Chicago/IL, conservatives not welcome? (Cicero, Quincy: restaurants, law, food)

[Lookout Kid]

Bill Ayers and Reverend Wright are NOT indicative of the political climate in Chicago. Richard M. Daley and Rod Blagojevich are, however unfortunate that may be.

Parts of Chicago are decaying, but large swaths are gentrifying. I'd call Chicago one of the most transformed cities in the country in terms of gentrification--but large swaths of the city have been untouched in this regard. It remains to be seen how the current economic crisis will affect this trend. So far there is little evidence that gentrification has retreated.

In terms of pot, your buddy will be fine if he's not dealing. And if he is dealing, the cops would be the last people I'd be worried about if I were him.

[RPSF]

Oh no he doesn't deal, but he does use a lot, it's wrecked havoc on his memory but hey who am I to tell him how to live his life, right?
Anyway, so I gather that it's a Democratic city, but not necessarily a liberal city? So would the people & government be described as blue dog democrats, or still liberal but just not borderline socialists, because here in SF there is a very loud and very proud Socialist movement. Really anything sounds better than what I have now, but I'd still like to be somewhere where people don't judge you and really have a live and let live attitude. So I've ruled most of the uber-liberal West Coast and 90% of the Bible Belt, I don't want to exchange liberal elitism for religious fundamentalism!
Oh and how high are taxes/cost of living? I checked the CNN cost of living calculator and it's telling me everything should cost significantly less, and that's making me pretty darn happy, but what about taxes? Are they ridiculous or tolerable?

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by RPSF

Oh no he doesn't deal, but he does use a lot, it's wrecked havoc on his memory but hey who am I to tell him how to live his life,
?

His friend.

[RPSF]

Well he's not a teenager and I'm not his mom, so I really can't force him into rehab or discipline him myself, all that I can do is try to talk him out of it, and if you've ever met a pot head you'd know that they're stubborn and love the stuff. It's much different than alcohol, in that they don't see any negative side-effects like heightend anger or depression, it just takes them into a state of bliss and they see nothing wrong with that so it really is hard to talk them out of it because they see NOTHING wrong with it!
Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

[Mister Mappy]

No, it's not a "Bible Belt" city either. Socially, it's probably not as liberal as San Francisco (but where is?), but does lean more to the socially liberal side. Nobody will be shoving a Bible down your throat here, but nor will you be faulted if you aren't 100% PC, and green either.

[RPSF]

There we go! I was having a tought time trying to describe the atmosphere here and you hit it on the head, politically correct! It feels like every other person is either a member of PETA or sympathizes with them, or they drive a prius, or they're afraid to say anything that could in any way be seen as even remotely offensive, and you wouldn't believe the hoops they jump through to do this. That's what I want to get away from, that right there.

[Lookout Kid]

We have socialists in Chicago too. It's a large city with every political bend under the sun, though Democrats have a firm grip. Political opinions vary from neighborhood to neighborhood, and from suburb to suburb.

[Chicagoland60426]

As long as your buddy smoke his little weed inside, he won't catch too many problems from the police. I know people that smoke weed and still haven't went to jail or got charged for it.

[Attrill]

I think Chicago is a liberal city, but doesn't have as much "lifestyle" liberalism. A good example of the differences between California and Chicago is the Foie Gras ban. In Chicago it was pushed by PETA, and a number of activists and an alderman took up the issue. I suspect most alderman didn't know what foie gras is, or think that anyone actually eats it, so they voted to ban it. The whole idea of banning a food was basically seen as crazy by the vast majority of the city (and Daley called it "It's the silliest law they've ever passed"). Foie gras sales shot up all over the city and the ban was repealed by overwhelming majority. Foie gras is banned in California.

[hank0604]

It sounds like you're leaving SF for the same reason I left Austin. Everyone there is so high-and-mighty it drives you crazy. And the thing is, people aren't trying to be eco-friendly for the sake of the environment (there is nothing wrong with that) they just act that way so people will see them acting that way. Eventually I couldn't take it any more, as cool as the city is.

So to answer your question, I haven't found anything like that in Chicago. People here are a lot more down-to-earth.