JF

The parking meters in Chicago are owned by a Saudi sovereign wealth fund. You can propose to raise taxes to buy them back or to seize them but either way you're immediately on a scale much broader than the local...

I don't even know what that means. "Scale"? Even in the most podunk of podunk municipalities you are dealing with things - like the weather - that aren't limited to one county. You think this is somehow a meaningful thing to point out?

I think it throws a wrench into the idea of distinguishing between municipal services and the war on the Houthis is all.

Who has that idea? If you have a constituency, and this constituency says "the war on the houthis concern us greatly", then what are you waiting for, Sonny?

I mean, I kinda think "I" do have a constituency that's concerned about the free movement of goods and people across borders and don't want to compete with slaves. That's hard to deal with as a city council. If "we" (me and them) have to go through such channels, it's not ideal

I'm not saying you're wrong necessarily, just that this isn't really a particularly efficient way of getting people's needs addressed.

With all due respect, the fact that you think this is a meaningful criticism just confirms what I was saying. I would NEVER dream of saying that municipal politics is an efficient means of combating an alien invasion or whatever.

What I am saying - and it's frankly amazing that people find this point "controversial" - is that 1) learning the necessary skillset, 2) building your political power base starts at this level.