(The Center Square) – The divide between rural and urban areas in Illinois is one of the main drivers of many looking to split the state in two.
G.H. Merritt is chairman of New Illinois, a group that plans their seventh constitutional convention next weekend in Bloomington. The movement aims to make a new state out of most of Illinois, excluding Cook County.
“When you have a very large group of people that is disenfranchised, that is going to cause division and I think separating states maybe would help people get along better,” Merritt told The Center Square.
Merritt said a 1964 U.S. Supreme Court ruling effectively allowed a state’s largest populated area to dictate politics for the rest of the state.
“When you take a state that already has a history of corruption and you apply Reynolds v. Sims to that, that causes all the power to be concentrated like that, that opens the door for no accountability, opens the door for more corruption,” Merritt said.
Among similar movements in other states around the country, Indiana recently created a commission to investigate absorbing counties that want to split from Illinois.
“Their economy in Northwest Indiana is so tied into the economy of Chicago that if Chicago goes the way of Detroit … that is going to adversely affect them,” said Merritt.
Merritt doesn’t expect Indiana’s effort to succeed, as it requires cooperation from Illinois Democrats. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Indiana’s efforts were a “stunt.”
One element impacting many to move toward separating the state into two is the state’s finances. Illinois’ pension debt is among the worst in the country and the state’s residents pay among the highest taxes in the country.
“People look at this on the surface and think it’s a Democrat versus Republican thing, that is not the way we see it at all,” Merritt said. “It is an urban versus rural, small town and suburban thing.”
Among the “grievances” New Illinois has published on their website are: Lack of representative government, extreme gerrymandering, violation of Second Amendment rights and “the government of Illinois is a tyranny.”
The New Illinois Convention is Friday evening, April 4, and all day Saturday, April 5, at the Chateau Hotel and Convention Center in Bloomington.
