As Kamala gets coronated, Chicago gets democracy stress test

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One day, airports will figure out a civilized method for catching an Uber after your flight, but that day was not last Sunday at O’Hare as a maelstrom of confused travelers stared into an endless stream of gray Toyota Camrys. Having made facial contact with my driver and exchanged names, I settled in for a bumper to bumper drive to my hotel and we began chatting.

"Do you mind if I ask what your accent is?" I queried. "I travel a lot but I can’t place it."

"Siberian," he laughed. "I know it's confusing, I look Chinese and sound Russian. I hit the green card lottery."

It turns out that the green card lottery is a few select spots for his area that he applied for on a whim and won. Four years ago he arrived, speaking no English, made his way to Chicago, and is thrilled to be here.

"There is no democracy in Russia," he said. "Putin is dictator, and if you want a car like this you have to have a good job and that takes connections. It's completely different."

He doesn’t travel back to see his parents anymore, for fear of being arrested or conscripted.

It was a sobering way to enter Chicago on the week of the Democratic National Convention, and I wondered if the people here who hit the "born in America lottery," had quite such a sense of how special that is.

Chicago being Chicago, I mostly met Democrats, but not only Democrats. On my first night, I met a guy in a white and gold MAGA hat who loves trolling his hometown by wearing it. There are also many types of Democrats with their own priorities.

Several of the bartenders and hotel employees I spoke to emphasized unions. Most belonged to Local 1 of the Service Employees International Union, and they are worried about Donald Trump’s