illinois politics - its on all of us...

to the "shock" of the country, the leader of my beautiful home state was finally arrested by the feds (who have been looking into his antics for years) when he crossed the line, even for an illinois politician, by auctioning off obama's vacant senate seat. first off, let me assure you that fitzgerald was lying to you when he said he was shocked...the man knows how dirty illinois politics is. perhaps he was shocked at how incredibly stupid the guv is...but not at all by the depravity of his actions. nobody that has spent anytime in illinois could be shocked. we all know that is how the system operates...we all know that in the political corruption department city hall in chicago and the state capital in springfield give the kremlin a run for its money. in the end, there are lot of things that we can learn from the downfall of this former up-and-comer turned most-despised-governor (even before this)...

first off...those of you outside illinois should take a few things to heart about obama. the whole tony rezko business? if that is seriously the only connection to corruption that the man has after years dealing with the daley chicago machine (and yes...chicago is most definitely still machine politics at its "best") and the scum downstate (this will make back-to-back governors in a federal penitentiary) then the man really is serious about changing the culture of politics. I said it before and I'll say it again...if that is all you got, the man must be a saint.

and if it is not the only connection to corruption obama winds up having, then we have learned something somewhat comforting for a left-leaning leader...the man is tough enough to end you. seriously, you have to be incredibly tough to make it through the brutal gauntlet of chicago and springfield politics to begin with. but if you are so tough that you can come out of it and everybody is scared to talk about your dirty laundry...you are a certifiable bad-ass. maybe it is just the decades of the right throwing their weight around speaking...but I would be more than glad to have a hard-nosed, no nonsense, willing to destroy you liberal leaning progressive at the helm.

when I came to new mexico a few years back I quickly learned that I had moved from the most corrupt state in the country to one that was desperately trying to overtake it. and now that politicians here are beginning to learn the wrath of a prosecutor enraged by the stealing of democracy as well, I again noticed how it is all the same good ol' boy network in these schemes. but who is to blame?

we should all take a good hard look in the mirror...because this is not just the shame of a governor, it is not just the shame of springfield or illinois...it is the shame of all of us. we abdicated to the likes of blagojevich and bush...we gave the keys of the kingdom to the likes of nixon and clinton...we told the likes of delay and jefferson we would let them do as they pleased. is it any wonder that our politicians have taken all they can get after decades of the american people not putting a stop to it? instead of shouting them down...we shut up and avoided the polls on election day. instead of taking them on we held pat-ourselves-on-the-back-bitch-fests with our likeminded friends...all talk and no action.

this should be a sign to all of us. get informed, and not just every fourth year. stay informed. get vocal and stay vocal. grab a petition and hit the streets. throw your hat in the ring against the career politicians that inevitably disappoint and create a sham democracy. you want to fix this mess? put non-politicians in office. during the primary, refuse to accept the choice of your local machine. make them earn it. make them listen.

this is one hell of a country when it works. make it work.