Have Chicago Voters Said they Deserve to Get it “Good and Hard?”

By Steve Huntley

April 23, 2023

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.”

That observation comes from the great 20th century journalist, satirist, and iconoclast H.L. Mencken.

Who would have guessed that Mencken’s warning would come true for Chicago so soon?

Less than two weeks after Chicago voters endorsed the hard-left mayoral candidacy of Brandon Johnson, throngs of riotous youths with mayhem and anarchy in their hearts invaded downtown Chicago, bringing fear, gunfire wounding two, a car fire-bombed, assault, looting and a vivid picture of a town suffering the logical repercussions of soft-on-crime progressivism.

Soon-to-be mayor Johnson mouthed platitudes condemning “destructive activity,” but he soon revealed his true feelings — “it is not constructive to demonize youth who have otherwise been starved of opportunities in their own communities.”

You’re worried about their feelings Mr. Johnson?

The true victims are not the terrorized Chicagoans and tourists in the Loop but these poor teens suffering from the injustices of oppressive, racist America and low tax rates for corporations and the wealthy?

Lame duck Mayor Lori Lightfoot was just as out of touch. She called the awful spectacle “reckless, disrespectful and unlawful” but also scapegoated the police and then allowed that it “is wrong … to say that it was mayhem.”

The images and testimony of the innocent terrorized — like one woman whose husband was pulled from their vehicle and assaulted — tell a different story.

But like all good progressives, the mayor is adept at calling reality something else.

Recall that during the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots, a CNN reporter was standing in front of a firebombed business while a caption underneath the video read “Fiery But Mostly Peaceful Protests after Police Shooting.”

“Mostly peaceful protest” was repeated time and again as rioters burned small businesses and looted stores. To the far left, the business owners and residents robbed, firebombed and terrified in those “mostly peaceful protests” were just collateral damage in the noble pursuit of “social justice.”

Then there was the Biden administration official who the other day said he doesn’t “buy the whole argument of chaos” in the humiliating U.S. pullout from Afghanistan in 2021. Those Afghans desperate to escape the Taliban and who clung to the body of an U.S. aircraft as it took off before falling to their deaths might have called that chaos — if they had survived it.

To the Biden administration, they were just collateral damage on the road to an America free of Afghanistan.

Then there’s the reality bending of progressives who tell us that a man can get pregnant. Or assert that biological men have a right to compete in women’s sports.

For daring to challenge that alternative universe, former college swimmer Riley Gaines — denied a trophy by a male swimmer — was assaulted, placed under siege and put in fear of her life by thugs at San Francisco State University who objected to hearing a view they disagreed with.

To progressives, the women athletes denied trophies and championships are just collateral damage on the journey to a trans nirvana.

So, Johnson and Lightfoot have plenty of company in denying reality. Those Chicagoans and tourists left terrorized by the weekend rioting? They’re just collateral damage on the journey to progressive heaven for Chicago.

Actually, the Loop rioting and mayhem shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone.

When you elect a far-left union organizer to be mayor and re-elect a progressive criminal-coddling prosecutor, as Cook County did two years ago, the voters shouldn’t be astonished when law-breaking teens unleash chaos in the Loop. These teens may be poorly educated by the Chicago Teachers Union but they can understand election results and come to the logical conclusion that law and order are out the window.

And make no mistake about it, the progressive vision of criminals as victims of an unjust society seems to be the prevailing view of most Chicago voters.

How else to understand the election results?

A city facing a crime crisis rejected the crime-fighting candidate Paul Vallas to elect the progressive defund-the-police candidate Johnson to replace progressive soft-on-crime incumbent Lightfoot as mayor of the nation’s third largest city.

The defeat of a safe-streets-and-safe-neighborhoods candidate was much worse than indicated by Johnson’s 51 to 49 percent victory margin over Vallas.

Vallas got just under half of the votes of the 33 percent of registered Chicago voters who turned out April 4. Doing the math suggests only about 16 percent of Chicago’s voters wanted to return to the tried-and-true crime-combating policies — broken windows policing, community policing, cops supported by the governing elite — that had made Chicago such a safe city before the BLM riots.

It’s worth repeating: Only one third of Chicago’s registered voters turned out for the runoff. Two thirds of the voters — more than a million of them — sat out this critical election.

An obvious, reasonable and logical conclusion is that the vast majority of Chicagoans were satisfied with the way things were going in Chicago.

They watched BLM rioting, looting and arson, they’ve seen the stories of constant carjackings and permissive local prosecutors and judges releasing the violent, and they saw no reason to go to the polls to return the city to safety.

They watched crime and fear of it creep into once safe neighborhoods and saw no reason to put in the mayor’s office a candidate committed to rebuilding police ranks and cop morale.

They watched businesses buckle and some of them close under the stress of unrestrained and unpunished shoplifting, other crime and fear of “mostly peaceful protests” and saw no reason to come out at the polls to change the direction of the city.

They watched earlier outbreaks of teens wreaking havoc in the Loop and along Michigan Avenue and decided they didn’t need to register any displeasure at the ballot box.

They watched leftist extremists in the state legislature abolish cash bail for criminals and saw no reason to shout no with their votes.

Perhaps someone should update that wonderful song about a once wonderful city made famous by Frank Sinatra along the lines of …

This is a progressive kind of town,

Chicago is a woke kind of town,

Chicago is a crime kind of town,

Chicago is one town that will let you down,

Chicago is a progressive kind of town.

Now we’ll see how the wisdom of Mencken plays out:

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.”

-30-

Steve Huntley, a retired Chicago journalist now living in Austin, Texas, has contributed other pieces to johnkassnews, from an examination of the secret jail for Christopher Columnbus and other politically problematic public art to an essay on Americans suffering from Joe Biden gas pain.

For almost three decades Huntley spent most of his career in Chicago journalism at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he was a feature writer, metro reporter, night city editor, metropolitan editor, editorial page editor and a columnist for the opinion pages.

Before that he was a reporter and editor with United Press International (UPI) in the South and Chicago, and Chicago bureau chief and a senior editor in Washington with U.S. News & World Report. Northwestern University Press has issued soft cover and eBook editions of Knocking Down Barriers: My Fight for Black America by Truman K. Gibson Jr. with Steve Huntley, a memoir of a Chicagoan who was a member of President Roosevelt’s World War II Black Cabinet working to desegregate the military.

Comments 64

    2. Absolutely I agree with most of this column but residents do not deserve crime. These problems occur in many places and that sad trope about move if you don’t like it is simple but airless.

      I live here happily, use CTA many times daily (not always happily), am sad about all the people who diminish it. Flee to red states, where water is running out, where car travel is required everywhere, where many wealthy have new residences so current inhabitants cannot afford housing?

      I voted for Vallas, but saw the tide turning weeks before the election. I didn’t vote for Foxx either time either. Please don’t blame those of us who are diligent citizens here for what others do.

    3. Except the rest of the state will have to fund this ridiculousness. The mayor-elect went to Springfield and made it clear that the state will need to find his wishes. Screw that. I’m not paying my taxes to help Chicago be a bastion of ultra liberal policies that fail the city and the state. That’s damn near taxation without representation because MY representatives don’t vote for this. My reps vote the way we expect them to. But with a supermajority and a Dem gov, what hope does the rest of the state have? None. We hope to move out of the state because it’s our only recourse.

    4. Not really. I live in Los Angeles. I am politically conservative.

      I voted against Gavin Newsome. I voted against Maxine Waters (my gerrymandered representative). I never cast vote for Dianne Feinstein or the other numbnutz senator.

      I am not getting what I deserve.

      1. Same here. We lived in Chicago for 25 years. Due to a post retirement job opportunity, we moved from Naperville to the LA area, Torrance, CA to be exact. We voted against all the liberal leaders, including the pretty boy joke of a governor, Newsome. Maxine is a crazy nutcase, who lies more than she tells the truth, and yet the voters in my district kept her in office. No comprehending this madness is there!

    1. With all the mayhem in Chicago I was surprised that so few voters turned out. My grandfather was a State Representative in Illinois who lived in Chicago so I was taught from a young age the importance of voting and I have never missed an election. Too bad so few realize the importance of voting.

  4. Welcome to East East St. Louis. Or, West Detroit. Or, New Beirut. Or, Progressivistan. Or, Hell.

    Call it whatever you want, non-voting Chicago – you wanted black tribalism, and now you have it.

    I wish I could feel bad for you – but I can’t.

  6. Great column, it reminded me of my Dad, who was a Firefighter and WWII Veteran, who never went to college, but he was the wisest man I’ve ever known. He was a stickler for people voting, and knew how important it is for our country.

    One of my sisters once missed voting in a primary election and started to complain about an elected official. When my Dad found out she hadn’t voted, he told her to “Shut up- by not voting you gave up your right to complain”.
    He was right- people get the kind of politicians that they deserve.

  7. It’s so frustrating to see what has happened to this city and state. The “sheep” have been lulled to sleep by the liberal media. Apathy has set in big time. Maybe one day they’ll wake up after socialism/communism bites them in the ass and they’ll wonder how that happened. Then it’ll be too late and they’ll look for someone to blame other than themselves.

    1. So very sad to see what is happening and know there is nothing to be done to stop it. So very frightening to know that the people leaving the City are headed out to the collar counties and will continue to vote for the Democrats, even though the Democrat progressives are the root cause of their despair. The state of Illinois is doomed.

  8. I left Chicago last year, moving to the peace, quiet and gentility of coastal South Carolina. Down here, people see what is happening in Chicago and all have a common response-“Let it burn.”

    1. Inexplicable? Not really. The unions, especially the CTU are more concerned with power and control than they are with protecting the law and order of a once great city. These are the teachers the chumbalones send their children off to each day. I have a cousin who is a CTU progressive teacher. She’s an idiot.

  10. Chicago voters not only voted to take it “ good and hard”, they took off all their clothes, and purposefully sat themselves down on an old, dried up, bacteria laden plunger handle. The ones who stayed home are even worse than the ones who voted for Johnson.

  11. Chicago/Illinois tourism

    Come to Chicago for fun:
    – Get a little crazy fun – buy some pot & smoke up (mostly for the gain of the operators and a little bit for the government debt)
    – Get a little crazier playing our casinos and dropping some cash (mostly for the gain of the operators and a little bit for the government debt)
    – If you feel like *really* getting crazy, don’t worry: here you can do the crime and not do time (negating any tax revenue “gains” from above as society rots to a putrid cesspool)

    It’s as if the bowels of hell opened directly from the Chicago loop government buildings. Damn idiotic, swindling politicians looking out only for themselves and their gains at the expense of the population & society as a whole. I would not want to be in their shoes on judgement day.

    I voted in the election, but definitely not for this. My next vote will be with my feet as soon as practicable.

  12. Great column that spells out champagne socialism to a tee–until it happens to them. Then it will be whining and a “not in my backyard” attitude.

    What really amazes me is how quickly Lori is out making declarations about the need for law and order in Democrat run cities. Where has that Lori been for four years?

  13. We left the Chicago area in 2020 after the COVID mess and BLM riots. I breaks my heart to see the rapid decline of a once safe and beautiful city. The hardest part is the remaining citizens didn’t care enough to vote for a candidate that was clearly superior or stayed home. The old saying “ you reap what you sow” is playing out now

  14. Thank you Mr. Huntley,

    Both of our parties have devolved into not serving the public, but into sewing division that benefits the ruling class and the corporate duopoly that runs our nation.

    We send billions to Ukraine while we kick millions off of Medicaid and cut their food stamps, we ha ve wealthy who pay a far lower tax rate than those who work for as weekly paycheck.

    They have sewed such apathy, that so many have given up.that’s the only explanation. People do not vote because they do not think it will make any difference.

    1. My reply below was meant in response to Mr. Maitino. He is right on. Hit the proverbial nail on the head.
      To prove my point about pol whores: HEADLINE. Amid indictment, outgoing Burke praised by peers. Draws standing ovation. WTF?!
      My statement confirmed: a council of trollops (sp?)

  15. Great column, Steve.
    Even the progressives who usually comment negatively on most postings are silent on this one.
    How could they disagree?

    Thank you for periodically pinch-hitting for John.

  16. Steve,
    An excellent column.
    I was born and raised in Bridgeport,the 11th Ward. The one thing the people had, though they didn’t have much was their vote and they used it. Believe it or not the 11th ward had a Republican alderman at one time because the voters didn’t like the lazy salon keeper the Dems slated.
    Sad isn’t when 16% decide the form of government in Chicago while 84% wonder what happened.

  17. Voter apathy is a cancer that I believe began sometime in the seventies or eighties on all levels. To win a majority of 33% is easy compared to 66% of the voting public. It is a democracy if you choose to keep it! When people check out it’s over, maybe Biden will only need the majority of 20%!!!

  18. The election results are utterly illogical. First, with such important issues on the table (education, crime, taxes, gang violence and deaths of innocent children), how could only 33% of registered voters actually show up? Second, if people voted based on color, where were the votes of those who live in the perimeter in every direction? Were their votes somehow discounted with only enough counted to make the end look plausible? Whatever the cause, the die has been cast (emphasis on DIE) and the ensuing collapse of a once great city is not only imminent but will cause many dominoes to fall in near and dear suburbs and beyond. Lightfoot just the other day showed how “light” she really is by being part of a Black mayors symposium where she talked about Black mayors having the duty to speak out loud about the crime in their areas that is harmful and needs more attention. Has she been muzzled for the last 4 years because I never heard such utterings by her before! Sadly people are voting here and there for socialism even if they don’t understand it and our cities and states will become more divided…making the Federal elections in 2024 one of the most important in our history!

    1. Your point of the burbs falling like dominoes is CORRECT. The city is the economic engine that keeps those very expensive suburbs alive. Watch housing prices plummet when corporations and corporate jobs leave. Public housing in Wilmette, Winnetka, Glencoe, Kenilworth, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, Hinsdale, Oak Brook, etc anyone?!
      Chicago Symphony had to move an event OUT OF TOWN a few days after riot OUT OF FEAR it would happen again. They already give concerts in far western burbs. Don’t think they won’t leave. The Cleveland orchestra does a huge segment of its concerts IN FLORIDA.
      I lived in Chgo. I saw the wealthy leave Hyde Park, Humboldt Park, the areas around the boulevards, etc. The rich are not worried, they just pack up andget out. Then they convert their places to SROs, and slum housing. When it becomes popular again poof they throw the poor out, rehab and sell for millions. I saw my hood, West Town, a blue collar area become Lincoln Park West. Once a very friendly safe place now deadly.

  19. Each time this happens, another group of people quietly start looking online for a new place to live and run their business. Florida, Texas, Tennesee et. al.

    All while the progressive Governor lies at his podium, surrounded by the “suck up” media weasels, about how the state is “prospering” and safer under his reign.

    Meanwhile the evening news makes the city look like a cross between Mad Max and Dodge City after a cattle drive.

    I won’t be at all surprised if at some point in the near future, some of those “Demonized youth” wind up getting shot in the face the next time they try to drag some old couple from their car for a beating.

    The only good thing that will come of that “vigilante” justice? We’ll finally get to see Kim Foxx and her merry band of weasels prosecute the old couple to the full extent of the law.

  21. Chicago – a once Great City-… Today, ruled by willful ignorance

    Key Passage:

    Soon-to-be mayor Johnson mouthed platitudes condemning “destructive activity,” but he soon revealed his true feelings — “it is not constructive to demonize youth who have otherwise been starved of opportunities in their own communities.”

    You’re worried about their feelings Mr. Johnson?

    The true victims are not the terrorized Chicagoans and tourists in the Loop but these poor teens suffering from the injustices of oppressive, racist America and low tax rates for corporations and the wealthy?

    Lame duck Mayor Lori Lightfoot was just as out of touch. She called the awful spectacle “reckless, disrespectful and unlawful” but also scapegoated the police and then allowed that it “is wrong … to say that it was mayhem.”

  22. EXACTLY! Short, sweet and to the point. All politicians are WHORES (including Vallas, ie see his law suit against one of his small time wealthy business/corporate pimps he was going to reward had he won). They are in it for themselves and to stay in office and feed at the pork barrel and then they provide ‘gifts’ ie tax breaks for corporations who kick back to the whore pols. Vicious cycle. And we chumbolones just sit there. Any wonder with Civics Classes no longer taught. Most of the young don’t know how govt works.

  24. Your guest columnists are excellent. I was fortunate growing up in the 19th Ward. Low crime (RELATIVELY still). Home base moved 500miles south and out of Pritzgers grasp. Still own a condo in river north for ten years with ZERO appreciation in value. Things started to slide under Rahm and Lori greased the skids even more. Now SIXTEEN percent of the population have decided the fate of a once great city. I plan to sell it sooner than later. Even artwork on loan to the Art Institute is being moved to Florida and safety by its owner. As a kid I was a Frain usher. We worked all sorts of jobs and venues from wrasling at Marigold and the Amphitheatre to guiding the crowds at Marshall Fields at Christmas. From Comiskey and Wrigley and the Stadium to Aerie Crown and the Kirov Ballet. Taking public transit at all hours with little worry. Today when I fly in to visit MAYBE the Blue line during the day. Midway and the orange line is a non starter. I am so upset that a once vibrant and culturally wide ranging city has devolved into a criminal’s Mecca. PaperLace says it best. “the night Chicago died”.

  25. I only feel sorry for the crime victims who voted for Vallas and for those who voted for Vallas and lack the means to leave….for the rest of the citizens of Chicago I no longer feel anything. You’re being robbed and mugged? Your children are being shot in the streets? Your children are not getting an education?

    You live in a democracy, you can vote, you get what you vote for.

    Allen H. (an expat since 2017 when I first gave up on the voters in Chicago)

  26. Sadly, we are witnessing Chicago’s funeral following Johnson’s election. The big lie has been spread for the last several years but the new socialist dem party – there is no Hunter laptop; China is really our friend; there is no inflation; climate change will kill us all in a few years (but crime will not?); no worries, social workers will quell those peaceful but sprited protests, not cops; fossil fuels are anathema, yet when the grid goes down when Joe shuts down all those power plants, what will power all those EVs we’re supposed to drive? The list is endless, and yes, we’re heading toward disaster of mega proporations if we don’t change course sooner, than later. But in any case, Chicago is toast, too far gone.

  27. I didn’t see mentioned how much money in convention and restaurant revenue that Chicago will be losing in the years to come. Who wants to come to Chicago only to be harassed and possibly shot at?
    No one who is sane, for sure. How many of the people in the loop riot (yes, riot) will return to
    Chicago? Will the tourists who were frightened for their lives remind their friends to not book a
    visit to Chicago? You bet they will!!

  28. When the business’s close, the residents run away and the people who stay can’t afford the taxes, what have the progressives won?
    Chicago is not a destination for dinner or a show or even an evening stroll along the lake anymore. Most of the couples I know won’t even consider a suggestion of a night at a downtown restaurant. It’s a pretty sad state of affairs that Lightfoot, Evans and Foxx
    have brought to the entire Chicago region.
    If you don’t want to punish the miscreants and criminals you wind up
    with more crime and fewer residents, visitors and people who spend money.
    Liberals need to do the math.

  30. Truly sad. Yet another generation lost to illiteracy, crime, single parent households and drugs with no end in sight. A dwindling voter base that had any chance to right the ship. The end of tourism, trade and whatever tranquility that remains. An escape to the suburbs is no longer an economic option, due to an increasingly left leaning and irrational state government.
    The 2024 Democrat Convention will be quite the showcase for the far left lawless loons.

  31. I had an epiphany while watching Brandon Johnson’s state inauguration at Springfield. The grinning democrat sycophants gave him a standing ovation as he did his Obama style oratory. It was a very inspiring coronation for our future socialist president. I know, I know it seems far fetched. But it kind of makes you wonder why the national party would stage a convention in an unsafe, riot riddled place like Chicago. It would only seem fitting to crown our next Obama where it all began. I know, I must be a crazy “conspiracy nut” , but yes, the nightmare started here. Nothing good comes out of Chicago. And neither will this….

  32. Could it possibly be tue that the people who care most about Chicago’s crisis/demise are those who have left or are planning to? It seems incomprehensible that 2/3 of highly impacted voters wouldn’t vote? I worked the last few elections before moving to Florida in 2020 and the equipment is antiquated to say the least. Are we confident that some votes didn’t get “lost?”

  34. It seems incomprehensible that 2/3 of highly impacted voters wouldn’t vote? I worked the last few elections before moving to Florida in 2020 and the equipment is antiquated to say the least. Are we confident that some votes didn’t get “lost?”

    1. In Wisconsin, we have low “voter turnout” because we still have so many names on the rolls that haven’t been purged. When I worked as a voting judge in Chicago, there was supposed to be a page in the back of the book for the judges’ notes, amendments, etc. One of the things that was supposed to be noted was known deaths, etc. I had a neighbor who had long been widowed, and I asked the “senior” voting judge at the polling place if we could mark that he was deceased. The woman – who was an incredibly nice person – was somewhat taken aback. She had it in her head that somehow I was trying to disenfranchise the dead man. Since the page wasn’t there for amendments (and he still got mail because of his wife), he’s probably still on the rolls there till this day.

  35. Well, it sure seems that the norm for the above Replies shows the lack of votes taking control of the election…I saw one reporter state that 29 of the 51 wards had voted for Johnson and those wards were the ones having the most crime or criminals. Ergo, the gangs and their leaders alongside of the CTU have made the election for Johnson stand up. Yup, many are now moving out of Chiraq and leaving the rest, who do not have the wheels available to them, remain.

    If memory serves me correctly, there was a time when the “Original” Daley was mayor that trouble was always eliminated, often by force, ie, the DNC gathering to form a presidential ballot. It seemed that many blunt injuries were treated in local hospitals as the CPD was “unleashed” to render peace in the valley of Chiraq…..and they accomplished that. Does that mean Johnson has to go that route? No, but he does NOT honor law and order properly by giving the teen hooligans a whitewash and not telling them that they will have to pay the price of lawbreakers.

    No, I no longer live in Chiraq and haven’t been living there since 1948, thank God for my parents moving to the burbs and that is where I still live my life in peace with law and order. My wife and I have 12 children with 49 grandchildren and proud of them all. We feel strongly that we have shown them right from wrong and that goes a long way when you have a household with two parents helping the children attain maturity. Should that math and path in life sustain those within the borders of Chicago? I would hope so and it should be front and center for all parents. It was a great blessing to see 500 men on the streets of the other day who were looking for teens to help with jobs and whatever would help them be accountable to law and order. God bless these men.
    My prayers at night are always for my family and friends who have needs that God might attend to them, but that perhaps we can also step forward.
    Stepping forward, I kind of like that as a format for other parents in Chicago to recognize their children’s needs in the direction that their paths in life require.
    May God bless all parents no matter where they live.
    Thank you John Kass and Steve Huntley for this posting and may your rehabbing continue to give us more of your words.

  37. As one who grew up on the south side of Chicago I can’t understand this.
    Mayor elect Johnson chuckled the whole thing off. His statement indicated kids will be kids and kids do stupid things as a reason.(Paraphrasing here) What the hell?
    Prior to the run off I read a comment on fb of a friend. A friend of this friend stated if you don’t vote for Johnson I will never speak to again. Shock was my first thought, second was why? The think as I do and say is crazy. Yet prevalent.
    My prayers go out to all those have to work there. The doctors, nurses, EMT, the firefighters, the police, and the average person making a living.
    In the words of Forrest Gump stupid is as stupid does.
    The city is too far gone now to ever recover.
    Thanks for your words

  38. That was the 1st quote I thought of when Johnson won. The second quote I thought of was from Mark Twain: “There is nothing to be learned from the second kick of a mule”. In electing Johnson, Chicagoans have elected a more likable, farther left-wing version of Lightfoot. It’s so sad to see where this once-great city is going.

  39. I struggle to call the victims of the Chicago crime epidemic “collateral damage”.
    Their rights to justice are being denied by elected far left bureaucrats.
    The criminals committing crimes are in no way the victims.
    These are NOT “silly decisions” made by petulant teenagers.
    The two teenagers who crashed the stolen car and killed a BABY committed murder.
    They should be tried as adults and pay the maximum price for their actions.
    But, that’s not what Chicago voted for.
    For those who stayed home on Election Day?
    You are culpable in denying the victims their day in court.
    You are culpable for the injustices laid upon the victims.
    And if you feel safe, then you are living in a parallel universe.
    I will not go to Chicago as long as progressives are in charge.
    Check that.
    I will not go to Chicago as long as the CRIMINALS are in charge.

  40. Excellent column, but marred 15 times by the painful misuse of the term “progressive.” Please, Mr. Huntley, an accurate, talented journalist like you can do better than to keep repeating that lame political euphemism.

    The Bolsheviks did not help Russia progress. The Labour Party did not provide progress for Great Britain before Margaret Thatcher rode to that country’s rescue. Hugo Chavez didn’t bring progress to a previously functional Venezuela, unless you consider its citizens desperately eating their pets “progress.” Progressive Joe wouldn’t be a vehicle of actual progress if it slipped Hunter another few million bucks. The press and pundits who keep calling leftists “progressive” when they push neo-Marxist regression on America are using rhetorical pretzel logic.

    Please give up the Orwellian-language con of “progressive.” Leftist thugs are leftist thugs — on the street or in the government.

  41. As always, Steve Huntley is spot on !

    I now live as far from the city as I ever have…a place I grew up I and vowed I’d never leave. I’m so glad did. When I have to be in the city limits due to work requirements, I shelter in place. It’s been 3 years now of brown bag lunches. Next mission, get the heck out of Illinois altogether.

    One thing I think we need to do is to stop giving the “kind names” to all of these groups. BLM, Progressives, Cancel Cultureists, all the gender nonsense . Let’s start referring to them as they should be referred to…RADICALS. If that hurts their feelings tough crap !!! If that makes me, whatever, then so be it !

  42. What an incredible article, and so spot on, Mr. Huntley! It’s disgusting that only 33% of Chicago’s electorate voted in this very crucial election. As General Sherman once said that he’ll “make Georgia Howl”, the policies of Brandon Johnson will make Chicago howl harder.

  43. The ONLY reason Lightweight Lori is now calling for more police is because she’s about to lose the 100-man police protection detail assigned to her. I hope she gets caught up in one of those “peaceful protests” real soon.

  44. Chicago residents, I feel your pain. I’m a lifelong Pennsylvania resident planning a move from our now deep blue state that just elected a man to the senate more incoherent than Biden…

  45. I have yet to see a cogent analysis of why voters were so apathetic
    or why Vallas did not go door to door to bring out voters
    or why so many parents do not know what their children are doing
    or why I still live here

  48. Not sure what is accomplished by a man from Austin writing an article about the demise of Chicago for a writer in Indiana, to an audience of subscribers who live in Florida. Moreover every time a writer revisits the BLM riots I’m reminded that same writer has likely conveniently forgotten January 6th. Toss in some obligatory ‘woke’, maybe a Soros reference and a dash of trans fear mongering and you have the perfect cocktail for a mention near the bottom of the page on Real Clear. Whoopee. For those of us who, you know, ACTUALLY live here, crime is most definitely a concern. I didn’t support Johnson but I did appreciate his response. I think he is smart enough a man to realize downtown crime is now his to own, and if being progressive could solve the issue, Lightfoot would still be mayor. I’m here three days a week, all day, I’ve never witnessed as much as a loud argument. Not naive enough to say crime doesn’t exist, but the concept of fleeing the ‘Lawless Blue City’ is just another tired right wing trope, right along side ‘Good Guy with a Gun’ and ‘The War on Christian Values.’ Let’s hope the response (beefed up/visible police presence and mobile detainment units) becomes the norm, not just a one time photo op.

Leave a Reply