Every American should pay close attention to what’s happening in Chicago, and I don’t just mean the Democratic National Convention.
While Kamala Harris and Tim Walz lay out the Democratic visionforAmerica this week, the consequences of their agenda will already be on full display across my hometown. The plight ofChicagoans is directly related to the promises that Democrats will make on stage, because the party has been fulfilling similar pledges herefordecades.
Americans should startbylooking at Chicago’s children – the future of the city. Some329,000 public-school studentsare scheduled to start classthe weekafter the convention ends, but hardly any will learn. Barely12% of the city’s elementary school studentsare proficient in math, whileonly 16%are at that level in reading. The math numbers don’t budgebythe time they reach high school. The reading numbers fall, to just 14% proficiency.
Chicago police officers train at McCormick Place, June 6, 2024, in preparation for the Democratic National Convention. ((Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images))
Why are so many students failing? It’s notforlack of taxpayer funding. Democrats havenearly doubled per-student fundingin the last 12 years, yet educational outcomes have plummeted over the same time.
Instead of helping students, taxpayers are mostly propping up teachers unions, the Democratic Party’s most important special-interest group. The Chicago Teachers Union is now demandingthe most extreme contract in the country, one that the city’s union-backed Democratic leaders will meet at least in part, if not in full.
When Harris and Walz promise to invest in public education, that’s what they mean – paying off teachers unions instead of empowering students.
VideoChicago also shows that Democrats will oppose or close any escape routes. Last year, state lawmakerskilleda scholarship that let 9,000 low-income kids avoid the failing schools that trap their peers. No national Democrat will fightforschool choice, either.
CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION PRESIDENT RAISES EYEBROWS WITH CLAIMS ABOUT CONSERVATIVES
Many Chicago kids have escaped from school via a less-than-ideal road – crime. The city is infamousforroving bands of teenagers who pummel residents and tourists alike. See the three teenage boys and one 11-year-old girl who beat and robbed a man on a Chicago trainlast month.
A2021 reportfound that 49% of those arrestedforcarjackings and 32% of those arrestedforrobberies were under 17 years old, along with 8% of those arrestedformurder. Speaking of murder,as of last year, young people in Chicago faced a higher death rate than active-duty combat soldiers during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
VideoRegardless of their age, criminals know it’s open season in Chicago, thanks to the Democrats who run the joint. In 2021,they cutover 600 police-department jobs, along with the department’s funding. Within a year,crime soaredby30%. While funding is back up, police morale is still low, with less proactive enforcement to keep the peace.
KAMALA HARRIS DONATED TO ANTI-POLICE, PRO-‘SANCTUARY CITY’ GROUP AS DC STRUGGLED WITH CRIME
Officers know the city’s leaders don’t have their back. Does anyone think Kamala Harris, who’ssupportedending cash bail and mandatory minimum sentences, will stand with police? What about Tim Walz, the governor of the state that saw riots and rage in 2020?
More and moreChicagoans no longer see a future here, withnine consecutive yearsof population decline. The soaring crime and failing schools aren’t the only culprits, either.
VideoDemocrats have pursued their wildest tax hike dreams in both the city and the state. Today, Chicago has thesecond-highest sales taxin the country, along with thesecond-highest property taxes. Like manyChicagoans, I spend part of the year in Florida, where I pay 60% less in property taxes on a house that costs nearly 60% more.
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Florida also has far better schools and far less crime, so where is Chicago’s tax money going? Unions and Democratic allies, not public services – another warning to America.
Businesses are running from the Windy City, too. Major companies like Boeing, Caterpillar, Tyson Foods and dozens of others have all moved their headquarters out of the metropolitan area or downsized their footprint in recent years. Downtown Chicago hasset multiplerecordsforoffice vacancy ratesthis year, while other cities have bounced back from the pandemic.
VideoAs someone who talks with business executives and entrepreneurs on a weekly basis, I’ve lost track of how many have told me they see no long-term future in Chicago. Yet rather than acknowledge the city’s largely tax-driven economic decline, Harris and national Democrats want unprecedented tax hikes on families and businesses, stifling the engine of job creation and wage growth.
When the Democratic Party announced that it would hold its convention in Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnsonsaid the city”looks like America and demonstrates the values of the Democratic Party.” He was only half right:
Chicago does indeed show what Democrats standfor, and it’s nothing less than American decline. But Mayor Johnson may yet be proven fully correct, because if Kamala Harris and Tim Walz win in November, Chicago’s mounting failure will surely spread across America.
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John Tillman is CEO of the American Culture Project.
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