Chicago Democrats have just pulled off one of the most brazen vote-purchasing operations in recent memory, permanently funding a $7.5 million “guaranteed basic income” program that transforms taxpayer dollars into electoral insurance. What started as temporary COVID relief has morphed into a permanent wealth redistribution machine—and it’s a playbook progressives want to export nationwide.
The Cook County Board’s 16-1 Democratic supermajority didn’t even pretend this was about genuine poverty relief. Instead, they’ve institutionalized government dependency as an electoral strategy, turning public treasuries into campaign war chests while claiming the moral high ground of “social justice.”
Here’s what the mainstream media won’t tell you: Illinois Policy Institute research demonstrates that guaranteed income programs actually decrease workforce participation and individual earnings. Recipients become less likely to seek employment, pursue skills training, or climb the economic ladder that has defined American prosperity for generations. The program doesn’t solve poverty—it subsidizes it.
This represents a fundamental assault on the constitutional principle that government exists to secure rights, not guarantee outcomes. Our Founders understood this distinction as essential to preserving liberty. When government becomes the primary source of citizens’ income, those citizens inevitably become servants of the state rather than sovereign individuals capable of self-governance.
The economic mathematics are equally damning. Cook County already suffers from crushing tax burdens that drive productive families and businesses to flee for red states with sensible fiscal policies. Now they’re doubling down, permanently committing millions in taxpayer funds to create a constituency that views voting as an economic transaction rather than a civic duty.
Governor J.B. Pritzker’s Illinois serves as a cautionary tale for the entire nation. The billionaire governor has transformed the Prairie State into a progressive laboratory where failed policies get endless funding while working families get endless tax bills. Illinois has lost population for nine consecutive years as productive citizens vote with their feet, heading to states that reward work over welfare dependency.
The Cook County experiment reveals the progressive left’s long-term strategy with crystal clarity. They’re not interested in creating prosperity—they’re focused on creating dependency. Every recipient of guaranteed income becomes a stakeholder in expanding government power, because their personal finances depend on progressive politicians maintaining control.
This isn’t compassion; it’s political calculation disguised as social policy. Real compassion would focus on job training, educational opportunities, and removing regulatory barriers that prevent small businesses from hiring. Instead, Democrats choose the path that maximizes their political power while minimizing recipients’ economic mobility.
The program’s expansion from federal COVID funds to permanent local taxation demonstrates exactly what constitutional conservatives have warned about for decades: emergency powers become permanent bureaucratic empires. What starts as temporary relief becomes permanent entitlement, funded by taxpayers who had no voice in creating these obligations.
Patriots nationwide should pay attention to this Cook County beta test, because Democrats are already plotting to nationalize dependency politics. The same politicians who claim to champion working families are systematically undermining the work ethic that built American prosperity.
But here’s the encouraging truth that terrifies progressive politicians: Americans instinctively understand that genuine prosperity flows from productive work, not government handouts. Red states continue attracting families and businesses fleeing blue-state dysfunction, creating a natural laboratory that proves conservative governance delivers superior results.
The real victory will come when Americans reject this false prosperity and embrace the Reagan vision that our greatest social program remains a robust economy where every citizen can climb the ladder of opportunity through their own efforts. Cook County’s vote-buying scheme may work in the short term, but it cannot overcome the fundamental American belief that freedom and self-reliance triumph over dependency and government control.
Constitutional conservatives have both history and human nature on our side. That’s a winning combination no amount of taxpayer-funded vote-buying can ultimately defeat.
