The Dem machine in the City of Chicago --you know, the one that natahn sort of overlooked in going on about New York's unique corruption -- is leaking high level officials who are resigning and negotiating with prosecutors faster than a dam break, and who tells how close it's going to get to the Mayor. The school system, still one of the orst inthe country, and the least integrated, is about to shed 1,000 teachers -- the School Super's not a bad guy, but the money's not there. Maybe you can ask the Mayor's friends in the Hired Truck Program where it went.
Every major construction job in Illinois is run in clout. The machine regulars -- GOP downstate, Dem in the city, are short-sighted thieves. The minimum wage may be going up but jobs are disppearing as throughtout the rust best.
The only semi-decent thing in Ill. politics is Barak Obama, and he's in DC. Now, if we could get Dems to talk like Barak -- look hwo deftly he handled McCain's ugly attack -- we might have something going. So far as one can tell he's honest too.
--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> Marvin Gandall wrote:
>
> >I don't know whether you are moving towards the
> Green party on the basis of
> >your above comment and other recent ones.
>
> Some attributions aside, I'm not an ultraleftist. I
> do recognize that
> there are differences between D and R (and similar
> party structures
> around the world), and they can be nontrivial. And
> yes there are some
> good people in the Dem party, esp at the local
> level. My personal
> congressman, city council rep, state assemblyperson
> and senator, are
> all pretty good. Take it up to the Senatorial level,
> though, and you
> meet abominations like Hillary Clinton & Charles
> Schumer. So since
> 2006 is a year not divisible by 4, it's worth
> emphasizing the
> shortcomings, and thinking about an alternative. And
> right now I'm
> thinking that issue-oriented campaigns not keyed to
> particular
> candidates or parties are a very promising strategy
> in the US. Polls
> repeatedly show that the public often has good
> opinions on specific
> issues, but things get really confused when
> candidates and parties
> come into the picture. Most Americans basically have
> no idea what
> candidates stand for or even profess to stand for.
> Mysteries of
> personality and image can blur the picture, as can
> the often-stunning
> ignorance of the American masses. So I'd rather
> emphasize
> nonelectoral politics right now - e.g., living wage
> campaigns,
> single-payer initiatives, etc.
>
> And I suspect that things aren't as rosy in Illinois
> as Nathan
> claims. Whenever he writes about something I know
> well, I get dizzy
> from the spin. But I don't have time to factcheck
> him now. It'd be
> nice if someone who knew Illinois well could do
> that.
>
> Doug
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