There are people who simply don't understand the problems that the State of Illinois has. They think that it's just a simple matter of voting out the scoundrels who have run the state into the ground. Would that they were correct.
Back in the 1940's and 1950', Richard J. Daley built what is widely regarded as The Machine. The Machine controls life in the state. It is part and parcel of the Democratic Party in the state. Some might say it is the Democratic Party, and they wouldn't be wrong. The way Daley pére ran the thing, the state was beholden to the City of Chicago, inasmuch as the city populated state government with its cronies. Springfield essentially did Chicago's bidding. This, no doubt, built up resentments downstate to the point that there were those who wanted Chicago to secede and become its own state. Repeated attempts to overthrow the Democratic stranglehold on state government have largely been unsuccessful. As a sop to conservatives, every once in awhile the Republicans are allowed to sit in the governor's mansion. But it's been a long, long time since either house was controlled by the Republicans.
The state is mired in an economic morass generated by corruption, greed and incompetence. There isn't, in the words of a recently disgraced former governor, enough testicular fortitude to end the vicious cycles that plague this state.
Patronage and nepotism are the by-words that the Party, and by extension, the people of the state live. In other words, if you ain't with them, you're against them. And those people whose livelihoods depend on playing nice with the pols make sure the pols are happy. Enter corruption.
Right now, Michael Madigan, the Speaker of the Illinois House and the head of the Democratic Party in Illinois is the de facto leader of the state. He controls virtually everything. And so slick is the Machine's organization that he is insulated from any attacks as to his operating style. Not so coincidentally, his daughter, Lisa Madigan, is the state attorney general. She seems competent enough and doesn't seem to do her father's bidding, but he sure seems to have plans for her. Talk is that Madigan is hamstringing the present governor, Pat Quinn, in order to weaken him for the next primary so that his daughter can win the Democratic candidacy for governor. In Illinois, that would virtually guarantee her the governorship. And once she's governor, it will be interesting to see just how pliable she is.
Meanwhile, back in Chicago, the mayor, Rahm Emanuel, is being talked about as a potential running mate for Cankles in the 2016 presidential election. A stretch, you say? Not so much, if one understands anything about Chicago politics. Emanuel, a notorious partisan, has paid his dues. He was an assistant and chief advisor to President Bill Clinton. He later served as President Barack Obama's chief of staff during his first term. He therefore has deep knowledge of the inner workings of the White House and proven loyalty to his elders. He is also a tremendously ambitious man who, I suspect, would love nothing more than to become this country's first Jewish president.
The problem with this is that the aforementioned personalities, aided and abetted by David Axelrod, another Chicagoan and campaign strategist par excellence, are coopting state and national elections with a Machine-like approach not seen since the days of Soviet dominance in sports in the Olympics. The Machine approaches every election with a life-or-death mentality. It threatens weak-kneed supporters and crushes opponents with methodical tenacity. Where other Democrats are compassionate, these Machine Democrats are ruthless in their campaigning, seeing nothing wrong with dissembling and misrepresenting facts about their opponents.
If the scenario described above plays out, the White House will have been occupied by someone with close Chicago ties for all but eight years from 1993 through 2015, or fourteen years, with the prospect of adding at least another four years under the Cankles regime. In other words, a generation would know little different than the Chicago Way of government, and that isn't a good thing for anyone other than the people in power.
Keep a close eye on Chicago and the State of Illinois. Developments there may portend horrible things for the country.
(c) 2013 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles
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