Chicago; Yes, But Then What?

As a kid I remember my uncle, who worked at O’Hare telling me that if your precinct didn’t go for the Mayor your streets would be the last to get plowed when it snowed. When my brother moved to Chicago after finishing school he relayed his election strategy: "I vote against all the incumbents; the new guys will be corrupt too but they won’t be as good at it." Shortly before the runoff election for mayor, I answered a phone poll:
Q: On a scale of 1 – 10, ten being the highest, how likely are you to vote for Rahm?
Me: 10
Q: On a scale of 1 – 10 how would you rate Rahm’s job performance?
Me: 1
The question in Chicago isn't what should become of Rahm Emanuel but at this point, what difference does it make. As Jonah Goldberg pointed out today, Chicago is a one party city. How one party? In the 2012 Presidential election, Barack Obama got 74% of the vote in Cook County. Ah, you say Obama is from Chicago, of course he did well. In 2004 John Kerry did only slightly worse picking up 70% of the vote. And if anything these results understate things. Of the city's 50 alderman, 49 are Democrats. Forty-nine flippin' Dems out of a total of fifty!

I'm more than fine with investigating the police department, I'd be happy to see Rahm go (voting for him was, shall we say, painful), but what then? The normal recourse here is to democracy, but I think it is fair to say that democracy has failed in Chicago. The city is for all intents and purposes broke, it's citizens are leaving, Rahm's opponent in the last election ran to his left. Chicago in the worst way needs a vibrant conservative oriented opposition party, but getting one....? To that, well..."we all want to see the plan."