Yesterday was election day in Chicago and many of the surrounding suburbs.A sleazeball won even though Obama himself called him out in public, King Richard got his ass kicked by proxy and some anti-immigration freaks are making a whole town look bad:
As many expected, the Illegal Alien Immigration Relief Act sponsored by Humpfer and Sigwalt and supported by Hinz was foremost in many voters’ minds. As introduced by the trustees in October, the proposal would fine village landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and deny licenses to businesses that hire them. The trustees also proposed to make English the village’s official language, cutting most foreign-language services and literature from the government. The board tabled the proposals after about 3,000 people showed up to protest it at a November forum.
On a personal note, I want to offer a hearty congrats to the Westchester Progressive Party, on whose behalf I opened a polling place and at whose victory party I drank entirely too much wine. Way to go, guys.
If you want to experience firsthand what we write about here all the time, find a local campaign (in your own town or, as in my case, the next one over) that needs volunteers. Walk the street for a better school, or more cops, or a referendum for more money for your local library. Take all the knowledge you’ve used about messaging and connection and put it to use handing out literature and raising awareness for something you think could make your town, hell, your block, a better place.
You might get involved and then lose. You may get your heart broken. You may get your heart ripped out of your chest and stomped to death and then set on fire. But if you win, well … then you get to watch the numbers come in and shout and hold hands and hug and sing and dance, and there’s nothing really that’s better than that.
A.