Chambana Sun

State Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Decatur) argues a recent photo of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, House Speaker Emmanuel “Chris” Welch (D-Westchester) and Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) celebrating while abroad speaks volumes about how out-of-touch they are with the people they’re supposed to represent.

“The Governor, the Speaker and Senate president enjoying a pint in merry Old England,” Rose captioned a photo on Twitter of the maskless trio toasting at what appears to be an English pub amid a week of traveling abroad to pitch the state as a green energy hub at a United Nations summit.

“Meanwhile, inflation, COVID and crime continue to surge,” he added.

Government statistics show the consumer price index is up by 6.2 percent over the last year, representing the biggest 12-month jump in more than three decades, and reports predict the higher prices could last at least until 2022. The sharp price uptick in seemingly every sector of the economy has continued even after White House officials described the change as being only “transitory.”

 “It’s a large blow against the transitory narrative,” former Obama administration economic adviser Jason Furman told The Associated Press. “Inflation is not slowing. It’s maintaining a red-hot pace.’’

In homes across the country, prices for such staples as bacon, eggs, gasoline and used cars are all on the rise.  

While maintaining that at least some of the inflation was predictable as the country sought to rebound from slowdowns caused by the pandemic, including the loss of some 22 million jobs, Furman, now an economist at the Harvard Kennedy School, adds misguided policy has played a role in things becoming as bad as they are.

“They poured kerosene on the fire,” he said of much of the government spending, including President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.

“Inflation is a lot higher in the United States than it is in Europe,” he said. “Europe is going through the same supply shocks as the United States is, the same supply chain issues. But they didn’t do nearly as much stimulus.’’

In other actions, Rose, recently filed a bill that would mean far harsher penalties for carjacking crimes.

Senate Bill 298 seeks to amend the Criminal Code of 2012, with the proposed amendment also calling for enhanced sentencing in the case of weapons possessed or used by convicted felons, aggravated discharge of a firearm and the use of a “stolen or illegally acquired firearm in the commission of an offense.”

Rose has also recently chastised leaders at the National Archives over a campaign designed to place warning labels on some of the country’s most celebrated founding documents.

“A trigger warning on the Constitution,” Rose recently posted on Twitter, referencing a page of the National Archives. “Who the hell do these idiots think they are? Enough is enough.”

With the move being largely seen as part of the National Archives’ “institutional commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility,” the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights are among the documents having been stamped with the labels, The Daily Citizen reported.

This development comes after a National Archives task force concluded that historical documents’ portrayal of the founding fathers was “too positive,” according to Reclaim the Net. Top archive officials stress they are only flagging content that is viewed as “potentially harmful,” with staffers defining offensive content as that which is “discriminatory towards or exclude diverse views on sexuality, gender, religion, and more.”