Say you're living in an apartment and you find a better place for less money. You give your landlord notice and inform him that you'll be moving out when your current rental agreement expires.
To your surprise, he balks. “You can't leave,” he protests. “I count on the rental income I get from you and it may be months before I can get someone else in this unit. You're not going anywhere.”
Perhaps you're trying out a new restaurant, but there's nothing appealing on the menu and the prices are outrageous, so you decide to leave and eat elsewhere – at which point the hostess blocks the exit and insists that you place an order.
Or maybe you give notice at the office and your boss handcuffs you to your desk and tells you to get back to work.
No one would dare act that way, you say. Nor would anyone put up with it. Besides, it's illegal to hold someone against his will and make him pay for things he doesn't want.
Tell that to Pat Quinn and Dick Durbin.
Our governor and our senior senator seem to think that businesses operating in our state and country have no right to relocate when they find a better deal somewhere else.
Lower taxes? A friendlier business climate? Why should those things matter? No, the solution is to make it illegal for businesses to relocate.
Call it “Quinnversion” or “Durbin Planning.”
The wrong-thinking seems to be that our public servants are now our public masters. We work for them, not vice versa. They're geniuses and we're fools. They'll tell us where to work and where to live, what to eat and what to think. They'll tell us how to do everything – for our own good, of course – and we'd better do it, or else!
Here's a better idea. Let's make Illinois a welcoming place that companies like Walgreens and AbbVie are proud to call home – and send Quinn and Durbin packing, instead.