The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor

Illinois elections were a mess. Wha’d’ya expect from the same people who screwed the state?

J.B. Pritzker. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker revealed a lot about himself with his handling of the COVID-19 crisis in Illinois.

While virtually shutting the entire state to stem the spread of the virus, he decided to let the primary election proceed–as if everything was normal.

Pritzker, a man of apparently two minds, turned the primary elections into a joke and jeopardized the lives of uncounted people who turned out to vote and the people–most of them volunteers–who manned the polls.

In it, he caved into the Democratic Machine power brokers, namely House Speaker Mike Madigan who runs the state’s party apparatus. Let the election proceed at all costs, because there’s no reason to put it off; the result will be the same.

In other words, the sheep who put these deplorables into office will do what they’re told, follow the script and fortify the same gang that has sent Illinois into a death dive.

Let’s take the case of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. She beat three challengers, winning a plurality of nearly 50 percent (as of this counting). Put aside how she reversed a grand jury’s indictment of Jussie Smollet, the actor who staged a hate crime. On that score alone, she should have been defeated. But just as important is her spongy approach to prosecuting criminals. By reducing the jail population she has put some dangerous criminals back on the street.

Credit her victory to the Democratic Machine whose luminaries turned a blind eye to her bungling. She was their gal and will do as told. As did the voters who defied the COVO-19 risk and turned out at the polls to vote for her.

Years ago, the Machine was declared dead. A mistake, that. It is as much alive as when Richard J. Daley ran it. Actually, it’s worse. The Machine has expanded its reach well beyond the city. It now runs Cook County and Illinois government. Its tentacles even extend into the collar counties.

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

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

What the voters who have are part of the Machine have deserved is a Chicago and Illinois that are so far in debt that they might never recover. But taxpayers will feel the brunt of the failed policies.

And so it goes. Pritzker has virtually shut down Illinois’ economy, a move that won’t strip him of his billions. Jobs will disappear, businesses will go broke. Maybe he’s right that we should cower in place, but keeping the polls open in the middle of a pandemic? No one deserved that.

Related:

“Gov. Pritzker serves his politics and risks coronavirus spread on Election Day,” — John Kass.
“Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker never should have let this election go forward,” —

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www.dennisbyrne.net

My historical novel: Madness: The War of 1812

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Filed under:
Elections, Illinois politics, Uncategorized

Tags:
Coronavirus, COVID-19, Gov. J. B. Pritzker, voting