[Trent]

IL Representative Bill Mitchell introduced an initiative to make Chicago it's own state. He says Chicago spends too much money, and tries to push it's liberal political agenda on the rest of the (generally conservative) state.

Dude has my vote. :)

[Standing Wolf]

I'm sure the idea makes a lot of sense to people in the rest of Illinois, and essentially the same idea would make sense to people in more than a few other states. The self-styled "Queen City" tends to dominate everyone else.

[Ryanxia]

That's an interesting idea. I guess it would help the rest of the State out :)

[Konstantin835]

Funny, but it would probably benefit the rest of the state. If we did that with NYC maybe I could get some regular sized AR mags and an adjustable stock...

[Mike OTDP]

I'm not sure it would happen. Most of these cities rely on using their political clout to wring money out of the rest of the state. They won't take expulsion easily.

But it would make a fantastic difference in the lives of a lot of people shackled by state lines to a rotten urban hell-hole.

[Shinbone]

Amen to that. I live in Illinois & I wouldn't mind moving to a
gun friendly state at all.

[owen]

it wouldn't be Constitutional. States may not be formed out of the area of existing states. The one exception to this is West Virginia, and there was a little Civil War going on at the time.

[Birch Knoll]

it wouldn't be Constitutional. States may not be formed out of the area of existing states

Is that true? Doesn't Article Four, Section Three permit this, with the consent of the state legislature and the Congress?

Article Four, Section Three: New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress

[Greg528iT]

That is the way I read it.

But I doubt it'll get very far.

[Birch Knoll]

Of course not. It's a symbolic bill, not meant to go anywhere.

[Evil Monkey]

new york has been trying this for decades and they have not succeeded.

If new york can't do it, neither can illinois.

[Dmitri Popov]

I definately understand why they would want to, and wish them luck.
A single city should not have that much influence over an entire state.
Can't wait to see where this goes.

[Bobson]

Of course not. It's a symbolic bill, not meant to go anywhere.
That's exactly what I was going to say, and this is the first I've heard of it.

Mitchell may or may not believe Chicago should be it's own state, and even if he does, he knows the bill isn't going to fly. That being said, if what you say is true, and the rest of Illinois is significantly more conservative (and I have no reason to think you're wrong - just saying), even suggesting a bill like this publicly is a pretty brilliant move, and very safe to boot.

Chicago residents have no reason to oppose it. Residents elsewhere in Illinois have very little reason to oppose it. And Mitchell comes off looking like a man of the people, even if he's actually strongly opposed to the idea - because he knows the odds of it actually passing are abysmal.

Very clever move; I'm pretty impressed.

[rbernie]

Highly OT.