I grew up in Chicago. Over the years, I've bought two cops, an alderman and two traffic court judges. None of them ever came close to jail time.
YOU GET WEARY???
I'm a big fan of when ANY public official, right down to the guy leaning on a shovel, gets caught with his hand in the Public Cookie Jar, he and HIS WHOLE FAMILY gets torched, in front of the court house at high noon, for the amusement of the adults and the education of the kiddies.
We would either have more honest public servants or more clever thieves. Either would be an improvement.
Convince me that anyone who runs for office shouldn't be hunted down and shot, as a threat to civilization. What's worse? Crooks stealing everything, or no government at all?
You were in city government. How long did it take you to sell out? Tell me that you never turned a blind eye to corruption, the drunken cop, the brother-in-law with the construction company, as a political expedience.
You are a crook. It's only a matter of degree.
I too am originally from Chicago (to be fair, a first-ring suburb.) My grandfather was one of the only white businessmen left in his part of the South Side and I got to witness ‘reverse discrimination’ up close. As a small child I heard about crooked judges, cops, officials, etc. I know it exists in that area because it is part of the culture. I also intuitively picked up that the reason that corruption exists is because good people allow it to remain because they didn’t want to get involved, didn’t know how they could help, or simply didn’t have it impact them directly so didn’t much care. And as such, a great injustice is allowed to exist there and has for generations, unfortunately.
As to your comments, if you truly hold that anyone running for office should be “hunted down and shot as a threat to civilization” then there is no reasoning with you. Such a line of thinking will certainly increase your odds of getting a license plate manufacturing job with 3 squares and a cot as fringe benefits.
I offer that such sentiments from the anarchist edges of thought directly contribute to the decay of our representative democracy at every level. Back in the day we were taught by our elders that at some point in our lives we need to give something back to our communities. The best and brightest in our towns - doctors, business owners, pharmacists, etc. - traditionally answered that call and all agreed to serve on boards and committees in their churches, schools and communities because that was how they “gave back.” Then cynical types like you with blanket statements that anyone who serves publicly is a crook and untrustworthy came along and the best and the brightest decide it isn’t worth the grief and stop serving. We were then left with hoping that the best of the second tier folks in town serve in positions but they too get run off. What is left is single-issue, small minded folks in positions of power who, ironically, are more likely to get involved in crooked deals and graft.
Why is congress so crooked? Because good people with a heart for service have been run off by the likes of you and now we are left with less overall quality in our representation. Congress draws people from state, county and large city positions. State & county positions get filled by school board, city council and town board folks; and those positions get filled from volunteer boards and committees. Congress is screwed up because our society has run off a good portion of the best and brightest at the local level who aren’t interested in being threatened with blanket labels & violence from folks like you. With no good players on the bench, we end up fielding bad players because one way or the other the game will get played.
You, who don’t know me from Adam, have some audacity to unilaterally declare all who serve as crooked thieves, malcontents and sell-outs. In the past 5 years have personally got rid of an inept and meddlesome police chief, a shady liquor store manager, and a 19.5 year veteran cop just months from being vested in their retirement because they were filing false time sheets. In a different organization I also got rid of a dirty police chief at great risk to my health, safety and career given how that person had charmed many in the public. Good government requires people willing to stand for what is right even when it is hard or unpopular. In the words of Jeremiah, as for me and my house we will choose to serve God and, by extension, my fellow man.
Every organization - be it public, private, non-profit, religious - has bad apples. But in fairness, they also have good apples as well. The only thing that evil needs to succeed is for the just to do nothing. I will fight the good fight to maintain the integrity of my organization regardless of your dark, jaded, anarchy-leaning take on things. I do not have influence among the nations or in Washington DC or our state capital or even the county courthouse down the street. I do, however, have great influence over the integrity of this municipal organization that I’ve been entrusted by the public to head up; and I will not shrink from that responsibility even if trolls start sporting for a fight.