We are a state at the extreme end of progressive thought and behavior.

There are a couple of hot-button issues that just get my blood boiling to use an old cliché. One of them is the hysterical response to the COVID-19 virus. How people responded to COVID ended up being very revealing - and for that, we should be thankful.

1. Now we know who has common sense and who doesn’t.

2. Now we know who will bend the knee to authority and who will push back.

This assessment, revealed by the response to COVID-19, is particularly important when measuring the capabilities for both reason and courage of those “learned” people we depend on in important roles in our life.

I have mentioned before that those who bought into the COVID-19 mandates and followed blindly, for more than the initial three-week shutdown, need to just admit it now that they were wrong.

But, as far as I am concerned, there won’t be amnesty. Our society cannot just let these institutions and the people who run them still, like education, medicine, and government agencies, along with the bureaucrats and politicians in charge of those institutions, receive amnesty for their colossal mistakes over COVID-19 mandates.

Their bad judgment led to the suicides of children and massive disruption in our economy and education that set back an entire generation. And – it’s not over. There will be states that mandate the experimental COVID shot for young children now that the CDC has recommended such a shot for 6 months and up. There are institutions still requiring COVID tests to have medical procedures or participate in certain activities. That’s why there won’t be amnesty and admitting it now is only a start.

If you haven’t read the article “Let’s Declare a Pandemic Amnesty” published in the liberal rag The Atlantic, I encourage you to read it. It is the reason that the word Amnesty for COVID-19 mandates is being discussed. Here are the first two paragraphs: Let’s Declare a Pandemic Amnesty - The Atlantic

"In April 2020, with nothing else to do, my family took an enormous number of hikes. We all wore cloth masks that I had made myself. We had a family hand signal, which the person in the front would use if someone was approaching on the trail and we needed to put on our masks. Once, when another child got too close to my then-4-year-old son on a bridge, he yelled at her “SOCIAL DISTANCING!”

These precautions were totally misguided. In April 2020, no one got the coronavirus from passing someone else hiking. Outdoor transmission was vanishingly rare. Our cloth masks made out of old bandanas wouldn’t have done anything, anyway. But the thing is: We didn’t know.'

Here’s the deal – if you actually hiked with a mask with your family to prevent the virus spread, then I can’t trust your judgment on any other thing. Sorry, you don’t get amnesty.

The author is Emily Oster, an economist at Brown University. Her article spurred American Federation of Teachers Union President, Randi Weingarten to also ask for amnesty. Fortunately, her request has been laughed at.

Weingarten is now also admitting that the unions went too far with COVID mitigations. She doesn’t get amnesty. Read here. Randi Weingarten blasted for being worse than the 'Grinch' after endorsing 'pandemic amnesty' | Fox News

The Wall Street Journal weighed in on Weingarten’s comment and The Atlantic article, here some excerpts. Read the whole editorial here: Now They Want a Pandemic ‘Amnesty’ - WSJ

"Believe it or not, American Federation of Teachers chief Randi Weingarten on Monday tacitly acknowledged that keeping schools closed during the pandemic was a mistake. Miracles happen, apparently. But she also now wants parents—especially if they’re voters next week—to forgive her and her political allies without seeking an apology or holding them accountable. Sorry, that lets them off way too easy.

“I agree,” Ms. Weingarten tweeted a link to a piece in The Atlantic by Emily Oster, “Let’s Declare a Pandemic Amnesty.” The article argues that Americans should forgive experts and government leaders for their mistakes during the pandemic….

This plea for forgiveness would be more plausible if the shutdown lobby had shown more willingness during the pandemic to listen to other arguments that proved to be right. Instead they dismissed and tried to discredit the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration who argued for focused protection of the most vulnerable while opening schools. Tech platforms censored them."

This election, the elected officials who lacked the common sense and courage to push back must not be re-elected. They must be sent a message. Their response to COVID -19 tells you everything you need to know about their political philosophy. Keeping them in office will be a detriment to our country’s economic and physical security in the future. You cannot trust them.

Illinois can no longer be considered a state with commonsense mid-Western values. Values that used to stand for faith, family, and freedom. We still have plenty of people who stand for those values, but many of our institutions - government, education, corporations, and churches don't.

We are a state at the extreme end of progressive thought and behavior:

• The SAFE-T Act

• Amendment 1

• Repeal of Parental Notice of Abortion

• Taxpayer-funded abortion on demand

• Porno sex ed in schools

• Still worst credit rating of all states

• Still under COVID emergency orders

This is just in the last four years! We don't have to live this way.

It only changes when courageous people push back against it at every turn. That pushback begins on Tuesday, the 8th.