Chicago has become the murder capital of the United States. The city has some of the strongest gun control laws in the country, it has a growing gang problem, and its leaders have chosen to pick public battles with Chick-fil-A instead of crushing the gangs.
The juxtaposition of those two issues may seem strange, but look at Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s own words. When Chick-fil-A wanted to open restaurants in Chicago, Emanuel stepped up to deride the restaurant chain and proclaimed that “Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values.” Chick-fil-A is a legal business that had only gotten on Emanuel’s radar because its owner publicly supports traditional marriage — a stance that most Democrats recently claimed to stand for.
As the city’s gangs have gotten increasingly brazen, going on weekend shooting sprees worth of Kabul, Emanuel’s response has been to ask the gangs to play nice. He has questioned their upbringing, but reserved his harshest words for the chicken restaurants. He has also allowed the anti-Semitic, anti-white Nation of Islam to patrol the streets, while failing to hire more police.
One can distill from all that that “Chicago values” including hating on traditional minded folks for having opinions; curbing their rights of speech and commerce along with the right of self-defense for law-abiding citizens; while coddling racists and doing nothing effective against violent gangsters who shoot up neighborhoods.
Over the weekend, Rick Moran wrote about the latest idea to do something about Chicago’s violence: Bring in the National Guard.
That’s illegal. But it’s very telling that Gov. Quinn, another “progressive,” is even considering it.
Chicago-style progressive governance would take America to a very dark place, where individual freedom may flicker out. Chicago suggests where progressive government may finally take this country: Traditional rights and values maligned and destroyed, replaced with the progressives’ ever-shifting and self-interested view of right and wrong; crime unchallenged and out of control; and armed federal troops patrolling our streets alongside racist demagogues, just to try to keep some semblance of order.
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