Chicago’s One-Party Dictatorship Chooses New Leader
I wouldn’t actually call it an “election.” That would suggest there was more than one side who would benefit by a victory.
The truth, as it usually is, was a little more prosaic: the city of Chicago chose another politician to head up the corrupt Machine that has dominated politics in the Windy City for nearly 80 years. Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel became the city’s 46th mayor and first Jewish leader. He succeeds Richard M. Daley who, together with his father Richard J. Daley, ruled the city, the county of Cook, and the state of Illinois for all but 14 of the last 55 years.
The Machine is also known as the “regular Democratic Party.” There is nothing “regular” about it. It is an obscene blight on the idea of representative government and republican principles. The 95% Democratic vote cast last night are the kind of numbers Soviet leaders used to get in their “elections.” Hugo Chavez doesn’t do as well in his rigged contests.
The fact of the matter is, Chicago is held in thrall to a one-party dictatorship as firmly ensconced in power as any banana republic dictator. The enforcement mechanism is not an army or secret police (although the Machine has been known to play rough on occasion), but rather a network of ward bosses, corrupt businessmen, the odd mobster, and those who owe their livelihood to the party in power. The uniting expedient behind the Machine is money — taxpayers’ money — that is fleeced in many ways, both old-fashioned and novel.
The current Machine replaced the fractured ethnic amalgam of rancorous factions from the 1920s that was not only corrupt, but under the thumb of brutal, murdering gangsters. At least the new Machine had the decency to keep the gangsters off of the city payroll — most of the time — while assigning them a lesser role in the city’s hierarchy. Today, “the Organization,” as the mob is called, stays quietly in the background, sticking their fingers in several legitimate pies while generally refraining from carrying out their wet work inside the city limits. Today, most Chicago gangsters die in their beds or in prison.
Once Emanuel has his hands on the levers of Machine power, he is, in effect and for all practical purposes, Mayor for Life. The Machine may not have quite the influence it once had in that the mayor will not be able to crack his whip and have 13 subservient congressmen doing the bidding of a Democratic president as Daley the Elder could claim. But when it comes to elections — local, state, or national — the Machine is supreme. A steady flow of patronage jobs, city contracts, and outright bribes maintains the loyalty of ward bosses and ward heelers alike.
Challenges to Emanuel in the future will almost certainly be futile efforts by the few reformers who lack everything the Machine has in abundance: organization, money, and the will to intimidate all those who refuse to play ball. The meek and mild liberals, clustered around the University of Chicago where Barack Obama lived, don’t have the imagination, guts, or ruthlessness to put forth a credible alternative to Machine candidates. In the end, their forlorn hopes, placed on people like Barack Obama, are crushed when the candidates make a deal with the regular Democrats for higher office like the president, or fail miserably in gathering the support necessary for victory. In short, reformers are divided, argumentative, and politically naive — a combination that doesn’t give them much of a chance for power.
The Democrats new party symbol; The sygmoidoscope!
Enjoy, y’all.
I thought it was the sideways pineapple, which has been applied to the rectal aperture of America con gusto.
Even living in Hawaii I never heard of that one. Must come with the new ‘chivalry’.
Last I heard a judge ruled that Emanuel wasn’t a legal Chicago resident. I guess the fix was in, huh?
The fix was in?! In Chicago?! Who’da thunk it?!
Given all the city’s problems, perhaps we should send Rahm a sympathy card. One wonders why he would even want the job, which seems like becoming skipper of the Titanic an hour before hitting the iceberg.
Cause he bud Obama will be sending things there for him…to make him look good.
Bigger welfare checks on the way!! for all the fill in space pseudo americans.
>One wonders why he would even want the job,
$$$$$$$$$$
Guess he might run for President in eight years.
So, how long before Chicago becomes the new Detroit?
Or Moscow.
Moscow has been doing much better these days, though the lamestream media won’t tell you anything about that.
Chicago, not so much!
Putting Chicago in the rear-view mirror
Well, the median home income in Chicago has gone up since 2000 so I do not think that is a real fear. Like almost every other large city in the country there is a budget shortfall.
I’m so damned sick-n-tired of the “hyphenated-[fill in the ethnic blank]-Americans”. We are either all Americans or we are an ethnically divided, color-coded nation and segregation is still alive and well in 2011 and the same Lefties who made the Jim Crow laws are still keeping segregation alive and well to this day, only now it’s for the supposed grievance industry (but, let’s be honest, racism is racism reversed or otherwise).
“Reverse racism”? That’s like having two transmissions bolted together and both in reverse; The motion will be forward.
My buddy had a swamp buggy with this setup, that’s how I know.
And by the way; That’s how Obama speaks.
My question is; When are Obama and Biden going to quit rehearsing their “Who’s on first” routine, and take the stage? It can’t be too much longer. World leaders are waiting!
LOL! Analogies to teleprompter by!
True , but the double torque multiplication tends to destroy something in the driveline just when simultaneous elation and maximum traction occur. And so goes democrat plan for the the economy. Did you notice the elation?
Chicago is a cesspool.
That it is.
Chicago deserves another thug for a mayor because the entire population there seems to be thuggish. Rahm cheated his way to a win so his corruption know no bounds and the equally corrupt population in the Windy City should be thrilled. One day this sorry bunch will be out of power. What a great day that will be.
Do you have any proof he cheated? I think he just had more money and better connections.
Chicago sounds like an Italian city state of the 14th century.
Delia,
I agree with you. I always tell my husband I’m a native American because I was born here. We are all natives aren’t we?
That’s it, isn’t it? I mean, people on the Left piss and moan about Illegals giving birth on American soil and having instant “citizenship” for their offspring, but, the same Lefties look at the people who made America ‘great’ and say, “No you are awful, no matter how many generations you come from who are native to America you ascend from, you are not a ‘native american’ like these people over ‘here’ in a ‘special’ welfare-state tribe.
Irony meet tragedy meet tribal gambling and drunks on the roadside coupled with lots of crosses on the tufts of earth near the shoulders of the road.
*sigh*
You’re simply observing the result of any body of souls being forced into unfamiliar circumstances with welfare state subsistence that have learned how to use the weaknesses of an invading enemy to out perform them. Greed, whether in the form gold mining or gambling, has been their best teacher since President Jackson forced them to leave successful farming to walk the trail of tears.
Now they just create their own gold mine anywhere they have been forced to exist and lease half the operation to the mafia. Jimmy Hoffa wasn’t smart enough to accept the same deal when his pension fund financing became his nemesis.
If you don’t like their operation just watch while muslims demand their own “reservations”. They only want your money while waiting for the opportunity to take your life.
Keep doing the same thing, Chicago, and expect a different outcome! Or stupid is as stupid does!
Chicago is a long way from becoming a Detroit. Detroit was a one industry town. Chicago is pretty diverse. It is the center for financial risk management in the world, it is a transportation hub, it is a convention hub (although it is losing that). All big 4 accounting firms are based here. It is also a livable city with great neighborhoods outside of the Gold Coast and Lincoln Park. Andersonville, the South Loop, Bucktown, Wicker Park and other neighborhoods are nice. Restaurants are great, and diverse.
there are good bones, Northwestern(Kellogg) is 10mi from the city center, and UChicago(Booth) is on the south side. There is a lot of research and development done there. UIllinois Engineering in Champaign is three hours by car.
That being said, there are extreme challenges to the city. It’s not necessarily the spending by Daley, but the govt pensions and unions that are bankrupting the city. Taxes and cost of living are very high. The state govt isn’t making anything easier.
Frankly, the Republican Party in Illinois wasn’t opposition, but became co-opted. They are beginning to come out of their shell-there is a Tea Party here but it’s not like other places.
Rahm was picked by the machine not because of what he would do, but because the odds of him allowing investigations of the machine and Mayor Daley are low. The election became a contest between Alderman Burkes’s proxy (Chico) and Daley’s proxy (Rahm). Now the battle begins as they try and divide up the spoils.
Rahm was a resident. However, the way the law read, he wasn’t. The real problem with the ruling is it opens up all kinds of holes in residency requirements with fireman, police and teachers.
“Rahm was picked by the machine not because of what he would do, but because the odds of him allowing investigations of the machine and Mayor Daley are low.”
Actually, Rahm was “picked” because of his closeness to Obama, the money source Chicago’s gonna need when the union benefits bomb explodes.
I guess now we get to call it Rahmmany Hall.
I would note that the Soviet Union pretended to hold elections too, but all was decided before the first vote was cast.
Chicago-cesspool of the Midwest,sister city to the groin of the country SanFrancisco. . . the disgust I feel toward rahmbo and Chicago(dems and union butts included)is almost as great as my dislike for the mighty “o”.
Actually, I look for Chicago to become more important in national politics now that the Rahminator (Mr. “Never Let A Crisis Go To Waste Even If You Have To Create One”) is in charge.
Consider that The One has already moved DNC HQ to the Windy City. This means that the Democrats’ “World Center Of Appropriate Dogmatic Thought” is now an integral part of the Cook County political landscape. Since I don’t expect it to dominate the Machine, it’s more likely that the DNC will become a mouthpiece for Rahm and his minions.
This means that for the foreseeable future, Democratic Party policies will be in reality Chicago/Springfield Machine policies. Not that they aren’t similar now, but soon, they will be indistinguishable from each other.
If you think the country is in trouble now, just wait until every Democratic President, Democrat-controlled Congress, and Democrat state administration tries to run every little hamlet between Maine and California like Chicago. Or Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Washington D.C…. You get the idea, I’m sure.
The nation’s future may look a good deal like Chicago’s past. Right down to the broken kneecaps for anybody who doesn’t “shut up and sing”.
clear ether
eon
Well, he does have lots of time to study Detroit and try out what works there.
Maybe converting empty and blighted neighbourhoods to urban farms? Wildlife is moving back into Detroit, get ahead of the curve by declaring certain wards to be wildlife preserves!
The best news is actually the depopulation of Chicago, not only will the tax base collapse, but the Congress can redistrict the area and reduce the number of seats in the House; eliminating Chicago as a bastion for national level Democrats (and making a bailout much less likely to happen).
The best thing for any resident to do now is to pull up stakes and head to Texas, where at least the economy is growing (and you can avoid the brutal winters).
Is a shame. This guy did not even campaign. He was just sent there like a heir to the throne. How can this happen in America?
I agree Rhambo was picked because he knows where the corruption is and will work to keep it buried.
Let me go a little bit the other way on this one.
Chicago is the best city in America, five months out of the year. Bar none.
(this is not including towns and villages, only large cities)
The people of this area have sound, solid, Midwest values. Those who do not live here, need to stand down on the rather inane suggestion that the politics are the people. Many, many, many have tried to “fight City Hall”, and watched as crooked judges, fixed crooked cases, …in numbers that even Greylord could not overcome.
The Republican Party is non-existent in the City. But…that does not mean that the people are leftist as in San Francisco. Far from it.
There are pockets of leftism, a large and historic gay population, a huge contingent of small c communists in Hyde Park, a strong “workers party” contingent especially in some African American communities, the Nation of Islam, James Cone’s racist liberation theology…Marxism wrapped in a black nationalist flag, and a strong socialist “community organizer” contingent.
But, that does not describe the typical Chicagoan. This is a midwest values place that does not resemble New York or Berkeley. It is pro-military, pro-police, pro-fireman place. The leftists hate the cops and always have…but the people love them.
The leftists hate the military and always have, but the people still put the flag on their lawns with pride.
Let me also go the other way on the subject of Rahm. True, he has been ensconced in Democratic politics up to his eyeballs. But of ALL the candidates who were “electable” (eliminate EVERY Republican in the nation) for the position of Mayor, he is the least likely to be pushed around by the union thugs, the anti-Israel lobby, the non-pragmatic flower children and small c communists, …he thinks they are “f-ing nuts” and has said so…loudly and in their face.
Hating Rahm by proxy…because he was a main cog in the Obama wheel of hurt that this nation has suffered is understandable.
But, putting things in perspective, Rahm is better for Chicago than what else was on the menu…by a long shot.
He’s tough and not easily bullied…by EITHER side. He’s smart and often pragmatic. He understands finance and he understands unsustainable pension and entitlement insanity.
Perhaps nobody can pull Chicago out of its leftist death spiral. That is indeed a possibility. But, of all the choices available, Rahm is the only one who had even a glimmer of a chance. I am rooting for him to succeed. I love that town and its people. They deserve better than they have gotten and deserve better than the slanderous reputation that its cesspool politics have heaped on them.
This rings pretty close to the truth, although the pockets of leftism have moved well beyond Hyde Park and the organized South Side. You won’t see too many American flags flying in pseudo-artistic/hipster enclaves like Wicker Park, Bucktown, Andersonville, etc. But you will see murals of Che and even Lenin (in Wicker Park) on walls — the over-sized Obama-Che-Malcolm X-Karl Marx-Gandhi window murals that adorned the Flat Iron Building in Wicker Park in Summer ’08 were extra special. That said, your larger point is well taken.
Since the rise of Obama, Rahm, Axelrod, Jarrett, and co., Chicago has become the favorite whipping boy of the conservative blogosphere, slightly edging out Detroit (although “the D” took the baton for a while after Chrysler’s Eminem Super Bowl commercial). But it always seems like the conservative blogosphere’s Chicago memes and assumptions derive from people who know next to nothing about Chicago, outside of what they’ve heard or read on conservative blogs.
So you get all the blather about Chicago as a communist cesspool violent crime and post-apocalyptic urban decay that makes Detroit look like Paris from people who often declare “I’ll never set foot in that hellhole!” But maybe if they had set foot there (in the last 30 years–the problems of the 60′s & 70′s aren’t especially relevant today), they wouldn’t be guilty of harboring so many erroneous assumptions about the city.
Chicago has plenty of problems, but Detroit-Cleveland-Flint it ain’t. As middle class people continue to get squeezed out of their old neighborhoods by the ever outwardly expanding gentrification of the city’s core, Chicago risks taking on the problems of Western European cities — wealthy urban center squashing old middle class neighborhoods, poverty and crime taking over the edges — more than it does sinking into the urban Rust Belt abyss.
And yes, all things considered, Rahm Emanuel was easily the best candidate in the Chicago mayoral race. Sure, he’s a slime-ball, and yes, he’s got his work cut out for him, but given the demands of the job, he was only truly viable candidate in the race.
Ultimately, the widespread erroneous narratives about the Chicago (and the usual accompanying vitriol) that regularly appear in the conservative blogosphere harm the credibility of people who voice them.
We’ve just discovered this? I lived in Chicago for nearly 20 years and this is how it works. And it does work: streets are plowed, garbage is collected, lots of interesting things to see and do, excellent higher education. Chicago can teach other big cities a whole lot.
The funny thing is that is how one party rule maintains control. When a politician that gets in that tries to reform (especially union reforms)all of a sudden services start to “fail”. Then at the new election we have people that will set everything strait. The lemmings don’t really know, all they see is the services are failing and who is the visible scapegoat.
Rick Moran is correct about the machine’s power and Chicago’s one party rule. What he does not make adequately clear, however, is that the same exact power structure scenario he described would have been in place regardless of which of the 4 main candidates had been elected. But compared against the other three, who can only be described as third stringers, Rahm was the only rational choice on the mayoral ballot. His intellect, pragmatism, and connections are what will keep Chicago from becoming Detroit. Do not fault Chicagoans for electing Rahm despite his many faults. He was definitely the pick of the litter. And, the unions backed a different candidate. That should tell you something.
cfbleachers understands Chicago well and wrote a very insightful post above which I agree with.