Blog
Obama’s sick hood
Fri, Jul 10th
I spent some time in Chicago and Springfield last month, researching the culture of corruption in the state and trying to figure out if Christians are stepping up to do anything about it. Illinois politics is a pretty sick game, with governors taking bribes, Chicago aldermen making backdoor deals, and scores of elected officials leaving office for federal prison. I spent some time in Obama's old hood (see pic of his house) trying to figure out how the President escaped this place with a clean nose -- a pretty artful accomplishment.
My time in Springfield led me to Capitol Ministries, a group that's out to change the way the church wields influence in politics. Rather than lobby and get muddled in the special interest culture wars, Capitol Ministries just tells politicians about Jesus. Beautiful! It's a long term strategy aimed at effecting long term change. I wrote about all in the latest issue of WORLD.
Comments
Granted that Chicago politics is pretty corrupt (by U.S. standards—but a paragon of virtue by world standards), but scores of elected officials? Isn’t that 40 or more? I’m curious. Which ones?
Mark,
One of our pastors at church use to work for Capitol Ministries. He was really fond of the ministry, it just didn’t pan out for him to continue to have a job with them.
Jason W
As the linked article outlines, there have been 1,500 convictions for public corruption in Illinois since 1970. Included in that number are 30 aldermen in Chicago alone. And four of the last seven elected governors in Illinois have faced indictments, three doing time and the fourth (Blagojevich) likely headed there. So yeah, “scores.”
“how the President escaped this place with a clean nose—a pretty artful accomplishment.”
Remember Tony Rezko? Oh that’s right….nobody does.
The way you phrased it is ambiguous. It would have been much clearer had you provided a time frame. But thank you for clarifying.
And just so you know, you have to subscribe to World magazine in order to read the entire article. The link you provide only allows nonsubscribers to read the first two paragraphs.
Yeah, sorry about the article being behind a pay-wall. I would change it if I could. And you’re right, Corrie, about the wording being ambiguous. Glad I was able to clarify. Thanks for reading.
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