But that scam prompts a pertinent question for today. Do we, as a nation, want to be Chicago or MAGA country? As societal unrest and economic anxiety grip our land, the ascendant and increasingly aggressive leftists seek a wholesale transformation of America into the harsh realities of Chicago, a place afflicted by violence, bereft of opportunity, and committed to stifling statism.
Much of this violence flows from a lack of opportunity that drives far too many young men to lives of despair, danger, and criminality. A recent University of Illinois study reports that 40% of Chicago black men aged 20-24 were neither employed nor in school. Part of this idleness flows from the scandalous failure of public education in Chicago. At the end of the 2019 school year, per Illinois exam guidelines, only 26% of Chicago public schools students tested ready for the next grade level.
Much of the dereliction of duty in public education results from a bloated and expensive bureaucracy that exists for its own self-aggrandizement, to the detriment of children and families. Too many young Chicagoans find themselves consigned to lives of underperformance in a digital economy that emphasizes STEM skills and creative capacity.
In response to this litany of failures, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot predictably deflects blame by castigating President Trump. When Trump tweeted condemnation of the inability, or unwillingness, of Democratic mayors and governors to restore order during recent looting and rioting, Lightfoot responded: “I will code what I really want to say to Donald Trump. It’s two words. It begins with and F and ends with a U.” Her dismissive vulgarity exemplifies the arrogance of local officials, almost invariably Democrats, who have failed in the most basic governmental obligation to provide public safety. Lightfoot embodies the callous indifference to the hopelessness that permeates her city. Nonetheless, both locally and nationally, Chicago’s political leaders find a supportive leftist coalition of race-baiters, public-sector unions, trial lawyers, and corporate media cheerleaders.
