Liberals Distressed That Things Are Not What They Hoped

Professor David Yamane has some links that are worth a look. Some Questions My Fellow Liberals Need to Ask Themselves

There are a lot of people on the Left who are genuinely shocked at the celebrations of Charlie Kirk's assassination. They thought the Left was all rainbows, and tolerance, and there are people out there calling for slaughter and rejoicing in murder.

I will say again that people should study the Reign of Terror, and the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. People can do some horrible stuff when they are unconnected to a sense of right and wrong, or rather when they are convinced they are right, and anyone who disagrees is evil.

The Professor has links to some NY Times articles that would normally be behind a paywall. One asks the following question.

How do you love your country when it’s governed by a man you hate?

That question was posed by Ross Douthat who masquerades as a conservative on the NY Times. He might be center, but no conservative asked that question. I left a comment, a long comment, on Professor Yamane's post, and while I could edit it there, I will include it here, an edited version anyway. Not too many changes.

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"How do you love your country when it’s governed by a man you hate?"

I was born in the city of Chicago. I grew up in the suburbs not too far outside of the city. I went to the University of Chicago (where Obama taught). I worked in the city, on and off, for about 5 years after I graduated. I knew who Obama was before he ran for the Illinois seat in the Senate. He was/is a Chicago politician, and while he was in the Illinois assembly he carried water for the Chicago Machine.

Despite the fact that I despised (still do) Obama, I still loved my country during that entire episode. Even during the AutoPen years, though I was worried about it.

Look up Tony Rezko, and the real estate deal he did with the Obama family right before he was elected to the senate. Obama had trouble purchasing a $1 million (or so) home in Chicago, and Rezko "helped him out." That was right before Rezko was convicted on corruption charges. 10 years later, after the Senate, and the White House, Obama bought a mansion at sea level (what about sea level rise and Global Warming?) on Martha's Vineyard for somewhere north of $10 million.

Only liberals ask that question I quoted at the top, because conservatives have had to answer it.

I have, however, given up on the People's Republic of Illinois. The corruption in all levels of government. The crime. The high taxes. etc. Most of my family lives there, not in the city, and I do visit them, but less often as the years go by.

I have watched Chicago go from "the city that worked" with a crime problem, to a hell hole I won't set foot in. A place I once love was destroyed. The neighborhoods that contained the clubs I frequented in my 20s and 30s now have shootings and drive-bys with such frequency as to be frightening. And if you are curious, William "Big Bill" Thompson, the last Republican Mayor of Chicago, left office in 1931.

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That is the comment I left. I will leave a couple of links:

• ABC News - The Rezko Connection: Obama's Achilles Heel?
• SiGraybeard - The One Factoid About the Illinois Mess You Can't Miss
• The 357 Magnum Archives - The History of Corruption in Chicago

That last entry contains a list of all the aldermen who were CONVICTED of a crime while in office from 1972 through 2019. It also includes some links to other incidents, including an overview of Operation Greylord from the 1980s. It was called one of the most important cases of public corruption in the US. 92 officials including 17 judges, 48 lawyers, eight policemen, 10 deputy sheriffs, eight court officials, and one state legislator.