On 2/13/2025, Skokie shut down my water to work on a leaky water main. Water came back on after midnight. Workers went home at 2 AM on Valentine’s day. At 5 AM, there were feet of water in the neighborhood from a water main that had broken fully and been allowed to run unchecked for three hours between 5 and 8 AM.

Skokie then refused to answer any questions, saying an investigation was in order. That investigation cost tens or maybe even hundreds of thousands of dollars and looked only at the physical failure of the water main, not the delayed response or the missed opportunities the night before. Then, when asked about the response, the village delayed, allowed the director of Public Works to retire with full benefits, and then left explaining the response up to the new director of public works, who had no experience with flood or the response. Efforts to point out how skewed this “accounting” and “transparency” are have been met with increased hostility from Skokie officials. One Skokie official went so far as to tell me I shouldn't be bothering elected officials with my concerns...a notion he shared with the constituent liaison for my local representative. Democracy in Skokie, ladies and gentlemen!

I have not handled Skokie’s amoral and antagonistic approach to the truth well. I was a man of faith. I turned to my religious community for grounding. In April of 2026, it was revealed that the pastor of my parish was stealing funds for years. He stole those funds to purchase lavish accessories for his life and to help his lay-religious friends with jobs and extra cash. He stole those funds using an account the archdiocese should have closed when it closed our parish and merged it with another. Further, the archdiocese was told by parish members that something was odd about the finances. Requested oversight documents were never produced and the archdiocese’s own watchdog failed to catch the fraud for years. In response, the archdiocese removed the thieving pastor and left the people of the parish in receivership with a pastor of yet another massive merged parish. Figuring out how to move forward: that’s a job for the people, not the priests.

Why string these two anecdotes together and put them on a website?

Because it demonstrates the rot of American public and moral life. Leaders can’t be trusted. The right thing is impossible for our institutions. And the people—of Skokie, of the United States, of God—are worse off for it. Before we can make smart choices or wise choices or even good choices, we need to make right choices. And we need to stop being angry at the people who keep reminding us all of that fact.

Now is the age for the moral scold. Go and scold boldly.