In the past week, we’ve watched with respect as local Democrats have spoken up on tough political issues. And while they would certainly expect strong support from these liberal communities, the wider pushback is real and the battles being fought are life and death.
Senator Don Harmon, Democrat from Oak Park, pushed a bill through the state senate calling for Illinois to further license gun dealers. We’d call this act nothing more than common sense gun safety in a state awash in cheap handguns, too many of which turn into weapons of murder on our neighboring West Side. But there is, of course, opposition from Republicans in the senate.
Now the bill moves to the Illinois House for hoped-for approval. Where Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner might land on a gun issue as his $100 million re-election effort draws nearer is uncertain.
One cannot live in Oak Park or in Austin and not look for government to play some role in trying to quench the consuming gun violence. Taking straw buyers out of the mix is a simple and worthy step.
Meanwhile, after the narrow party-line passage of the abhorrent Trump Care bill, we applaud Congressman Danny Davis and other local political leaders for making real the harm ahead to real people if this attack on the Affordable Care Act is not squelched in the U.S. Senate. Davis and state Rep. Camille Lilly gathered with other leaders Friday at Loretto Hospital in Austin to lay out the devastation that would follow passage of any bill approximating what the GOP strong-armed through the House.
Loretto Hospital and hundreds of urban safety net hospitals across America would be endangered by this assault on expanded Medicaid insurance. The flip side are the small, rural hospitals that are the primary care providers in America’s small towns.
It is time for Democrats to fight hard for core values. And our local Democratic leaders are in that fray.