“When you have youths smashing glass and stealing $2 million worth of stuff, that’s a sign that the glue holding our society is definitely weakening… “It’s a sign of what I want to call … bad faith,” the pastor said on his 26th day on the rooftop. He said youths with “bad faith” don’t trust the world anymore. They see it as “every man, every person for themselves.”
“So the question is: where did this glue [holding society together] begin to unravel?” the pastor said.”Does it begin in the home? Does it begin with poor educational systems?” the pastor continued. “Or does it begin with government dependency? At this point we can debate where the problem was created, but we’re beyond debates right now.” (Pastor Corey Brooks/Fox News)
Pastor Brooks tells us what most people in law enforcement already know. Unfortunately, our elected officials and their aiders and abettors in the local news media put out propaganda from their academic experts with no expertise. We are led to believe that rampant crime, especially violent crime, is the result of systemic and institutional something or other.
The elected officials refuse to see this crime pandemic as an emergency and treat it as such. No one cares what the supposed societal causes of criminality are anymore. People want it curbed and curbed yesterday. Time is running out. How many more people must die, be traumatized, and how many more businesses must be victimized multiple times? Why do politicians keep doubling down on failure?
Crime is a topic of discussion everywhere I go, even at Christmas parties. People are concerned and scared. A secretive community group in the Bucktown-Wicker Park neighborhood hired a private security company to patrol the streets at night due to daily street robberies and carjackings. No one in elective office is addressing the problem. The city is spiraling out of control. All we get is silence.
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx is silent.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot is silent.
Chief Judge Tim Evans is silent.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is silent.
Silence is consent. Our elected leaders consent to the criminality. All are cold-hearted, pitiless, and merciless. They only display emotion when they are publicly challenged or criticized. Then, they produce emotional Academy Award-winning performances attacking the challengers and critics. They get all sexy and pornographic when they produce data and analytics, the statistics liars use.
After the first of the year, the cycle for the 2023 election will begin. It is up to us now. The news media in Chicago will do nothing. They will willingly and obediently allow the elected officials running to lie to us and help them spread their lies about public safety. Their editorial boards will gush over them, touting them to high heaven.
When incumbents start campaigning in public, we should call out their lies. Yes, call them liars. They will be touting their public safety successes, which are epic failures. Liar is a perfectly acceptable word for lies.
What terrorizes elected officials? The terror they will not get reelected. The voters should instill that terror in the incumbents. They fear going out into the real world to work and make an honest living. If they refuse to do their jobs and cling to their social or political philosophies versus keeping us safe, they do not deserve your vote. Let them know you will vote for their opponent in the primary and general elections. Make it loud and clear.
Preckwinkle, Foxx, Lightfoot, and Evans are past the disaster stage. Voters have the real power, and it is time to let them know their jobs are at risk. It is up to us to change the dynamic and bring some semblance of safety back to Chicago.
Act like your life depends on it because it does.