We’ve been critical of Park Ridge Alderman Don Bach (3rd Ward) on many occasions, so it’s only fitting that we commend him for his literary prowess in authoring one of the longest letters to the editor we’ve ever seen in the Park Ridge Journal – an almost full-pager titled “A Comment On Courage” in which he criticizes certain unidentified blogs, certain unidentified bloggers and the unidentified individuals who contribute to them.

We assume PublicWatchdog is among his targets, and we can live with that.  In fact, we encourage it on the theory that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

But we have to wonder why Bach’s lengthy diatribe contains not one mention of his own political beliefs or even one insight into his personal philosophy of local government.  Maybe it’s because he doesn’t have any, which becomes pretty obvious from his description of how he surveys 20 or 30 different people “for each and every issue” before voting the way his constituents have asked him. 

That’s not being The People’s representative, Mr. Bach. That’s being a glorified weathervane. 

If Bach wants a quick lesson on what he should be doing besides licking his finger and holding it aloft, we suggest he try Federalist No. 10, where no less a political thinker than James Madison proposed a form of government where the popular views are refined and enlarged “by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country” and which can thereby pronounce the public voice in a way “more consonant to the public good than if pronounced by the people themselves.”

But, of course, that requires a lot more thought and effort than simply surveying 20-30 constituents and then voting the way they tell you.

Oh, and by the way: Madison wrote and published Federalist No. 10 anonymously as “Publius” – as did the Federalist’s other two authors, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay.  Maybe Mr. Bach has heard of them even if, by his standard, those Founding Fathers were cowards for writing anonymously.  And by that same standard, Mr. Bach is courageous even though he eagerly scurries into closed sessions to do The People’s business in secret – and then has the gall to join Mayor Frimark and the rest of his Alderpuppets in condemning Ald. Dave Schmidt (1st Ward) for telling the public the truth about that “secret” stuff.

Although he writes that he doesn’t read blogs such as this, we’ll offer Bach our own “comment on courage” about how he performs his aldermanic duties: Don’t quit your day job, Alderman.