If you were to ask me why I'm supporting Tom Geoghegan in the IL-05 special election for Congress, the answer would be simple. I'm supporting Tom because he is the truest progressive in the race.
What, you may ask, is a progressive? A progressive is someone who "comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable" -- someone who, above all, will fight for the rights and the dignity of ordinary people, even -- especially -- when that means taking on the most powerful institutions and entrenched interests in our society. Given that so many injustices derive from economic inequality, the cause of economic justice will always be at the center of a progressive vision. But economic justice is by no means the only vitally important progressive value. A true progressive is someone who signs on to the entire progressive agenda -- not just the bits and pieces of it that happen to be popular at any given moment, or happen to coincide with his or her own self-interest. And finally, a progressive is someone who is committed not merely to advocating incremental change, but to advancing big, bold, and sometimes quite controversial new ideas.
By those measures, Geoghegan is far and away the most progressive candidate in the race. He has bloody well spent a lifetime "comforting the afflicted, and afflicting the comfortable." He's filed lawsuits against employers who illegally discriminated against workers or prevented them from joining unions. He's won back pensions, health care, and lost wages for thousands of people. He's gone to court to enforce child labor laws, and to crack down on predatory payday lenders.
Kathy G., whom I met this morning during Geoghegan-related program activities on the North Side of Chicago, is devoting her blog, The G Spot, to some pretty intensive Geoghegan coverage. Be sure to check it out.
Many of the people that signed my Geoghegan ballot petition sheets today (taking their gloves off in the biting wind and whirling snow to scratch some congealed ink on frosted paper) told me they had voted for Obama in November but weren't convinced that the incoming president would make much of a difference given the culture of Washington. I told them that Tom G. was just the man to send to the House to shake up that sclerotic D.C. establishment.
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