A ray of hope....

[PCIntern]

During my early years in Philadelphia, there was a Cabal of individuals who controlled nearly everything. And when I say everything, I am referring to the police, the courts, the utility companies, the contractors who handled municipal construction and remodeling, the unions, the streets departments, the welfare department, The law firms, the hospitals at the highest levels, the universities, and all of the city departments such as taxation, licenses and inspections, the fire department, and a great number of other institutions and agencies .

If you were regarded as a difficult person who would not play their game, you had problems Involving anything you tried to do as a citizen. There was pressure exerted at many levels, and I was privy to some stories, which even I, who am now jaded, to this day find remarkable.

Now the names of the influential people were not necessarily those published in our papers on a daily basis: they were people who shied from the limelight, but behind the scenes, could destroy a career with a single phone call . Or, conversely, they could save someone who was headed for a complete destruction due to their own behaviors, and resurrect their careers again with a single phone call. In this city, judges are elected, not appointed, and needless to say you can only imagine what kind of treatment the contributing establishment class received , in many cases surreptitiously. We were considered the last of the “machine cities“ where the political aspects of situations and bbc the powerful determine their outcome no matter what the law stipulates and no matter of “right and wrong”. Our organized crime families at one time were extremely powerful, and not pursued as criminal organizations until the violence and shake down spread without regard for the usual norms, which had been tolerated for generations.

Interestingly, however, virtually all of these people from the old days or deceased, or in extreme advanced age and ineffective. I was speaking with a very well put together individual who holds a fairly high position in the city, and used one of these powerbroker’s names, and she stared at me in absolute unknowing ignorance of the existence of this gentleman. I told her that this individual was one of the most feared people in the city, who passed away about 20 years ago, and the name has not been mentioned since in the public sphere. There is no institutional memory of this among the powerful and the good news is that one day, this will be the case with the former President or whatever he was .

Time is a great healer and the powerful persona eventually vanishes. Once they are removed or disappear from the scene, and although you may certainly stipulate that others may take their place, that particular era of personality is over. My concern of course is what faces us next, but the Days of Infamy of Trump will be behind us. I very much look forward to that time which cannot happen fast enough.

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. While I pretty much agree with your post, there are certainly outliers

The most prominent of which is Reagan. Although he died many years ago, we still are burdened by the consequences of his actions and words.

[PCIntern]

2. That is true however

He’s not appearing daily on your tv machine with that “avuncular” visage selling BS. Now we have a tinhorn Mussolini on the airwaves preaching pure hate.

[erronis]

3. I think it may be more of the fetish of Reagan - the cardboard prop-up person

than the actual man. While he made a great front for the powers behind him and while he executed many horrible laws, I believe that the structure that created him still lives on quite well.

And, I really like ferrets too! Nothing like watching a ferret terrify a much larger cat. Now, if only they wouldn't use every corner as a potty....

[Ferrets are Cool]

11. At least they USE the corners.

Ours has their own room. Each corner has a potty pad that gets changed out daily. And yes, many have a Raygun fetish, especially in rural areas.

[erronis]

4. Seems like we are moving into another Gilded Age where the billionaires are the organized crime

organizations. Making and breaking companies, controlling the banking systems, dismantling regulations, starving the poor and rewarding their friends.

[Alice Kramden]

5. Thank you for this ray of hope

K&R for visibility

[Texin]

6. This describes how Chicago was run back in the '50s and '60s

[First Speaker]

7. This is a fascinating letter...

...someone should gather these pieces of history together sometime and write a definitive book on that era of Philly...

[PCIntern]

8. You're right and btw

I love your screen name. I’m a Foundation aficionado.

[First Speaker]

9. Thanks. If I was doing it now...

...I'd be "Preem Palver"...

[PCIntern]

13. EXCELLENT!

One of my favorite quotes: it pays to be obvious but only if you have a reputation for subtlety.

[cynical_idealist]

10. one of my greatest wishes

is that no matter how it happens,
TFG have no further direct input on the public discourse

e.g. if locked up, he can have read only internet access and
can't send messages thru visitors

[BumRushDaShow]

12. "We were considered the last of the 'machine cities'"

There's still one left - one Bob Brady.

But here is the kicker. This mayoral election, despite who eventually wins, will be the most consequential in this city in decades. Not so much for the mayor but for a City Council, where literally almost 1/3rd of the Council members (6 out of 17 total) have already resigned to run for mayor in the past 6 months, and a 7th (City Council President Darrell Clarke) will not seek re-election for his seat when his term is up. This is not counting yet another who had to resign because of... ahem... a conviction and now sentence.

So in all, I believe there were 8 of 17 that will or now have (and who will have replacements run for a full term) resigned.

One of the seats was temporarily filled last May (Henon's), another 4 were temporarily filled in a special election this past November, and I expect another 2 special elections will happen at the May primary, with all of them still needing to run in the primary this coming May for the new full terms that start in January 2024.

The last 3 mayors came out of City Council a a side note. As you now, our city Council has had so many "colorful" figures over the years and yes, a whole generation of them are no longer there.

So it will be a sea-change in city government and I have no idea what the impact might be.

[PCIntern]

14. Very astute.

You’re right on the money.

[halfulglas]

15. I sincerely hope you are right.

What is disturbing, though, is what he has spawned during his time in the limelight - Trumpism, Qanon and its various branches, a deliberate dumbing down of the populace (which actually started before the former President but accelerated greatly since the start of his campaign), the branching of the Trump authoritarianism into other countries.

But the Reagan myth still dies hard in some circles. You see it in the ex-Republicans who appear on MSNBC and CNN who refer to the Reagan days as ideal and still hold Bush Senior in high regard. What wonderful days they were, "we all worked together."

I was surprised the other day to see one ex-Republican admit that the twig years did contribute to the Tea Party and subsequently to Trumpism.

But another product of the days when the big cities were ruled by bosses and the cabal of kingmakers behind the curtains, was that although the cities were often run fairly efficiently even though unfairly, those days spawned the generations of Americans who generation after generation voted less and less because they were convinced that their votes counted for nothing, so their participation in the patriotic act of voting, dwindled. Americans watched the political show but participated less and less, much less than other democracies. This, ironically, helped to spawn Trump's big lie. In the past 2 election cycles with more young people not under that influence have participated in larger numbers voting, and have discovered that when we vote, we can win, if we don't vote, someone else wins. But the former president was able to convince many of his voters that since they voted and he didn't win, there was cheating and other machinations in the system that their votes didn't count and their man lost. No matter how many times the votes were counted, they cannot be convinced so they think he was cheated. (I sadly know someone who still thinks he won.)

We will have to see if when he is removed from the scene entirely, if these young people continue to enthusiastically practice democracy.