Patterico's Pontifications

7/31/2010

What’s Wrong with Chicago?

Filed under: Crime — Jack Dunphy @ 1:16 pm



[Guest post by Jack Dunphy]

I have a new piece up over at Pajamas Media in which I look at the sorry state of affairs in Chicago, home to some of the country’s best people but worst politicians. The Chicago Sun-Times took a look at a particularly violent weekend in 2008, during which forty people were shot, seven of them fatally. The Sun-Times discovered that, even two years later, no one had been convicted in any of those crimes, and that only one accused murderer was awaiting trial. None of the other six murders had been solved, nor had most of the non-fatal shootings.

Read the whole thing.

–Jack Dunphy

12 Responses to “What’s Wrong with Chicago?”

  1. May I offer a few reasons, as a former member of the Chicago Police Department, as to why this has happened.
    1. Daley & Democrat politics. Included in this are the policies of “meritorious” promotions and affirmative action promotions. Almost no supervisor promoted this way will ever gain the respect of those who are to be led.
    2. Chicago’s draconian anti second amendment laws.
    3. Daley’s Machine. No one looking to to get into the upper ranks of supervision will be able to do so without selling their souls to the Machine.
    4. The knowledge that if an officer gets into some sort of jam the Administration will throw them under the bus in a heartbeat.
    5. Daley. This corrupt excuse for a human being lives only for power.

    For a taste of the general mood of the rank and file read Second City Cop

    SaintGeorgeGentile (f01fce)

  2. This isn’t as bad a place as you might think. Most of the bad stuff happens in a few areas on the south and west sides. A pretty good chunk of the city is ok.
    I have never voted for Daley, but here is the question of the day–who comes next? Rahm Emanuel? JJ Jackson Jr? As bad as Daley is, in some ways and to be fair, he has done some good things. Those two aforementioned clowns would be ten times worse.

    Another problem in the city as well as the state, is that the R Party is a complete joke. There is no viable long term opposition to the D’s, which is why the corruption is so bad here.

    BT (74cbec)

  3. They just created 7 new voters in Chicago. Kind of like the “motor voter” process.

    And, we know how those type of voters vote.

    Jim (844377)

  4. As BT said, there is no discernible difference between the R and the D parties here – just The Combine, which like the Borg from Star Trek, only lives to absorb everything into it’s path of gorging at the public trough. Blago is merely the latest symptom of the disease – the rot is institutional at this point, and until you get rid of Daley and his brother (who control both the city and county governments) along with Mike Madigan (who controls the IL legislature), it won’t change in the foreseeable future.

    Regarding the Sun – Times article, this is really about the culture of silence when gang members are involved. The police cannot protect potential witnesses anymore, and if anyone dares to testify they not only put their own lives in mortal danger, but everyone remotely connected with them from the neighborhood.

    Dmac (d61c0d)

  5. home to some of the country’s best people but worst politicians.

    Way too many of those “best people” apparently aren’t worth much when it comes to selecting good politicians and favoring a sensible philosophy. But Chicago is typical of urban areas throughout America. Places full of a mix of “we’re sophisticated!” latte liberalism and dysfunctional inner-city leftism.

    Mark (411533)

  6. Mark you hit the nail on the head.

    BT (74cbec)

  7. Paradoxically, Illinois voters also elected Peter Fitzgerald, one of the best Senators the US ever had as far as battling pork, corruption, waste, bailouts. His reward? Despite the fact he was the only Republican to win a Senate campaign in over 25 years, he got chased out of the Primary and is now living in exile in Virginia. No tears were shed when he left, but I’m guessing Illinois voters realy wish he we was still around now.

    Sean P (6f6c60)

  8. I’m from Chicago and have always felt that the Daley Machine had a deal with the gangs–keep the violence in “your” neighborhood, and we’re okay with that.

    That leaves the rest of the city to giggle about their cute, corrupt politicians like Blago or just about any IL governor–and to keep funding the “good liberal” Democrats. Aw, Daley is a dope but the city works! To hell with the good people stuck in gang territory.

    Patricia (358f54)

  9. Colonel think much is
    possible if peeps reach out
    to the MikeDitka

    ColonelHaiku (ac3c3c)

  10. The Chicago voters support Daley because they fear what comes after him. It will probably be some version of Todd Stroger. A genuine reform candidate, Forrest Claypool, ran against Stroger in the election for the county board. Obama was allegedly a friend of Claypool but threw him under the bus in a very corrupt process.

    On March 14, 2006, John Stroger, Cook County Board of Commissioners president since 1994 and Todd Stroger’s father, suffered a serious stroke one week before the Democratic primary.[1] John Stroger eventually won the Democratic nomination, winning about 53 percent of the votes cast, defeating Forrest Claypool. For months after the elder Stroger’s stroke he did not appear in public, and his family provided little information about his condition.
    Shortly after the stroke, Todd Stroger gave noncommittal responses about the likelihood that his father would remain on the ballot. But in May, he reversed his previous stance, saying his father would return to office.[2] Ultimately, John Stroger would submit his resignation. At the same time that John Stroger submitted his resignation, it was announced that alderman William Beavers would assume the County Commissioner seat while Todd Stroger, if elected, would take over the County Board presidency. This announcement came four days after the deadline for third-party candidates to file for the Board presidency race.[3]

    Chicago politics. Many fear that after the Daley era ends, Chicago will go the way of Detroit. I wouldn’t be surprised. Detroit was once a vibrant city. Now they are farming huge swaths of vacant land.

    Here, for those interested, is a long piece on Urbanophile. I don’t agree with all he writes but the data is there.

    Claypool has left the Democratic Party and is running for Assessor as an Independent. It seems to me he would be a good tea party candidate but I don’t live in Chicago anymore so am not up to date.

    Mike K (0ef8c3)

  11. Claypool is OK in most respects, but he’s still part of the Daley machine – he’s also connected to Rahm and the other usual suspects. I still hope he wins, because Berrios is going to really screw the homeowners if he wins the election. Houlihan (the outgoing assessor) is the one true reform candidate, but he would never characterize himself in that manner. He’s gone after almost every corrupt politico here that’s knee – deep into crony capitalism – Madigan, Daley and his stooge candidate Berrios. He won’t say whether he’s going to challenge Daley for Mayor, but I really hope to hell he does – he’s got a great track record of standing up for the honest taxpaying citizens of this city.

    Dmac (d61c0d)

  12. How could forty people have been shot.

    Handguns were banned. Those reports of shootings must have been a hoax .

    Michael Ejercito (249c90)


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