2022 was the year of living nervously – Chicago Tribune

Now that we’ve said farewell to 2022, it is not hard to see the past year as a snapshot of a historic period of great change. But a change from what to what?

It was a year of triumphs, regrets, divisions and conflicts, sprinkled with hopes for better times.

Seeing more of our faces again, yes, that was nice.

It didn’t take long for civilization to face new evils, such as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. However, under President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s leadership, Ukrainians responded with courageous defiance.

At year’s end, we Americans are left with the usual parade of winners and losers in America’s other national pastime besides sports: politics.

The midterm election year brought Chicago and Illinois politics a fresh parade of winners, losers and in many cases, new reasons to ask, “What in the world were they thinking?”

And will they ever face justice for it?

Years of such allegations appeared to catch up with Mike Madigan, former Illinois House speaker and chair of the Illinois Democratic Party, when he was indicted in early March by a federal grand jury on 22 charges of racketeering and bribery.

Often called “the Velvet Hammer” and “the state’s true governor,” Madigan, 80, resigned under pressure in 2021, ending his run as the longest-serving leader of any state or federal legislative body in the nation’s history. He held the speaker’s position for all but two years from 1983 to 2021.

The indictment alleges the Southwest Side Democrat, who has maintained his innocence, orchestrated illegal bribery schemes in return for influence over favorable legislation in Springfield. It also accuses him of using his position of power to solicit business for his private property-tax law firm.

Longevity also morphed into indictment for another Southwest Side Democratic powerhouse. Ald. Edward Burke of the 14th Ward declined to run for a 14th term after more than a half-century on the City Council, ending his run as the longest-serving alderman in Chicago history.

Even though a wide-ranging 2019 indictment on federal racketeering, bribery and corruption charges — and repeated calls for him to resign — didn’t stop him from seeking and winning reelection in 2019, Burke decided to call it quits. His ward had been significantly redrawn after the 2020 census, making it more than 88% Latino and harder for him to win again, if he were to try.

With Burke’s trial set for Nov. 6, many Chicagoans have been remembering how Burke gained a special prominence in Chicago political history after Mayor Harold Washington’s election in 1983. With then-Ald. Edward Vrdolyak, Burke led a bloc of white aldermen who thwarted the initiatives of the city’s first Black mayor at every turn.

Vrdolyak, who recently turned 85, was released early from federal prison in April after serving about five months of his 18-month sentence for a tax-related conviction. Moved to a halfway house for health reasons during the COVID-19 pandemic, his sentence is scheduled to conclude in March.

The apparent end of Vrdolyak and Burke’s political careers feels a lot like the end of an era in the city’s legendary history of corrupt “where’s mine” insider politics. But the end of a corrupt era is not the end of corruption. It is only a reminder of the grand old saying about eternal vigilance being the price of liberty. It’s the price of good government, too.

But on the happier side of Chicago politics, our award for meritorious longevity goes to Secretary of State Jesse White, who announced in 2021 that he would retire after 24 years as the state’s longest-serving and first African American secretary of state.

Respected in Springfield on both sides of the aisle — how often do we hear that said of any politician these days? — White has been one of the most well-known political figures in the state’s history and, by reputation, certainly one of the most popular.

He has made the dreaded trip to driver services facilities less onerous by reducing long lines, setting up online and phone appointments, and helping seniors, those with disabilities, pregnant women and military veterans move more easily to the front of the line for services.

And in one note of good news, White said he plans to spend more time with his Jesse White Tumblers following his retirement. The internationally famous gymnastics program that he created in 1959 has given thousands of youngsters in disadvantaged neighborhoods a character-building after-school activity that has delighted crowds in parades and neighborhood events across the city.

Asked in a recent interview how his fellow politicians might get along better, he offered this simple advice: “They should sit down and figure out what is in the best interest of the people, not so much what is in the best interest of the party.”

So true. Too bad we don’t see more of such simple truths in action in today’s politics.

Instead we see growing cynicism over narrow interests who use public forums — from Congress to social networks — to score cheap victories and line their pockets rather than help their fellow Americans find common ground and serve common interests.

We tip our hat to White and wish him a long, healthy and busy retirement, making our city and state better.

Looking back, it is easy to see 2022 as our year of living nervously, with threats of insurrection and intergroup clashes at home and global warfare abroad.

Yet, at our best, we Americans look to the sense of optimism that has held our country and our politics together long enough to resist the narrow interests that divide us, and we turn to the many things our diverse society has in common.

And as 2023 begins, it is with that fundamental sense of possibility and friendship that we offer our full-throated expression of hope for better times ahead.

Happy New Year!

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