Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Illinois Entrepreneur's avatar

I'm a business owner in Chicago. I'm in the thick of it.

We are on the precipice. And I think for the first time many residents here can see it, and there is a realization that the CTU progressives are not here to fix things, but to destroy them. They are not socialists, but communists, and that is not hyperbole. They do not believe that the business community is the source of good things, and they believe that the City and its institutions are inherently repressive. They take a warlike mentality to civics, and they are nasty about it. There is something wrong with a lot of these teacher's psyches, but that's another discussion for another day.

After Lori was elected and saw the day-to-day reality of the city, she had to move rightward in order to attempt to salvage the economic engine of the City. Her rhetoric during her original campaign was not far off from Brandon Johnson's. The only difference, I believe, is that BJ will have to govern the way he campaigned, because the CTU is his boss, not the constituents. Lori was not elected by the insiders, but by populism.

With BJ, CTU will finally have a chance to enact every policy they can dream of, and I think it will make Portland look like a red city in comparison. Our business community is smart and savvy, having thrived for many years with various pols and ideologies. Many will see that CTU cannot be bargained with, and plans for alternatives will be made. CTU is full of true believers.

All of the horrible things about corruption, combined with the repressive structures of communism will come to Chicago, and if you don't know anyone, you aint gettin' anything. This is a potential landmark change and the future looks very, very dire.

I would say that the opposite is true of Vallas, but I'm not sure. Yes, he understands the structure and the tribal lines, but does he have courage? Can he resign himself to be a one-termer and do the right things? I don't know. Like Lori, he will have lots of enemies on Day 1, and he will have to learn to fight angry and tough and not be a victim. I think CTU and the new machine will use that pressure to get him to do what they want, anyway, and he'll be twisted into a pretzel. Most of the high income white people in Chicago are liberals who would prefer not to see the ugliness of the politics, and DEFINITELY don't want to see tough decision-making that looks "right wing" in nature. They want "equity" but don't understand that only merit is going to get things done. They want businesses to locate there, but want high taxes and regulation, too. It's a very schizophrenic constituency that will not back Vallas when the going gets tough. They will complain and simply look down the road, or move. At no point will they realize that its the ideology that is the problem, and that it presents no realistic solutions to Chicago's ills.

A bleak future indeed.

Expand full comment
Jeffrey L Minch's avatar

The problem with all the taxes is they are playing catch up. No sooner are these taxes instituted than they will need even more taxes.

Sometimes a corrupt and ill managed enterprise has to actually go bankrupt to find its new footing.

Chicago is in need of a barbed wire enema.

JLM

www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com

Expand full comment
34 more comments...

No posts