The ghost of Citizens United haunts another election. Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision opened the door to unlimited independent corporate and union spending, Americans have watched campaign money become a substitute for public debate. We marvel at the totals. We should worry about their power.
Reuters reported that, as of mid-October, Elon Musk has spent roughly $366 million on this election cycle, including $276 million since July. That is not ordinary political participation. It is a megaphone most Americans could never afford.
Chicago has its own version of billionaire politics in Michael Sacks. The issue is not his identity or his right to support candidates. It is whether extraordinary wealth gives anyone extraordinary protection from criticism.
It was recently reported that Sacks’ attorney sent a cease-and-desist letter to Good Influence, a company financing social media videos about his political involvement. His attorney alleged false and defamatory statements. Those allegations deserve fair consideration, not automatic acceptance or dismissal.
But a legal dispute over specific statements must not become a warning that a billionaire’s political activity is off-limits. Antisemitism is real, dangerous and deserving of unequivocal condemnation. So are stereotypes about Jewish control of politics or money. Criticism must focus on an individual’s documented conduct, not religion, ancestry or insinuations about a community.
That standard leaves ample room to question any donor’s spending, endorsements and influence.
Likewise, speaking against the killing of civilians in Gaza or calling for a ceasefire does not, by itself, establish antisemitism. Serious accusations require evidence. They should never serve as shortcuts for silencing political disagreement. As Sacks reportedly did. He is accused of flipping a committeeman’s vote against Illinois state Sen. Karina Villa for Illinois comptroller. Should I call his alleged actions anti-Latina? No. If true, he weaponized a falsehood for political gain.
As a former congressman, I believe democracy works best when working people can challenge powerful interests, business, labor or billionaire, without needing a billionaire’s legal budget.
When Sacks enters the political arena, he should expect scrutiny. He should expect to defend his positions. He should correct falsehoods with facts. He should not confuse accountability with persecution.
Our elections should reward persuasion, not purchasing power. Chicago’s children deserve a democracy in which their parents’ voices matter as much as a donor’s checkbook.
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— Luis V. Gutiérrez, former U.S. representative, Illinois’ 4th Congressional District
Mayoral hopefuls, take pledge
Chicago, like the rest of the country, is in the midst of election season. Partisan ads blanket us, and appeals for campaign contributions bombard us. With all this attention showered onto us voters, one can be forgiven for holding the faint hope that the candidates truly care about our ideas and yearn for our engagement. Or is that simply naivete borne of the American myth that our candidates’ attentiveness extends beyond the ballot box and endures long after Election Day?
The Chicago chapter of Sortition USA has submitted a mild test of that question to Chicago’s mayoral candidates. We have sent requests to the announced candidates asking them to pledge that if elected mayor, they would endorse a citizen’s assembly on a Chicago public policy issue of their choice. The pledge requires nothing of them other than the endorsement of an assembly and the identification of the policy issue.
Sortition, citizen assemblies formed by lottery, was spawned in Ancient Greece and is like the jury system used in courthouses across the land, where randomly chosen individuals come together to decide legal matters large and small. Today, citizen’s assemblies around the world are contributing solutions to such issues as homelessness, health care, zoning laws, gender rights, transportation and climate change.
The growing experience of assemblies proves that people of widely disparate ideologies and diverse demographic backgrounds can come together and deliberate on issues of public policy. When provided with expert information and the time to hold civil conversations, experience proves that individuals can find consensus on matters of collective concern
Today’s political system offers too few opportunities to too few of us to participate in public affairs. Assemblies chosen by lot expand the prospects for democratic participation to those who feel alienated from the public square, while generating workable public policies. Only the few can argue that our current democratic practices are working for them. The rest of us struggle to make sense of our republic, searching for ways to remain optimistic about its future.
The citizens of Chicago should demand that any person seeking the privilege to govern our city should demonstrate both the respect for the opinions of its residents, as well as a vision for reinvigorated methods of governing our city. Taking the pledge is one way to demonstrate both. Come on candidates, what are you afraid of?
— Griffin Thompson, interim co-chair, Chicago chapter of SortitionUSA
Vote to save our democracy
Let’s all take a breath and remember to recognize what these midterm elections are all about. Both parties’ propaganda machines, character assassinations and personal vitriol mask and shadow the ultimate import of what’s at stake. We’re not voting for one person over another, or one party over another.
We’re choosing between an authoritarian oligarchy versus a constitutional democracy; the rule of law; and the separation of powers, known as checks and balances. An oligarchy means government by the few and incredibly wealthy. A totalitarian state is a dictatorship. We’re not talking “No Kings” here. Dictators depose and exile or imprison monarchs and kings.
The price of fuel and food is not the point. Donald Trump versus everyone else is not the point.
Democracy versus corruption and oligarchical totalitarianism is the one and only point.
I hope our citizens vote for our Constitution, the rule of law and a free and democratic government providing constitutional rights and protections for everyone.
Forget about parochial and divisive issues and personalities. Vote to save our democracy.
— R. Joseph Artabasy, Glencoe
Which is more wasteful?
It is often said that voting for an independent is wasting your vote. Consider which two major parties have laid waste to our state and our country.
Should Illinoisans just continue voting for waste?
— Richard H. Skiba Jr., Palatine
Monitoring for microplastics
I live in Illinois and moved here in part because of the beauty of the Great Lakes. I appreciate the Tribune for delving so deeply into the problems of the massive amounts of plastics produced and dumped into our environment and the impacts that could have on our health and the environment (“Great waste in the Great Lakes”).
This series is absolutely right that plastics, including microplastics, are a serious problem and are woefully underregulated. Microplastics have been associated with many adverse effects on the immune and reproductive systems, and they can carry pathogens. Unfortunately, as this series notes, the federal government has failed to meaningfully address this crisis affecting families and communities across Illinois and beyond.
When it comes to microplastics in our drinking water in particular, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency appears poised to refuse to monitor for microplastics in our drinking water. This inaction would prevent us from getting the data we need to inform strong regulations. If the EPA fails to monitor microplastics now, it will be another five years before the opportunity presents itself.
Environmental organization Food & Water Watch, along with a host of other environmental and public health organizations, and the governors of seven states — including Gov. JB Pritzker — have all petitioned the EPA to monitor for microplastics in our drinking water. Other public health professionals, legislators and attorneys general — including Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul — have joined in urging the agency to undertake microplastics monitoring nationwide.
The EPA must listen to these calls, echoed by thousands of members of the public, and monitor for microplastics in our drinking water so we can understand the scale of the problem and start to address it.
— Jess Griffin, staff member, Food & Water Watch
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