Chicago Tribune Opinion newsletter
Read the latest editorials and commentary curated by the Tribune Opinion team
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Chicago Tribune Opinion

Thursday, August 14, 2025

Good morning,

As the gerrymandering debate continues to rage, Thomas Bowen, long-time political consultant for Democratic candidates, writes in an op-ed that independent map-drawing commissions won't solve the problem. Ranked-choice voting is his preferred alternative. His argument is interesting, I think. Check it out.

The editorial board didn't like Chicago Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski's comments the other day that the lack of a graduated income tax in Illinois amounts to the "crime of the century."

And the board also weighs in on an issue that gives us the willies — the harvesting of organs from people who aren't quite dead yet. Yet there are some calling to do just that!

Willie Wilson, who regularly writes for us, thunders about Mayor Brandon Johnson's incessant search for new taxes.

And Sheldon Jacobson, another regular contributor, has some thoughts on what "made in America," rightly understood, ought to mean in these days of high tariffs.

We've got plenty of pointed letters from readers as well. Thanks for those offerings, and we'll talk to you tomorrow.

— Steve Daniels, editorial board member

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Editorial: Opposing Mayor Brandon Johnson’s tax-increase ideas is not a criminal act

Chicago Chief Financial Officer raised eyebrows when she labeled opposition to progressive taxes as “the crime of the century.”

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Thomas C. Bowen: Why ranked choice is the best cure for gerrymandering

Independently drawn maps will have no effect on the deep political divisions we face in Illinois and across our country today.

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Editorial: Organ donors should be dead first

There are some who are advocating a radical notion to solve the organ shortage: broadening our definition of “death.”

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Willie Wilson: Even Pharaoh knew his limits when it came to taxes

How much more can Brandon Johnson tax businesses and the people without driving the city into financial ruin?

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Sheldon H. Jacobson: ‘Made in America’ is alive, well and misunderstood

It is the American entrepreneurial spirit that defines what is “made in America,” not the actual facilities that produce the products.

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Letters: It’s a sad 90th birthday for Social Security

Social Security’s big challenges are funding and staffing.

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