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i'm not sure. i'm really surprised with virginia. it's so well managed compared to most states. i have a hard time believing virginia is more corrupt than new york, new jersey, illinois, and california.
Actually higher grade means more corruption. So if IL does get an F, then it is a very clean state.
No, it's the opposite. The states that get good grades (i.e. B/Cs) are ranked high for accountability, transparency, and attempts at reform (according to this study). Good grades are good; bad grades are bad.
I can't take any survey seriously that ranks Illinois anything higher than a F. Hell, it deserves a Z- for corruption.
totally agree.
The Corruption pit of the nation just reelected Jesse Jackson Jr who is under investigation for the whole Blagoavich scandal.
How stupid is Chicago?
Heck one of their state representives just got indicted and is being charged for fraud. His democratic allies didn't say anything until AFTER the primary that he so happens to win even after all this broke out in the news............. go figure.
Illinois is just ughhh the only state with the word Ill in it. Describes the state/people very well.
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Illinois is just ughhh the only state with the word Ill in it. Describes the state/people very well.
You paint a pretty broad stroke of ~ 13 million people. It's clear that you have some sort of axe to grind with regard to Illinois, but then to pretend that the state of Indiana is some bastion full political reform and refuge that poor souls from Illinois only wish they were a part of? C'mon... For the almost 20 years I lived in Illinois, I never heard anyone clamoring to move to Indiana.
At least IL investigates and indicts its criminals...
And if you're going to make fun of Blagojevich, shouldn't you at least spell his name correctly?
Last edited by Maintainschaos; 03-21-2012 at 07:30 PM..
People from Illinois are good people. It's not the people. It has to be the choices available to them which seems to be more of who's in rather than who's good. That's just from my very limited observation.
People from Illinois are good people. It's not the people. It has to be the choices available to them which seems to be more of who's in rather than who's good. That's just from my very limited observation.
then why did Southern Chicago reelect Jesse Jackson Jr.
Heck both of the choices were bad but as always in politics you pick the *LESSER* of two evils. Jesse Jackson Jr is under ethics investigations and its just pathetic he doesnt care 1 bit about all the crime in the south side of Chicago.
I know I might get in trouble for ethnic stereotyping here, but please understand I am not suggesting that any particular ethnic heritage is more corrupt than any other.
The reason why Chicago/Illinois is known for its culture of political corruption has to do with the fact that the city GREW with the Irish. Seriously The Irish were uniquely suited to become political geniuses.
Being oppressed by the English, historically the only way they could gain power and influence is to work and beat the system. Irish were basically uniquely suited because they new how to work the Anglo establishment whether it was in Victorian England or amongst the blue-blooded WASPs in the United States (which had a lot of similarities).
East Coast cities had a lot of Irish, but also you had a much more established blue-blood WASP establishment in Boston, or wherever. (When you are already born into wealth and power like the WASPs you really have little use for political corruption, because you don't need to work the system, you are the system).
Yet, the Irish being a second-class citizen, less educated, working class Catholic ethnic group, they could easily appeal to the similar southern and eastern European ethnic groups for votes (Polish, Italian, etc.) Chicago was uniquely suited for this. Chicago didn't have nearly the blue-blooded WASPs to keep the Irish from rising up in power.
Other cities like New York had a lot of power that came from wealth building, because of its very large Jewish population. (again not stereotyping individuals, but certain ethnic groups on a large scale had certain trends, and because in Europe Jews were banned from trades, they found their niche in banking, etc. which were wealth building, which allowed them to go from rags to riches faster than other ethnic groups that immigrated).
Other midwest cities didn't have quite the huge Irish population. They all had German populations, which foud success through skilled trades and didn't look to politics to achieve an american dream, like the Irish did through being police, politicians, and in some cases through the Catholic church.
The western cities are younger, and more transplants from everywhere in the 20th century, so you don't have the entrenched political ways that result from tight ethnic populations that look after each other and assume they can do no wrong. Blagojevich obviously is not Irish, but being 2nd generation eastern European he followed in the footsteps of the established political life of the Irish.
Southern cities obviously have entrenched southerners (which come from a more rural/small city cultural background) but also have a lot of transplants, again you don't that insular, closed society of parochial urban Irish.
So, again, I know I might get flamed, I don't want to blame any one culture for corruption, of course not. But political corruption differences between states and cities, does have a lot to do with the unique ethnic mixes in those places.
Happy post-St. Patricks Day!
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