Our endorsements also are driven by a belief that Illinois state and local governments are on a path to catastrophe. Two decades of fast-rising spending — compounded by astonishing billions in taxpayer debt, unpaid bills and unsustainable pension obligations — have slashed this once-brawny state's job creation record to 48th in the U.S., and its credit rating to … 50th. And what is the Illinois Senate poised to consider two days after the election? Another $4 billion in borrowing. How suspicious is that timing?

Now look around. Government here is run by Democrats for as far as the eye can see. Every statewide office. The Illinois House. The Illinois Senate. Cook County. Chicago City Hall. Democrats even dominate the state Supreme Court. (Try that sentence on a friend who lives in a state where judges are chosen on merit, not political connections.) Consider:

•If you as a voter, like our editorial board, want to reverse the Illinois death spiral, then you have to stop habitually re-electing people who have mismanaged this state, tolerated cronyism and clout, and driven employers elsewhere.

•That means that, come Tuesday, you have to dump a lot of incumbents.

•This being Illinois in 2010, the great majority of incumbents are Democrats.

So do your job. This year we see a real opportunity to restore some balance, some competition of ideas, in Illinois. An opportunity to elect fresh blood — particularly in the legislature, where House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton have logged a total of 72 years. Do you think that re-empowering them by electing their loyalists will give you anything but more of the same policies and insatiable hunger for power they yearn to perpetuate?