Just Chicago politics writ large.
If you’re a Chicago business firm, and you don’t go along with the machine, well, you might be surprised how long a zoning change takes to get approved (if it gets approved at all).
You’re a mom-and-pop store, and you’re not going to help out your precinct captain? Sometimes there can be real problems in renewing a liquor license or a business permit.
You’re just a guy in the neighborhood, and you put a campaign sign for somebody other the machine candidate? Well, how about that - it looks like the garbagemen somehow missed your house again this week.
Anybody who’s lived in the city knows how these thugs work - it’s almost amusing to see how long it’s taking for the country to find out.
It’s better described as “crony liberalism” than than as “crony capitalism.”