Milton Rakove’s “Don’t Make No Waves… Don’t Back No Losers,” takes an in-depth look at Chicago’s political structure and claims that Chicago’s political machine is not only a model example of successful politics, but also despite criticism, the “durability of the machine, it’s efficiency, and its ability to survive and prosper, despite the urban crisis, cannot be challenged,” (Rakove 3). Rakove’s title of the book emphasizes the simplistic nature of the machine’s design. As detailed in the text, in order to be successful and preserve the hierarchy chosen for the machine cannot make waves and the political party backing the machine cannot back any losers.
In doing so, Magrino prompts a basic reassessment of the instruments through which nearby governments can maintain majority rule values and cultivate important citizen engagement. Hence, his experience compels us to consider how the standards of duty and responsibility that we have investigated within the setting of government administration can advise endeavors to move forward neighborhood government and enable communities to sanction positive change at the grassroots
Coinage of Gold and Silver was an election circumstance for all parties. Likewise, imperialism and the primary election law were important subjects. The civil service reform, at least from Plunkitt’s opinion, was the greatest concern of all. The primary election law and the civil service reform were devastating to politicians who built their success on favors and “advantages.” Tammany Hall felt attacked by the primary election law and civil service reform.
Lastly, Vrabel asserts that Boston’s mayors “cultivated ethnic and class conflicts” (6), which undermined development in Boston. Ultimately, these factors spurred Bostonians to action to change Boston. On November 8, 1949, Boston elected a new mayor, John Hynes. He saw the damage the previous mayor had done in alienating businesses from settling in Boston and worked for change. Hynes did so by “streamlining city government and reducing the waste and corruption” (8).
People were so surprised that he won in a big city without a black majority vote (“Mayor Tom Bradley,” 2009). Tom was the man that turned Los Angeles into the huge city that it is today. Bradley wanted to be three things in life why he was
California, the petri dish of global political activity. From its very beginning, Southern California has been a frontrunner in political thought and activism. Major political organizations have either started in California or at the very minimum have local political branch. But as Pulido points out “people cannot fully participate in social movements without undergoing a process of political awakening.” (Pulido pg 61).
In his recent State of the City Address on March 28th, Mayor Andre Dickens gave an impressive speech to the people of Atlanta. He used logos, ethos, and pathos to present his vision for a better Atlanta. Mayor Dickens appealed to the audience's sense of logic and reason, established his credibility as a leader committed to serving the people of Atlanta, and appealed to their emotions. He hoped to persuade the audience to join him in creating a brighter future for the city. Mayor Dickens used specific examples, statistics, personal anecdotes, and passionate language to present a compelling argument that resonated with the audience and inspired them to take action.
My Argument: Thesis: The Ballot Initiative Process is titled in favor of the rich and well connected--this is a perversion of it’s original intent to empower citizens. It’s time for a change in the status quo. Because the cost of signature gathering is so high, Citizen groups cannot qualify an initiative for the ballot without big-money backing. This effectively makes big money the gatekeepers to the initiative process--they decide who gets to play and who doesn’t.
We often assume that the reason behind the low voter turnout in the U.S. is due to institutional challenges (i.e. voter ID laws, registration, costs). Therefore, reformers most often focus on offering and improving various forms of convenience voting to increase turnout. Skeptics such as Graeme Orr argue that “voting whenever, from wherever, is a ‘lifestyle’ option.” Another skeptic, Adam J. Breinsky, argues that convenience voting has “perverse consequences on election reform” and that encouraging political engagement is more valuable than pursuing institutional changes. Although convenience voting offers flexibility and comfort, it is imperative not to overlook what Election Day is supposed to be: a communal event.
Correspondingly to the rising corruption in government, President Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech addressing the issue of rising corruption and what the government has done to end said corruption (Doc. 2). President Roosevelt informs the audience that the government has put regulations on business corporations as a solution to alarming monopolies and political machines (Doc. 2). When analyzing President Theodore Roosevelt’s speech at Rhode Island, it is evident that the purpose is to convince the audience that the government is trying to protect the citizens from big businesses by placing regulations. Furthermore, when inspecting the voting system, Americans spotted flaws that made the system not as just as it was perceived. It is unmistakable that voting is corrupt because many citizens suffer through the pressure of being subconsciously forced to vote for their alderman (Doc.1).
How would you choose to fix Chicago? What would you do? These drawn out questions proliferate the minds of everyone in this city. A city where gun violence is commonplace, poverty strikes down countless families, and public high school students would be lucky to attend college. Only until I entered adolescence did I realize I was among this population; I grew up in a neighborhood abundant with these traits, and most of my peers at school come from some form of wealth that save them and hide them from these traits one can only experience to truly understand.
The whole goddamn city should be angry. We got a do-nothing mayor who’s beholden to the money interests. Probably can’t even name his department heads” (30). Harmond needs to be a mayor who can help his community, not like other mayors who take the money and didn’t do anything. He needs to offer long-term jobs for people so these people can invest back the wealth of their work in Pittsburg.
Many people have often wondered how politicians would organize legislative activity if given the chance to start anew and make things the way they want them. The Progressive takeover of governmental activities in California in 1910 presented a unique opportunity to study such a phenomenon in its natural occurring state. The Progressives made it as hard as they could to crush the party system and to keep it from returning. In particular, “they made it nearly impossible for party activists outside government to organize, coordinate actions, keep informed about legislative activities, or, perhaps most importantly, influence party nominations to office.”
It doesn’t take much to qualify to run for city council, all that is needed of a person is to be a registered voter, U.S. citizen, a resident of the community for a year, and never been convicted of a felony. So why do people run for city council? Some of the main reasons are to move up in politics, for personal enrichment, to serve the community, and concern about issues. Although everyone has their own motivations for running, older people tend to because they have the time and younger people do for the experience. City council members are responsible for representing, legislating, overseeing city management, and judging government
In The Just City, Susan Fainstein begins to “to develop an urban theory of justice and to use it to evaluate existing and potential institutions and programs” in New York, London, and Amsterdam (p. 5). She wants to make “justice the first evaluative criterion used in policy making” (p. 6). While her book centers on idealism as a way to combat inequity and issues of justice in policy and planning, some may say that this is an unrealistic perspective. Throughout this book she explains the relationship between “democratic processes and just outcomes” (p. 24) which involve equity, diversity and democracy which are the main concepts of this book. Fainstein stresses that these things are important in public policy and urban planning because policy
