Chuy Garcia vs Rahm and the Democratic machine. Why it's personal for me.
I emigrated from Chicago more than 30 years ago, and I don't really miss the place. Oh, little things, like Polish delis with 30 different kinds of headcheese (if you don't know, don't ask) and real Vienna brand hot dogs with that radioactive green relish...but I really don't miss the place. As Sorkin once wrote, "...it's a great place to be from." Educated my dad, aunts, uncles, shopped and ate local, Sunday Trib. and Sun Times on Saturday night, the Jewel grocery store, Holsum bread, CTA buses, the "El"...ut I digress
What I don't miss and hate, is the "machine". The political "machine". The Democratic machine that was anything but democratic. You see, I and my immediate family are of the Asian persuasion. I cannot forget the story my father told us of the first time he went to vote, how proud he was to be fulfilling his civic duty as an immigrant and citizen.
Those of you Chicago-crats (Chicago-terrians?) will remember that voting machines used to be a, perhaps three foot wide wall of levers, hidden from prying eyes. They were mechanical levers, allowing one to choose various "yes/no" choices, and a main lever that would cast your vote. Until you pulled the final lever, you could decide on yes/no for every person or proposition presented on the ballot.
Imagine my father's surprise then, when a rather large, rather white gentleman joined him in the voting booth, secured their privacy and proceeded to select which individual levers were on the ballot. This rather large Democrat then said, "Go ahead, pull the lever....you voted." My father found out, several decades later (we're not so great in re: communication skills) that there was probably not an honest vote cast in Chinatown for a considerable number of years.
So perhaps I may be excused for taking the Chuy v. Rahm race somewhat personally, when the Democratic machine, with virtually unlimited Citizens United funding, and as Hufpo reminds us has national implications, that I ask DU and the Twits who follow me here to ACT UP! Volunteer if you can, there are support positions where you don't have to knock on doors or phone people. Organize food, organize rides, and if you can, send money! Chuy Garcia money bomb! http://goo.gl/ub3fJc #Chuy2015 The care and feeding of volunteers, the folks who walk the precincts and phone isn't a science, it's an art.
Yes, this is a little race in a "special" election, but winning this one can help a lot of non-machine candidates in 2016. I'm sick of running from these wimps.
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