Welcome
This site was created by the Illinois Citizens Coalition and John Bambenek to give Illinois citizens the opportunity to directly influence the work we are doing in reforming Illinois. As you may know, on November 4th, Illinois voters will be given the chance to vote on whether or not to convene a constitutional convention. The Illinois Citizens Coalition encourages you to vote yes for a better Illinois. Of course, voting yes will not, by itself, fix state government or make changes to the constitution. Delegates must be elected and specific reforms must be written and put into the constitution. That is where this site comes in. Illinois Citizens Coalition co-founders, Bruno Behrend and John Bambenek have been working on a book to explain the call to a convention and the reforms we want to see. As part of this, we have also written a draft constitution. Much preparation has gone into our work to prepare what we think is a path forward for Illinois.
This is where you come in. It is simply not a good idea for two people, no matter how well intentioned, to write a constitution and then insist that it become law of the land. A constitution is a governing document for all the voters of the state, not just us. So we are giving you the opportunity to tell us what you’d like to see in a constitution, what you’d like removed, and what you’d like to see changed in our draft.
We have organized the constitution using the “Article” as a blog category. You can select the particular article on the right (under “Categories”) and a list of posts showing all the various sections will then display. You may comment on each of these sections as you see fit and we will read and take into account any feedback we receive.
Additionally, we have a forum for general discussion about the articles or other constitution topics. Think you can write a constitution better than we can? By all means, give it a go! We have put up a wiki so that you can draft and redraft your own constitution. We aren’t the smartest people in the state and would love to see what fellow Illinois citizens can come up with to help reform Illinois.
Lastly, we have three mailing lists with which to discuss the convention, the constitution and what you can do to help bring about a constitutional convention.
- The concon-announce list is for announcements from the ICC on key events and news regarding the convention. (Announcements only, no posting except announcements. If you have announcements, send them to jcb (at) illinoiscitizenscoalition.com to send to the list)
- The concon-discuss list is for general discussion and debate on any and all aspects of the constitutional document (the list is loosely moderated, a few good posts and you’ll be allowed to post unmoderated but trolls and flames will be immediately banned)
- The concon-activism list is for those who want to get involved with helping make a convention happen and for activism once a convention is convened. If you want to help make a better Illinois, this is the list you want to be on.
Thank you for stopping by and let us know what you think of the draft constitution and help us make the best citizen-driven constitution in the Union. If you would like to send an email with comments, please contact jcb (at) illinoiscitizenscoalition [dot] com.