The people of Illinois – workers, entrepreneurs and business owners – have been held back by policy errors that have plagued the state for decades. But with the proper policy framework, the state can come back to life and lead the Midwest.

Since the January 2011 tax hikes, Illinois’ recovery slowed down, the rest of the Midwest sped up and the rest of the U.S. significantly accelerated. The Great Lakes states performed in lockstep with how well they fostered the free-enterprise system.

An encouraging December helped pull the Land of Lincoln out of last place in the Midwest for 2014 jobs growth.

Illinois’ decades-long experiments with progressive economic policies have thwarted human potential and forced dependency on a massive scale.

Five things to remember from Governor Bruce Rauner's Inaugural speech

There are now 1.06 million more Americans working than when the recession began. In comparison, there are 232,000 fewer Illinoisans working over the same time period, the second-largest employment gap in the U.S.