You Can’t Throw the Bums Out if You’ve Voted With Your Feet

There’s a great deal of ruin in a nation, as Adam Smith once observed. The same could be said of America’s big Democratic-run cities. Brandon Johnson’s victory in last week’s Chicago mayoral race is a reminder that no matter how bad things get, they can always get worse.

Chicago is functionally bankrupt. Its high crime and taxes are driving away businesses like Citadel, Boeing and Tyson Foods. Despite some of the highest property taxes in the country, its pension funds are in a death spiral. Scads of people are moving out. A net 175,000 people left Cook County between 2020 and 2022.