COVID-19: A Lesson in Why Voting for Honest Government Matters

COVID-19: A Lesson in Why Voting for Honest Government Matters

(Local Voice of the Citizen: No.002 - March 30, 2020)

As we write this, our nation is very much in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic as it
moves across our shared planet. Life is changing, and rapidly, in ways we have not seen before and with little knowledge of what is to come. When in the midst of challenging situations it can be difficult to be able to step out of the present and try to gain sufficient perspective to see what we need to see, maybe to see at all at times, and hence to learn what we should about what’s going on right around us. This is normal, and so we write this from that perspective knowing that we will learn and understand more, much of it only when we are clear of where we are now, which we will absolutely be, at all levels-community, nation, and world- together. So, what do we see now and what is the lesson to be learned from it?

First, if you didn’t believe it or know it before these times, including because you might never
have really needed to rely on government for your literal wellbeing, government really matters. And, not just any government, but a government with government appointed, hired, and empowered experts that are respected, smart, know their stuff, inspire trust, and show that they really care about us as citizens. All with a touch of empathy and compassion and a sense of gravitas of the situation. Not a time for laughter from the front of the room. It is valid that people have different views on the role of government, but if government cannot serve us and work on behalf of us, the citizens, what’s the point of government at all? (Yes, we know that’s an absurd idea when your only frame of reference is the Chicago and Illinois experience where government has time and time again, served the Chicago Machine bosses, precinct captains, and their apparatchiks first and foremost.)

Second, if you didn’t believe it or know it before these times, including because you might have
rarely seen it in Chicago, Cook, or Illinois, the type of government we just described above, voting and elections both really matter. And not just any voting and electing, but being a highly-informed voter who looks beyond the candidates, their idiotic, childish, and fear-mongering flyers and ads, to their positions (or mostly lack of positions), and who supports them (beyond the usual PACs and groups that line up on one side or the other based on longevity in office or who the “party” is supporting), to anything they have actually done that indicates they should be elected and hence given, for a hopefully only a very limited time, the keys to our government. Research has repeatedly shown that highly informed voters (regardless of education level, economic status, gender, race, geography, etc…) are the best at cutting through the BS most politicians do to get elected. Do the candidates you are going to vote for indicate in anyway at all that they would allow the type of government we described above, which is to say the type of government that works for us, to take place?

Third, if you didn’t believe it or know it before these times, including because you might rarely
have seen it take place in Chicago, Cook, or Illinois, once elections are over, which (who!) people get appointed and hired to all levels of government by those we elected (or sadly a small part of “we the people”) really matters. And not just any people but people who are regarded, respected, trusted, and successful in their fields? Is there anything about them other than who they donated to and which campaigns they worked on that says they can actually do this job? Do they have anything in their background that says they will not be silent, afraid even, when the political boss is in the room but instead will speak when around politicians, when they have the microphone, whey they are at the bully pulpit? This means we have to go back to the second lesson learned and ask more questions of the candidates we are thinking about electing. Do they indicate in anyway at all that they would hire and bring into positions of leadership at the highest levels the type of public servant we described above? Do they indicate in anyway at all that they would, and this is most important, not silence the type of people in public service we described above?

What do we do with these early lessons learned? For now, we apply these three lessons learned
to what we are hearing from the politicians and the experts that stand beside them. For now, we
continue to live day-by-day, hopeful in the certainty that we will be soon enough on the other side of this, and that we will do this and be there…together. For now, we actively look out for our neighbors and our neighborhood. For now, we support our local businesses. For now, we support those who are supporting us – grocery store clerks, food delivery and truck drivers, cleaning crews, restaurant workers, and healthcare professionals and hospital staff from the janitors to doctors. For now, we spend any amount of time, money, and talent that we can muster up to be ready to repair the economic damage this pandemic is doing. And then, we reflect, learn, and vote in each and every election starting in November for those candidates - if you find yourself in Illinois actually having any choice at the ballot box - that will seek out, support, and bring in, respected, honest, expert, and trusted public servants who will be allowed to speak truth to power (especially when that power is the politician standing next to them at the microphone) to create a government that cares about the people, or in words you might have heard before, a government of, by, and for the people.

Daniel Cotter and Jac Charlier are civic leaders living on the Northwest side of Chicago, and co-
founders of “Local Voice of the Citizen”, an independent, diverse, and progressive voice for the
rest of us.