Jeff McMahon

To the Honorable California Secretary of State,

We the undersigned expatriate Californians of Chicago respectfully seek the right to vote in the recall election of Governor Gray Davis. The grounds for our request are as follows:

WHEREAS, you might tell us to go recall our own governor, we cannot. Only eighteen states have recall provisions, and Illinois isn't one of them. Many of those states adopted the recall during the Progressive movement at the dawn of the twentieth century. Prescient critics argued that recall elections already existed in a form known as "the next election." They warned that midterm recalls might result in political chaos. While Illinois said, "No thanks," California said, "Cool!"

WHEREAS, we don't have sufficient grounds to recall Governor Blagojevich. He has so far navigated a gooey deficit without losing his new-car smell; he's fighting noble battles with Jesse White and greedy judges; and unlike Davis, he works. Illinois even let dirty George Ryan complete his term, and Ryan spent his final hours trying to spare his reputation from history's death row.

WHEREAS, here in the nation-state of Chicago, we can't recall our mayor either. Illinois allows "home-rule" cities to adopt their own recall procedures, but lately in Chicago our mayor serves for life. Besides, Mayor Daley is no Gray Davis. Davis fiddled while California ran out of voltage, then out of money. Daley doesn't even let democracy slow him down. When debates become tedious, he sends out the midnight bulldozers. Jane Byrne and a few private pilots might not like it, but stuff gets done.

WHEREAS, Chicago is California dreaming. Ronald Reagan long ago turned the Golden State into the Golden Police State. Its people dare not jaywalk; its dispirited bicyclists stay off the sidewalks; its paranoid pot smokers hide in closets while spy helicopters hover overhead. Meanwhile, Chicago flirts with anarchy in its libertarian streets. Here, the only people glancing over their shoulders are kowtowed Californians. Once upon a time, everybody in California was from Chicago; now, everywhere in Chicago you can find Californians. We are your lost children, California. We are California Libre. With Kaos seizing your statehouse, we are your populace in exile.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, we expatriate Californians have a civic duty to intervene in that reckless democracy which has already turned one crappy actor into an international baby killer. And now what rough beast, its hour come at last, slouches toward Sacramento to be born?

(2003-08-20)

Also by Jeff McMahon

Sensuous Chicago: Sixth Sense
I have a tiny radio that magically describes events as I come upon them
(2003-08-05)

Nelson Algren's Secret
Chicagoans may be surprised to learn that the best book about Chicago has been keeping a secret for half a century: Algren adapted some of his most important descriptions of Chicago from a New Yorker's description of New York.
(2003-01-29)

Tale of Two Cities
Another poet's fingerprints show up all over Algren's book
(2003-01-29)

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