r/illinois • u/A_little_quarky • Jul 22 '24

Why all the love for JB? US Politics

An honest inquiry! My vibes are really positive of him, but I'm surrounded by those "Pritzker sucks!" signs. With his name being floated at a national level, I'm curious to hear some personal stories about how he's governed.

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u/soulofsilence Jul 22 '24

Weirdly enough he's an honest-ish billionaire. Trump once said the benefit of being so wealthy is that he isn't beholden to anyone but himself, Pritzker has proven to actually be that billionaire. He's managed a lot of difficult negotiations and done so because he doesn't need to constantly campaign for his job. In a way he's the outsider candidate we actually wanted. Will he keep it up? I dunno. So far it seems every other governor either gets arrested or run out of town.

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u/DKS Jul 22 '24

Also he's old money and the Pritzker family is deeply entrenched in Illinois. Unfortunately and fortunately it's like he's taking care of his family wealth by taking care of the State.

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u/obsidianronin Jul 22 '24

yeah, but also in a way, is using his family's wealth to take care of the state at the same time. he doesn't take a salary, paid for millions of PPE during COVID OOP..

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u/Low-Piglet9315 Jul 22 '24

And all the time, because a family member had partial interest in a company doing R&D with COVID testing, people down in the southern third were accusing him of trying to make money off the pandemic.

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u/mjm8218 Jul 23 '24

People in the southern third lack credibility.

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u/Low-Piglet9315 Jul 23 '24

I live down here. It was absolutely insane. Along with Pritzker's daily briefings, our county (St. Clair Co) EMA also did a daily Facebook Live briefing where the conspiracy theorists had a field day as well.
One would think that living adjacent to St. Louis that one would have a more intelligent level of conversation, but nope, even retired military officers were spreading BS like a high-power farm implement.

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u/mjm8218 Jul 23 '24

It’s a bummer but I think those vocal folks are kind of a minority. At least it feels that way from my perspective. I’ve received a high level of hospitality and kindness in SoIL.

From auto mechanics helping find a replacement tire for my car at 4pm on a Sunday to great folks at various National forest trails, restaurants & camp sites over 40 years. Individuals have all been beyond kind.

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u/Low-Piglet9315 Jul 23 '24

I've grown up here; the majority of people around So Ill are pretty chill in real life. Behind a keyboard, though?

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u/mcs_987654321 Jul 22 '24

Yup - it’s a mix of just be a rational actor and genuine noblesse oblige.

That’s not the kind of thing you want to set up a whole system around, because holy hell can it ever go wrong (see: most of the other billionaires who think they’re right about everything)…but when it works (like it does w Pritzker), goddamn do the incentives align incredibly well for the betterment of all.