I'm in a bad mood today, mostly because of certain monkeys that are making an elephant-sized mess of one of the many circuses I seemed to be involved in these days. The other contributing factor is the two inches of heavy, wet snow on my driveway at the end of March? Pardon me, Spring? Your table is ready.
Nothing says "bad mood" like Illinois politics, so let's venture down that pot-hole strewn path for a while, shall we?
An article in today's paper talks about possible solutions to corruption in Illinois state politics. I thought it was a joke at first, like a new comedy club was opening downtown or something. But no, they're serious. Corruption in Illinois politics? Who knew?
Well, for one, the dead guy in Chicago that's been under the sod for the last 30 years but still manages to get out and vote in every election. And I thought I took my right to vote seriously. He's got plenty of friends, too. If you die a Democrat in Chicago, you get 50 years "not-quite-dead" status to keep oiling the machine. If you die a Republican...well, who cares? We're already ignored in Cook County anyway.
See where I'm going with this? Talking about corruption in Illinois politics is like talking about the blue sky: it's there, everyone sees it, but nobody really notices it. Fact of life. Blue sky, green grass, $7,000 parking tickets. Our ex-guv Blagojevich even talked about the sale of Hussein's seat on an open line. Talk about brazen. Anyone who's ever seen The Godfather knows you don't talk business on an open line. But that's how far out of whack things have gotten. And now that Bozo-bama has gotten the corner office, the whole country gets to see how the Chicago Machine works. Ignore any Republicans hanging around, make sure you surround yourself with yes-men, no matter how inept or greedy, never answer a direct question, remember that there is always a lesser being to throw to the wolves, and, most importantly, get your cut of the dough.
The article talks about campaign finance reform, accountability in public officials, transparency...the same old schtick. I'm skeptical, to say the least.
But this might be the one thing, and I mean the only, only, only thing, that can be made good out of Hussein's election: now that he has brought this kind of politics to a national stage, people might actually start to wake up and think before they vote. Actually look at what a politician does instead of what he says. Look at his voting record on their behalf instead trusting to sound bites. Wouldn't that be grand?
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