CNSNews.com) – Chicago, a city plagued by gangs, murder and a failing public education system, is the most American of cities, says Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
“Chicago is the most American of American cities," Emanuel said in talk last week to political science students at Northwestern University. "It's not just any city. If you want to come and see America, you come to its heartland. And what is the capital of that heartland? Chicago."
And let's not forget, "Birthplace of thug politics."
Snideness aside, though, the mayor is just wrong. You could come with a set of criteria and rate cities as bad or good based on them, maybe even choose the "best." But what exactly is the "most American of American cities"? What we celebrate above most things here is our individuality and ability and willingness to create unique local cultures. So how could any one of them be any more "American" than the next?
