OPINION:
Chicago is the perfect place for Democrats to hold their 2024 national convention. Crime continues to be a major problem. Protesters rule the streets. Racial unrest has led to violence. Government-run schools are a disaster. Businesses are leaving the city and taking good-paying jobs with them. And the voters just elected a radical who is more liberal than the last mayor.
Liberal policies are ruining this once-great Midwestern city. As I said on the night of the mayoral election: When the last business leaves Chicago, turn off the lights.
When one of his colleagues at Citadel was robbed at gunpoint while going to get coffee, Ken Griffin decided it was time to move himself and his 1,000 highly paid hedge fund employees out of Chicago. Mr. Griffin cited the crime rate as a key factor in his decision to move his organization to Miami.
A Citadel spokesman noted that the firm’s principals and employees have driven billions of dollars in tax revenue to the city of Chicago and the state of Wisconsin. Ken Griffin has donated more than $600 million to educational, cultural, medical and civic organizations. Sadly, Citadel now joins Boeing and Caterpillar as the latest major employer to leave Illinois.
The exodus involves more than just corporate offices. Walmart recently announced the permanent closing of four stores in Chicago. Local officials complained about the company “abandoning” residents in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. It’s hard to blame Walmart when city officials seem set on allowing massive shoplifting. Failure to prosecute property crimes is a significant problem in Chicago and other urban areas around the nation. Walmart has claimed to have lost tens of millions of dollars at the now-closed stores over the years.
The CEO of McDonald’s, Chris Kempczinski, spoke of the violent crime, homelessness and drug overdoses happening in its Chicago locations. Mr. Kempczinski told the Economic Club of Chicago that they are having a hard time recruiting people to work at their downtown headquarters since most think the location is unsafe to visit. He frequently gets asked, “What’s going on in Chicago?”
Years of electing liberals to office — that’s what is going on in Chicago. People are finally seeing the impact of defunding the police, reducing sentences for crimes, raising taxes on employers, attacking job creators, ruining the schools, forcing critical race theory on young people, and tearing down the nuclear family.
Mobs of young people in Chicago and many other big cities across the country are increasingly involved in more than just shoplifting. They are moving on to vandalism, riots and violence. Last weekend, they took over downtown Chicago and clashed with the police.
In response, Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson said in a statement: “In no way do I condone the destructive activity we saw in the Loop and lakefront this weekend. It is unacceptable and has no place in our city. However, it is not constructive to demonize youth who have otherwise been starved of opportunities in their own communities.”
Yes, we can, and we should demonize people — regardless of age, race, ethnicity, employment status or other factors — who are breaking the law. Stop giving them excuses to continue their illegal behavior.
Efforts to push programs like CRT are giving frustrated youth an excuse to blame people who do not look like them for their challenges. Instead of being upset with a system that fails to teach fundamental skills, they are taught that it is the fault of someone else. Instead, they should demand access to better education. That would lead to a better life.
In Chicago, young people start out at a disadvantage as the government-run schools are a mess. Last year, just 23% of the graduating class of 2022 could read at grade level as juniors, and only 21% were proficient in math.
Wirepoints reviewed data from the Illinois Department of Education for 2022. It found that 55 government-run schools in Chicago reported no students who were proficient in math or reading last year. Not one.
Shutdowns during COVID-19 and the fact that the Chicago Teachers Union frequently walks out on students are major factors in the abysmal state of Chicago schools. Like so many other urban schools, teachers union bosses make the rules that favor the interests of staff over students.
Sadly, it is appropriate for Democrats to hold their national convention in Chicago as years of liberal policies have ruined this once-great city. Conservatives would be wise to highlight both the problems and the policies of the Windy City. Then spell out that there are better ways to tackle these challenges. The rest of America should take note.
• Scott Walker is president of Young America’s Foundation and served as the 45th governor of Wisconsin from 2011 to 2019.
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