On the first day of the Chicago Teachers Union strike — with union leadership rejecting a generous 16-24% pay raise over five years — Mayor Lori Lightfoot read a book to little schoolchildren in Lawndale.
“A Bad Case of Stripes,” by David Shannon, is about Camilla Cream, a girl who learns a lesson about conforming to peer pressure.
No matter how this strike ends, and it will, eventually, the Illinois political class should read another book to the people of Chicago, its suburbs and the rest of the state:
“The Road to Serfdom,” by F.A. Hayek, about free people losing liberty to authoritarian control.
And just who are the serfs in Illinois?
The property taxpayers, who are the serfs of the new Democratic machine. Because we serfs live to serve the masters, don’t we?
Powerful public workers unions are the spine of this new machine. And Democratic politicians rely on votes from public unions to get elected.
It’s a symbiotic relationship. Just ask Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle or state House Speaker Michael J. Madigan. Public contracts for union votes. It all works out for both sides.
But who pays?
The property taxpaying serfs. As the value of their homes decline, and as property taxes keep increasing, devouring the equity in their homes, the serfs pay and pay for these public worker contracts.
It will get worse. Gov. Big Boy wants his state income tax increase, but Democrats show little interest in amending the state constitution to address Illinois’ multibillion-dollar unfunded public union pension debt.
Taxpayers know this. That’s why so many across the state are leaving the homes they love as part of the great Illinois Exodus. If only the political class had the decency to admit what they’ve done.
Politics is all about interests. In political Chicago, public education has never really been about the kids. They’re just leverage.
And generation upon generation of Chicago Public Schools children — mostly minorities from low-income neighborhoods — have passed through without being adequately prepared for college or a job. They’re left to the street.
The increasingly leftist CTU is playing a dangerous militant game against the mayor. Lightfoot, a reformer, was opposed by CTU in the last election. The union backed Preckwinkle, who didn’t win a single Chicago ward. Lightfoot swamped them both. After that political humiliation, CTU President Jesse Sharkey, seeking national relevancy, must figure it is payback time.
The mayor has offered more than taxpayers can afford. But the CTU wants even more control, dictating the wholesale hiring of additional staff. It’s all about wresting control of the public schools from the mayor’s office.
Lightfoot, a woman of integrity, a liberal Democrat, now finds herself being mugged by the hard-left reality of the new political Chicago.
The CTU wants concessions on lower class sizes, and more nurses and librarians and social workers. But is CTU volunteering to slash the pay raise that’s been offered, and will the union support closing all but empty schools?
“We can’t bargain by ourselves. We could get a deal done today if there’s a seriousness of purpose and a willingness on the other side we could get a deal done today,” Lightfoot told reporters on Thursday, adding, “We’re not moving any further on money (for additional staff) because we can’t.”
The money doesn’t belong to “the city.” It belongs to taxpayers. And they’re tapped out.
When I talk about union political muscle, I’m not talking about the private sector unions, like carpenters, electricians, plumbers and so on. When private sector unions negotiate contracts with business, they sit across the table from management, which represents shareholders. Eventually, they come to a fair exchange.
But who represents the true shareholders here? Pushing back against the public worker unions is not in the Democratic Party’s interest. The Republicans are irrelevant and stand for nothing, except when their leaders stretch their legs after kneeling before Boss Madigan
For taxpayers, it’s a one-way street.
Madigan’s power derives from raising public sector union political money on a national level. He dispenses the union cash to his Democratic state representatives. When they’re reelected, the reps vote for him to remain as speaker. He’s kept control of Illinois for decades this way.
And the taxpayers?
We’re Chumbolone Nation, fools to be fleeced until we go.
I’m a fan of Mayor Lightfoot. We disagree on things, but she clearly understood the corrosive nature of the old Democratic machine and special interest politics that bred cynicism among the people.
It was the Richard M. Daley machine that created those notorious TIF districts (aka slush funds) to benefit connected developers. Millions and millions of property tax dollars have been diverted to feed those megaprojects, at the expense of the schools and teachers. And homeowners, including teachers, are forced to pick up the slack.
And now there’s that new Democratic machine, with muscle provided by the public unions, sticking it to homeowners again across Illinois.
I wouldn’t ask Lightfoot to put taxpayers in her lap to read Hayek. That would be undignified. Besides she’s no beneficiary of that Democrat/public union symbiosis.
The true beneficiaries are Madigan, Pritzker and Preckwinkle.
These three should take turns reading “The Road to Serfdom” aloud to every property taxpayer in Illinois. Sharkey can help turn the pages.
Illinois property taxpayers, with their home values dropping and their taxes constantly rising, have been on the road to serfdom for far too long.
Listen to “The Chicago Way” podcast with John Kass and Jeff Carlin — at www.wgnradio.com/category/wgn-plus/thechicagoway.
Twitter @John_Kass
