McHenry County Blog

The following seven McHenry County high school students will participated in a “Model Congress” next Saturday in Rockford:

• Alden-Hebron H.S.: Leah Arthur, Cody Eskridge, Dillion Lalor and Morgan Lohse.
• Cary-Grove H.S.: Maurissa Dorn, Luke Jenner, Jon Lubow and Alix Rozolis.
• Crystal Lake Central H.S.: Juan Gonzalez.
• Harry D. Jacobs H.S.: Grant Dixon.
• Marengo H.S.: Amanda Kenny, Paulette Saldana, Jacob Tucker and Tyler VanVoorhees.
• Marian Central Catholic H.S.: Sylvia Bennett, John Jaworski, Heather Ross and Jan Wueger.
• Woodstock H.S.: Ana Ahmeh, Chris Banville, Katelyn Frisby and Jon Larson.

And presiding was former House Speaker Dennis Hastert preside.

Was that be an experience or what?

When I was trying to select a college, I was already enamored by the political process. On the Crystal Lake Community High School student council, I guess I wanted to be more involved in the decision-making process than being asked to ratify Superintendent John Buckner’s decision to move the smoking corner from right outside the back door of the school next to the field house to the parking lot. (I voted against that, arguing that if the administration wanted to move the smoking corner, fine, but I wasn’t going to be a front—not the word I used–for the action.)

In any event I looked for colleges with mock political conventions. I ended up applying for Northwestern, Oberlin College and Lawrence. Oberlin was ranked highest on a Tribune listing for co-educational colleges from 2,000-3,000 and had held the first mock convention, so, when I was accepted I decided to go there. I ended up  chairman of the Republican Mock Convention.

I also participated in a Model United Nations at the instigation of Steve Hutzelman. My friend Paul Keefe, who, ironically, was buried in Crystal Lake because of a family connection after he died jogging in New York’s Central Park shortly after our 5th college reunion, although he lived west of Cleveland and I were the back-up guys. (Keefe is second from the right on the top row next to Melinda Kunz. I’m bottom right.) We learned that two people can get a whole audience applauding by clapping at the back of both sides of the audience.

This is the eleventh year that the 16th District Congressman has sponsored this event.

“I’m always amazed at their passion for public policy and their thirst for knowledge, and I’m very much looking forward to our visit,” 16th District Congressman Don Manzullo said.

His press release points out,

“The ‘Model Congress’ simulation, which provides students with hands-on experience in how an idea becomes a law, is a core feature of the organization’s Washington, D.C.-based conferences, but this is the first time CYLC has conducted it as a stand-alone program. Seventeen CYLC staff members will be on site in Rockford to administer the program.”

143 students are attending from 37 high schools.

During the morning session, students were assigned a political party and committees, where debate ensued on a fictional bill. Students debated, amended and voted on the bill in committee and then come together as the full Model Congress in the afternoon for further debate, take action on amendments, and a final vote on the bill.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why every high school in McHenry County (or at least in Manzullo’s part of McHenry County) isn’t sending a student.

The entire press release is here.

This ad was placed last Christmas by Hobby Lobby. (Click to enlarge.)

That’s the store that closes on Sunday, the way most stores did.

When I attended Oberlin College from 1960-64, the only stores that seemed to be open on Sunday were stores that sold milk, although I do remember buying a Sunday paper at the corner drug store. It was the only time I saw college President Robert Carr out of a suit.

The message on the full-page ad is

If you would like to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, call the Need Him Ministry at 1-888-NEED HIM.
Hobby Lobby, Hemispheres and Mardel Stores – 7704 S.W. 44th St. – Oklahoma City, OK 73179

Below the ad are three words from Pope John Paul II:

I include it because every book in the Bible tells not to be afraid.

The nationwide campaign to elect Dick Tracy McHenry County Seal moves to the magazine Motorama.

Tracy, after all, traveled to the moon.

So, as Allan Showalter, proprietor of Heck of Guy blog puts it,

“Tracy’s Space Coup, propelled by magnetic fields, is the focus of the Motormania cover story this month, allowing the County Seal candidate to simultaneously reach out to the NASCAR and pro-space exploration voter factions.”

This reminds me of the final exam I had at Oberlin College in 1962. Oberlin College Professor Aaron Wildavski’s open book American government 24-hours exam proposed a question about how students would capture the green cheese concession on the moon.

I created all sorts of interest groups supporting my campaign to gain government approval to market the green cheese.

It was probably the most fun I ever had on a final exam. Got an A-, I think.

Have we left out any constituencies in our campaign to convince the McHenry County Board to name Dick Tracy County Seal?

The nationwide campaign to elect Dick Tracy McHenry County Seal moves to the magazine Motorama.

Tracy, after all, traveled to the moon.

So, as Allan Showalter, proprietor of Heck of Guy blog puts it,

“Tracy’s Space Coup, propelled by magnetic fields, is the focus of the Motormania cover story this month, allowing the County Seal candidate to simultaneously reach out to the NASCAR and pro-space exploration voter factions.”

This reminds me of the final exam I had at Oberlin College in 1962. Oberlin College Professor Aaron Wildavski’s open book American government 24-hours exam proposed a question about how students would capture the green cheese concession on the moon.

I created all sorts of interest groups supporting my campaign to gain government approval to market the green cheese.

It was probably the most fun I ever had on a final exam. Got an A-, I think.

Have we left out any constituencies in our campaign to convince the McHenry County Board to name Dick Tracy County Seal?

Retired U.S. Senator Howard Metzenbaum’s obituary was in the Chicago Tribune

The Tribune picked up the New York Times version.

It was woefully inadequate.

Maybe it was because I attended Ohio’s Oberlin College that I followed Ohio politics more closely than most others in Illinois.

Certainly, it was not his liberal political stances that endeared him to me.

It was the way he answered letters to critical constituents.

I don’t have the exact words, but one went something like this:

“Madam,

“I regret to inform you that someone has written a stupid letter to me using your name.”

You can imagine that politicians all over the country sometimes would like to reply to critics in a similar devil-may-care vein.

Retired U.S. Senator Howard Metzenbaum’s obituary was in the Chicago Tribune

The Tribune picked up the New York Times version.

It was woefully inadequate.

Maybe it was because I attended Ohio’s Oberlin College that I followed Ohio politics more closely than most others in Illinois.

Certainly, it was not his liberal political stances that endeared him to me.

It was the way he answered letters to critical constituents.

I don’t have the exact words, but one went something like this:

“Madam,

“I regret to inform you that someone has written a stupid letter to me using your name.”

You can imagine that politicians all over the country sometimes would like to reply to critics in a similar devil-may-care vein.

Reminiscencing about my first government course as a sophomore year at Oberlin College, I dipped into political theory and ran into a summary of a 1989 book by Robert Dahl.

I had studied his 1961 book, “Who Governs?” in 1961. It reported how power operates in New Haven.

I read it during my course in American Government, given by Professor Aaron Wildavsky. (What a privilege it was to have him. He, some of you may remember, wrote, “The Politics of the Budgetary Process,” an easy introduction to budgeting, which uses lots of sports analogies like “end run.”)

There was a summary of Dahl’s 1989 book that I thought some might find of interest:

In another landmark book, Democracy and Its Critics (1989), Dahl makes his view about democracy clear. No modern country meets the ideal of democracy, which is a theoretical utopia. To reach the ideal requires meeting 5 criteria:

1. Effective Participation
2. Voting Equality at the Decisive Stage
3. Enlightened Understanding
4. Control of the Agenda
5. Inclusiveness

Instead, he calls politically advanced countries “polyarchies.” Polyarchies have

• elected officials,
• free and fair elections,
• inclusive suffrage,
• rights to run for office,
• freedom of expression,
• alternative information and
• associational autonomy.

Those institutions are a major advance in that they create multiple centers of political power.

Apply that to McHenry County and see how we stack up.

We have elected officials.

Most, although by no means all, think we have free and fair elections. We have suffrage for those who are citizens. (I was recently sent this HBO dvd entitled, “HACKING DEMOCRACY,” which he believes has more than a little relevance to McHenry County. He has charged me to “Pass it on,” so if anyone would like to view it, let me know.)

Petition requirements are not too onerous to prohibit anyone who seriously wants to run for office from doing so.

There is freedom of expression at most public meetings, although the Prairie Grove Grade School district did succeed in chilling the hallway outside of its secret meeting the one day I attended.

The decision by the Northwest Herald to inform residents of news or withhold it has diminished democracy in McHenry County in the past.

The Chicago Tribune established a Crystal Lake office in the late 1980’s that changed things for the better. Until the internet started cutting in on the Tribune’s advertising, it provided what Dahl calls “alternative information.” That was healthy for the body politic. Steve Stanek’s coverage of the county board was excellent for the Tribune.

The Daily Herald’s entry along the south and east edges of McHenry County starting in the early 1990’s also helped coverage, especially of county and courthouse affairs.

And I would like to suggest that even McHenry County Blog and other internet sources of local news and opinion have the potential of making county politics more democratic.

Now, when the Northwest Herald thinks something is not worth the time of day, information can reach the light of a computer screen.

I assume Dahl means that people can get together in interest groups by his final criteron: “associational autonomy.” We certainly can do that without fear.

So, I would say the future for democracy is good in McHenry County.

McHenry County College certainly flunked the “inclusiveness” ideal, though in its consideration of the baseball stadium. Crystal Lake, on the other hand, did a splendid job on inclusiveness.

Reminiscencing about my first government course as a sophomore year at Oberlin College, I dipped into political theory and ran into a summary of a 1989 book by Robert Dahl.

I had studied his 1961 book, “Who Governs?” in 1961. It reported how power operates in New Haven.

I read it during my course in American Government, given by Professor Aaron Wildavsky. (What a privilege it was to have him. He, some of you may remember, wrote, “The Politics of the Budgetary Process,” an easy introduction to budgeting, which uses lots of sports analogies like “end run.”)

There was a summary of Dahl’s 1989 book that I thought some might find of interest:

In another landmark book, Democracy and Its Critics (1989), Dahl makes his view about democracy clear. No modern country meets the ideal of democracy, which is a theoretical utopia. To reach the ideal requires meeting 5 criteria:

1. Effective Participation
2. Voting Equality at the Decisive Stage
3. Enlightened Understanding
4. Control of the Agenda
5. Inclusiveness

Instead, he calls politically advanced countries “polyarchies.” Polyarchies have

• elected officials,
• free and fair elections,
• inclusive suffrage,
• rights to run for office,
• freedom of expression,
• alternative information and
• associational autonomy.

Those institutions are a major advance in that they create multiple centers of political power.

Apply that to McHenry County and see how we stack up.

We have elected officials.

Most, although by no means all, think we have free and fair elections. We have suffrage for those who are citizens. (I was recently sent this HBO dvd entitled, “HACKING DEMOCRACY,” which he believes has more than a little relevance to McHenry County. He has charged me to “Pass it on,” so if anyone would like to view it, let me know.)

Petition requirements are not too onerous to prohibit anyone who seriously wants to run for office from doing so.

There is freedom of expression at most public meetings, although the Prairie Grove Grade School district did succeed in chilling the hallway outside of its secret meeting the one day I attended.

The decision by the Northwest Herald to inform residents of news or withhold it has diminished democracy in McHenry County in the past.

The Chicago Tribune established a Crystal Lake office in the late 1980’s that changed things for the better. Until the internet started cutting in on the Tribune’s advertising, it provided what Dahl calls “alternative information.” That was healthy for the body politic. Steve Stanek’s coverage of the county board was excellent for the Tribune.

The Daily Herald’s entry along the south and east edges of McHenry County starting in the early 1990’s also helped coverage, especially of county and courthouse affairs.

And I would like to suggest that even McHenry County Blog and other internet sources of local news and opinion have the potential of making county politics more democratic.

Now, when the Northwest Herald thinks something is not worth the time of day, information can reach the light of a computer screen.

I assume Dahl means that people can get together in interest groups by his final criteron: “associational autonomy.” We certainly can do that without fear.

So, I would say the future for democracy is good in McHenry County.

McHenry County College certainly flunked the “inclusiveness” ideal, though in its consideration of the baseball stadium. Crystal Lake, on the other hand, did a splendid job on inclusiveness.

Frances Willard, a pioneer in the Temperance Movement, was born on September 28, 1839. I know that’s tomorrow, but I have a time sensitive message for then.

This statue of her was place in the Hall of Statues of the U.S. Capitol by the State of Illinois.

As a child she grew up in my college town, Oberlin, Ohio, the first college to admit women and blacks.

She became associated with Dwight Moody, who found the Moody Bible Institute, and became President of the National Women’s Temperance Movement.

The notes I found says hers was the first statue of a woman to be placed in the National Statuary Hall Collection.

I took this picture during our visit to the Capitol in June of 2006.

Frances Willard, a pioneer in the Temperance Movement, was born on September 28, 1839. I know that’s tomorrow, but I have a time sensitive message for then.

This statue of her was place in the Hall of Statues of the U.S. Capitol by the State of Illinois.

As a child she grew up in my college town, Oberlin, Ohio, the first college to admit women and blacks.

She became associated with Dwight Moody, who found the Moody Bible Institute, and became President of the National Women’s Temperance Movement.

The notes I found says hers was the first statue of a woman to be placed in the National Statuary Hall Collection.

I took this picture during our visit to the Capitol in June of 2006.