Politics & Power Quote by Richard J. Daley

Daley's line is a neatly wrapped piece of machine-age realism: if you want to stay in power, make the city work. It sounds almost idealistic, but the genius is how it collapses civic virtue into electoral strategy. "Good government" isn't framed as a moral aspiration; it's pitched as a practical method. Deliver services, keep neighborhoods stable, make the trains and trash and patronage pipelines run on time, and voters (or at least the blocs that matter) will reward you. In Daley's Chicago, politics wasn't a seminar in principles. It was an operating system.

The subtext is transactional, even when it wears a clean suit. "Good" doesn't necessarily mean transparent or reformist; it can mean efficient, responsive to constituents, and disciplined enough to avoid scandals that spook business and the press. Daley is defending a model where competence and control are inseparable: governing well proves you deserve to govern, and governing gives you the leverage to keep doing it. It's a self-justifying loop.

Context sharpens the edge. Daley presided over a powerful Democratic machine that fused public works, loyalty, and turnout into a single apparatus. Mid-century cities faced white flight, racial upheaval, and the pressure of federal money reshaping local priorities. The phrase functions as both reassurance and warning: judge me by what you get, not by how I get it. It flatters voters with the idea that results are what count, while quietly insisting that the strongest hand is the most legitimate one.