THERE AREN'T ENOUGH PATRONAGE JOBS ON THE TOLLWAY.

Our Political Masters in Springfield have done everything they can to drive Illinoisans out.  It's not enough to stiff medical professionals on their payments (a single payer with no means to pay is the end stage of socialism) and impose additional taxes for the privilege of operating a business.  It isn't enough to add a graduated income tax to the proliferation of special property tax districts, sales taxes, and assorted fees, even if that requires amending the state constitution.  Additional sales taxes on gasoline require only legislative action, and with Democrats controlling both houses of the legislature and the governorship, that's in place.

Now, though, drivers might have to pay even more, for the privilege of having a gas station attendant (probably not that smiling man who wears the Texaco star) fill it up.

It's. For. Your. Own. Good.

The free market experiment of letting people pump their own gas is over. It failed. That appears to be the message behind a new piece of Illinois legislation that would prohibit self-service gas stations.

"No gas may be pumped at a gas station in this State unless it is pumped by a gas station attendant employed at the gas station," reads the Gas Station Attendant Act, which was introduced last week by state Rep. Camille Lilly (D–Oak Park).

The representative says she's introducing the bill to start a conversation.  "HB4571 is concept legislation that creates safety and convenience at the pump. It is not intended to pass as is. The bill seeks to create options for self-service, service by gas station attendant, and jobs." What's the over-under on the operator of gas stations at the Oases having to be full-service only?

Lilly's desire to create jobs is also a poor justification for either banning self-service gas stations or mandating staffing levels.

The more consumers have to pay for a service they don't want, the less money they have to spend on other things that they do want. Higher staffing costs leave gas stations with less money to pay vendors or reinvest in their businesses.

The effect is to make the economy poorer and less productive. That's not a win for capital, labor, or consumers.

The one silver lining in Illinois' proposal is how much people hate it. In Oregon and New Jersey, motorists have strong negative reactions to rolling back their state's full-service mandates. Illinois residents are clearly having the opposite reaction.

Many of the residents of the northern counties of Illinois, where Oak Park is, get to Indiana or Wisconsin for business or pleasure sufficiently frequently that they're already avoiding the state's gas tax.