Something really extraordinary happened in Philadelphia politics in the last two weeks. A usually respected Councilman introduced legislation that would have, for all practical purposes, eliminated contribution limits in the Mayoral election. The bills had sponsorship from a majority of Council members and almost every member of Council was ready to vote for it.
And yet, after an outcry from progressive leaders, editorial page writers, and challengers to the incumbents from all over the city, the bill was withdrawn today. This is a major victory for the progressive movement in the city. And it is evidence of something I have been seeing out on the streets for the last three months.
This year, politics in Philadelphia is going to be different.
Most people with political experience in this city believe that you can’t win elections talking about political reform. Most political scientists—and I say this as a card carrying member of the profession—tell us that the only issues most people care about are “pocketbook” issues. They say that the only people who care about political reform are those of us from Mt. Airy or Chestnut Hill or Center City or Overbrook, that is, those of us who are well off enough not to have to worry about “real” issues like education or crime or the lack of jobs.
This year, however, something new and different is happening in our city,
I have been going all over the city, talking about the politics of fear that dominates Philadelphia. I have been telling people that, whether you are an individual, or homeowner, or businessman or a leader of a community group, you can’t get anything you need from the government without cutting a special deal with someone. I have been pointing out that this politics of fear undermines our ability to address the problems shared by every neighborhood. I have been saying that we have to replace these special deals with a government that is fair, efficient, transparent and, most of all, innovative.
As soon as I begin my speech, people start nodding their heads yes. It doesn’t matter whether I am in Chestnut Hill or Nicetown or Whitman or Mayfair. And it doesn’t matter that the whole idea of a politics of fear is a pretty abstract concept. Everyone who has ever been involved in any way with politics in the city knows exactly what I mean. They come up to me when I’m done and start giving me examples of their own, about how this agency or that agency failed them and how, as a result, they had to call their ward leader or Council member to get something they should have had as a matter of course. And some folks tell me they are sill waiting for the help they were promised.
This year, people are talking about what’s wrong with politics in Philadelphia.
People also know that there is a race and class bias in the distribution of government support in Philadelphia. More than once on the campaign, when I have heard of how a neighborhood was ill-treated by its political leaders, I said, “No one would dare do that in Mt. Airy.” People know just what I mean.
So, from one end of the city to another, people care about fixing the broken politics of this city. They know the difference between how things work and how they should work. And they know that the reason they suffer from high crime rates, and can’t send their kids to good schools, and can’t find a decent job, and pay the highest transit fares in the nation is that politics is broken.
This year, political reform is the pocket book issue.
Because this year, for the first time in a very long time, people have some hope that things can change. People can see progressive candidates emerging from every part of the city all saying more or less the same thing. They even see some incumbents working up the strength to challenge the system in which they have worked for years.
So, it actually doesn’t surprise me that we reformers won a major victory yesterday. If they can do nothing else, our politicians can feel the political ground shifting under their feet.
They know that this year, people care about fixing our broken politics.
And the victory we won today is just one more step towards creating the politics of hope that can transform this city. It is one more step towards giving people the hope that the city as a whole can be governed differently and that, instead of fighting for ourselves or our own neighborhoods, we can join together and fight to make our whole city something beautiful to see.
And if we all get our hopes up, then this year politics really is going to be different.