the bills, the Democrats in charge need to either raise taxes on all of Illinois equally or slash spending.  Neither is a recipe for future political victories but Illinois has run through all the other viable options.