Does Chicagoland's huge population kill democracy for downstate IL?

[meatpuff]

linicx, I really enjoy reading what you write about the history and geography of "downstate" Illinois. Not just in this thread but all over this board. Keep it up.

[scoop89]

What does Chicago have that the residents in Southern Illinois cannot have? I don't get it. Most people live where they choose. Whatever works for you.

[linicx]

Originally Posted by scoop89

What does Chicago have that the residents in Southern Illinois cannot have? I don't get it. Most people live where they choose. Whatever works for you.

Is it not always a question of choosing where to live. Big box stores will not move into small towns. Many rural towns do not have a hospital or a library. A few do not have post office. From this standpoint Chicago has much to offer in terms of shopping. However, St. Louis offers much the same and it is a couple hundred miles closer.

On the other hand it is impossible to farm 1000 acres in Chicago or raise cattle. Farm families tend to stay where their parents or grandparents lived. My cousin lives in the same town not far from the house where our great-grandparents lived for sixty years. His father was an Illinois pioneer settler in 1856. In 1825 Fulton County included most of the state as far north as Chicago. By then Peoria was well settled and growing.

I lived and worked in Chicago, I worked with illegals. I saw all the sites I wanted to see. I saw the city flood, and I was in one of the worst winters in its history. The airports were closed and only one lane of I-55 was open each way. I have the memories, I don't need the rest.

The rest of the world does not look or act like Chicago, nor is it all cornfields, soybeans and cattle. Iowa and Illinois are the two top producing corn states in America, but Iowa does not have the Illinois Ozarks.

When you are old enough to get out and travel by yourself you will find a whole new world of wonders waiting for you from sea to shining sea. You might enjoy the rose garden in Shcreveport, La, or the oldest continuously settled community in the Louisiana Territory, or Sweetwater, Texas, or the Palo Duro Canyon, or White Sands and the Inn of the Mountain Gods, or Denny's at Winslow, Arizoana.

You might even find a real diamond in the minefields in Arkansas. You might travel around Lake Michigan through Canada and come back into Michigan. You might even decide to visit Columbus, Mexico, or drive through the Rocky Mountains. You can sleep with wolves in Illinois or see the tallest tree in the world at 278 feet.