Health & Fitness
It's My Party And I'll Say What I Want To
Should we really be fighting with each other? Some thoughts on the state and local GOP from a fellow Republican.
Looking at Republican politics on the local level, I feel my inner Kay Corleone wanting this "Sicilian thing" to end once and for all. For a party that has been not much more than a blip on the Cook County political radar screen, this Patlak-Morrison thing seems a bit ridiculous.
Personally, I don't know either of these men. When Patlak defeated an incumbent Democrat for a Board of Review seat in 2010 I felt as if we finally had something to build on. It was a badly needed shot in the arm and I really hoped that it would embolden the GOP to to aspire to be more than a minor nuisance to the Cook County Democratic Machine, otherwise known as Madigan.
Instead of building on Patlak's success, we saw prominent leaders in the GOP set their scope, not on Madigan, not on Casey Griffin, the Democratic candidate for Board of Review, but on Patlak himself. Why? Because of a feud between some Committeemen on the North side and some Committeemen on the South side. Why try to beat a Democrat when you can beat a fellow Republican? Instead of making a nice big pie (that we can divide up later) lets get into a bloody civil war over some crumbs.
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First prize: Partial control of a factious, weak political organization.
I've heard this described as a Moderate vs. Tea Party feud. Please describe the difference between the Tea Party way of how the Board of Review operates compared to the Moderate version of it. Are there so many Republicans in Cook County that we need to filter out our ranks?
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I'm also tired of hearing my fellow Republicans whine about Mike Madigan. Here's a newsflash: Mike Madigan wasn't born with that power. He got where he is with the help of a number of Republicans. Republicans who paved his way in return for some of the bounty or Republicans who sat back and let him run away with the state. Or Republicans who were more concerned and/or threatened by other Republicans that a circular firing seemed like a better idea.
When we were figuring out checkers, Madigan was mastering three dimensional chess. While we were trying to destroy any up and comer that threatened the country club elite, Madigan was building a farm system that ensured an endless crop of decent candidates. As opportunities evolved, Madigan struck while we argued amongst ourselves.
Here's another newsflash: Madigan is not the second coming. He can be beaten if we, as the Grand Old Party, go back to making the case to the public as to why our ideas are better.
Are endless deficits really better than balanced budgets? Does it really make sense to promise public employees more than we could ever expect to pay them? Does cradle to grave public assistance really make us better? Is a financial mess that could make Peter Francis Geraci cry really what's best for us?
I think the state party could start the ball rolling by rebuilding a real organization in Cook County and Chicago. We may be a ways from taking control there, but a strong presence would help us statewide. You can't win in Illinois when you pretend that Cook County doesn't exist. There are a lot of Republicans in Cook; even more when you consider those whose ideals are more in line with the GOP than the Democrats.
I believe in the Republican Party. Nationally, we have done a great job selling our message. There's no reason it can't be done here. If we work together, instead of focusing on petty feuds, we can have what Madigan has.
Then, we can squabble if we want to.