The great clout misnomer

In a perfect world, everyone would be rewarded commensurate with his or her merits. In a perfect world, people would be chosen for schools, jobs and even spouses, based upon agreed upon guidelines. Everything would be fair, and no one would feel slighted.

The world is not perfect, and very often that job, that school, that spouse is attained due to some other guidelines. For the first half of this nation’s existence, women could not vote and could not work in many jobs. For two-thirds of the time Africans lived on this continent, they were not even regarded as human. Even now, some feel that Black children don't deserve to swim in the same pool as other children.

That is why it is interesting that now, after a Black man–a Black man from Chicago–has been elevated to the top job in the world, we are being bombarded with stories about the misuse of clout.

Actually, that is a misnomer. There is no such thing as the misuse of clout.

If it is not used, it is not clout.

Chicago is Clout City. It is clout that greases the gears that run this city. If the first Mayor Daley didn’t invent clout, he certainly perfected it.

The city is designed to run with clout, from the ward worker to the union boss to the alderman to the mayor. Even our businesses, while they hew to market principles, often accept clout instead of cash.

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