African Americans and the elderly take a dim view of government programs—even those they do or would benefit from.

Aspiring African American homeowners are still deep in the recession. From 2013 to 2014, foreclosures increased by 50 percent in Maryland’s Prince George’s County, which is majority black. The erosion of the black middle class, just as it was starting to come into its own, is one of the greatest social policy failures of American history.

Illinois’s serial policy failures would look bad in any circumstance, but they look even worse when placed next to the success of reform-minded neighbors like Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

In Illinois’s gubernatorial race, public employee unions face an unappealing choice between a public pension reformer and a slightly less zealous public pension reformer.