Once again, our legislators show they regard their constituents as so many chickens to be plucked.

Illinois legislators can't bring themselves to even think, let alone take action, on big issues like the state's disastrous financial situation. They're not doing much about little issues either – like the red light camera plague that allows for the high-tech issuance of traffic citations for motorists who go through red lights.

Instead of taking up legislation to abolish this pernicious revenue-raising practice adopted by mostly suburban municipal governments, the Illinois Senate is proposing what Senate President John Cullerton calls reform but, in reality, is little or no change at all.

State legislators ought to step up to plate and abolish red-light cameras in almost all instances. They represent little more than creepy Big Brotherism that elevates government to the level of predator and reduces citizens to the level of prey.

No one, of course, defends violations of traffic rules, particularly those that affect public safety. But red light cameras have nothing to do with public safety and everything to do with local governments seeking new forms of revenue by automating law enforcement.

This being Illinois, there also is another, even bigger reason for so-called RLC (red light camera) laws.

Camera manufacturers want to sell them and make money. So they hired big-shot Chicago lobbyist Al Ronan, who spread campaign donations around to certain powerful legislators.

Presto, suddenly red light camera legislation was introduced and approved by the General Assembly.

The promoters of this practice even tried to get the RLC legislation extended to Champaign County, even though local elected officials hadn't requested and didn't want it.

This ugly story about how state government really works has been reported in detail. But it's even worse than just House and Senate members passing legislation for cash. The Arlington Heights Daily Herald looked into red light camera placement in its circulation areas and found that "most of the $100 tickets were being issued to people turning right on red, a maneuver safety experts consider less hazardous than barreling straight through. The newspaper also found that in many cases, cameras were being installed or planned at intersections with zero or a minimal number of crashes related to running red lights."

The RLC practice represents the height of cynicism, the kind that properly shakes people's faith in government.

It's nothing but a scam – but one from which legislators and local governments profit.

State Sens. Ricky Hendon, a Chicago Democrat, and Dan Duffy, a Lake Barrington Republican, want to largely repeal the red-light camera law. Under Duffy's bill, they would be allowed only in construction zones and railroad crossings. But a Senate committee this week ignored Duffy's proposal and approved a Cullerton bill that would leave current enforcement practices largely intact.