“Carthage must be destroyed.”
– Cato the Elder, Roman Senator
By: Mark Glennon*
The core identity of moral and fiscal bankruptcy in Illinois government cannot be denied. It controls the Illinois General Assembly, Chicago and Cook County. “The machine” isn’t often used to describe it any longer, but the “Chicago way” now universally communicates its infamy.
It has defied its end as persistently as did Carthage before Cato. Carthage was a mortal threat to the Roman Republic in the second century BC and had rebuilt itself time and again after earlier Roman invasions. Its total destruction was Rome’s only option, thought Cato, a Roman Senator. He became most known for his warning, with which he is said to have started and finished ever speech and every conversation, “Carthage must be destroyed.” His phrase became policy. Rome demolished Carthage and, legend says, sowed the ground under it with salt.
Nor can its party identity be denied. Cook County Democrats and party members they control stand all but alone against all ethical and fiscal reforms. They run their party and, with that, hold all legislative power. Smart and decent people choose different parties. Many Illinois Republicans have contributed to the state’s crisis in the past, and many Republicans at the national level terrify moderates who comprise most of Illinois. But it’s genuinely difficult to understand how anybody with a conscience supports the Illinois Democratic Party as it stands today. That party is the machine.
Destroying the machine is no longer about avoiding calamity. It’s about mitigating the hardship now inevitable and implementing a disaster recovery plan as rapidly as possible. It will not be destroyed just by replacing its leadership. Only cultural revulsion towards what they represent and full confession that their model of government is shattered will sustain lasting change. To hope that 2016 finally is the year for its destruction is too optimistic. It will take longer and it’s already too late for major parts of Illinois. The fiscal crisis has broken into open flames in Chicago public schools and dozens of towns caught in death spirals of higher property taxes and shrinking tax bases.
The initial battle is being fought on two fronts and remains to be won. The first front is against cover-up. Whether it’s financial ruin or police misconduct, cover-up — denying, delaying, extending and pretending — are the establishment’s routine. It’s “all just political exaggeration,” there’s “no crisis” with pensions, and reformist insurgents are “extremists” — those messages are machine dogma. Quack populism at its most vile is the second front. It’s the working class for whom the establishment says it fights, though the working class sinks further into despair each day, precisely as a consequence of their rule. On financial matters, a sleeping and partisan press corps validates the establishment’s side on both fronts. It’s part of the establishment.
Both fronts in that initial battle can be won this year because manifest facts invalidate lies, and the facts are becoming horribly palpable at a personal level for most Illinoisans. The rest of the struggle to set Illinois right won’t end yet. Make no mistake about what ultimate success requires.
The machine must be destroyed.
*Mark Glennon is founder of WirePoints. Opinions expressed are his own.
A set of state lawmakers want to extend CPS’ current school closing moratorium to February 1, 2027 – the same year CPS is set to transition to a fully-elected school board. That means schools like Manley High School, with capacity for more than 1,000 students but enrollment of just 78, can’t be closed for anther three years. The school spends $45,000 per student, but just 2.4% of students read at grade level.
Hopefully, all media will get the message, in Illinois, too.
Ted joined Tom Miller of WJPF to talk about Illinois’ highest-in-the-nation property taxes, why lawmakers don’t want to touch the tax’s cost drivers, just how much Illinoisans’ tax burden has grown over the decades, why Gov. Pritzker failed to meet his promise to reform property taxes, and more.
Powerfully-perfect article Mark ! You nailed it on every level. It amazes me how so many of my high school acquaintances/friends back in Park Forest have remained “D”-voters……maybe partly because the Chicago area machine of govt has employed SO many from I.C. train, to state univ profs, to grade school teachers, and on and on. So many have their bread buttered by the private sector taxpayers, that they really MUST keep voting for status quo. But bankruptcy and pension tsunami is coming. Your only missing element is that this is not confined to the Illinois Democrat machine…..California and other areas… Read more »
I think bankruptcy is the only way to destroy it. There is no way a Republican can win against the Machine. This is not NYC. The voters that might be persuaded are moving out of the city, or out of the state. In addition, gerrymandering has made it so the Machine can pick and choose candidates that will do their bidding. When you get an outside Democrat, the usual result is a very far left socialism type Democrat which is worse than the crony capital union loving Machine Democrat! The other way to destroy it is via civil revolt. If… Read more »
Mortgage companies aren’t going to let that happen.
Is Trump the Alexander who will cut the Gordian Knot (or begin its unraveling)? We call it the “establishment” because “it” has figured out a way to work the system to preserve a status quo that is fundamentally self-destructive. You keep your pick-up truck and gun and I keep my pension. We name the system a representative democracy — voters retain some power — and like to believe it was carefully structured to avoid tyranny. The results in Illinois and elsewhere are quickly undermining that belief. I think your analysis goes a good distance toward explaining the Trump phenomenon. I,… Read more »
Yes, I agree, and it’s very tricky. Just don’t think I agree with Trump’s answers. He’s a dangerous demagogue with no understanding or regard for fundamental constitutional principles. As far as the left, some are peaceful and principled but some, like CPS leadership, are classically trained leftists intent on total confrontation.
Reading for your spare time: http://harvardmagazine.com/2015/12/rhetoric-and-law
Good article. Posner’s an interesting one, and complicated. Chapter 9 is so undeveloped that, when these very messy cases start hitting, bankruptcy judges may have no choice but to apply Posner’s version of “pragmatism.,” and who knows how that will come out.
One of my rare disagreements w/ you. I think he’s 100% respectful of constitutional principles. Our country essentially stopped immigration from 1925 to 1965 and it partly was responsible for the enormous growth in our middle class and wages after FDR finally went and Truman immediately relaxed onerous regulations on businesses. As for Trump’s economic plans, his tax rate changes would be terrific and his understanding of businesses will help immensely.