Changes

==Background and career==

==Background and career==

[[File:Buttigieg-alfred-e-neuman.jpg|right|250px|thumb|President Trump remarked on the resemblance of Buttigieg to Alfred E. Neuman; Buttigieg, a man of the world who speaks seven languages, had no idea what President Trump was talking about. Alfred E. Neuman was a perennial presidential candidate for many years.<ref>https://www.politico.com/story/2012/11/write-in-for-alfred-e-neumann-083400</ref> ]]

[[File:Buttigieg-alfred-e-neuman.jpg|right|250px|thumb|President Trump remarked on the resemblance of Buttigieg to Alfred E. Neuman; Buttigieg, a man of the world who speaks seven languages, had no idea what President Trump was talking about. Alfred E. Neuman was a perennial presidential candidate for many years.<ref>https://www.politico.com/story/2012/11/write-in-for-alfred-e-neumann-083400</ref> ]]

An only child, Buttigieg had always been close with his father, Joseph Buttigieg, a University of Notre Dame professor who passed away in 2019.  The senior Buttigieg had a profound impact on "Mayor Pete." <ref>https://www.marieclaire.com/politics/a26867874/joseph-buttigieg-pete-buttigieg-father/</ref> Joseph Buttigieg supported a revised version of Marxism that dispensed with some of the more doctrinaire theories of  Marx and Engel's, yet he was clearly Marxist. “Equity, environmental consciousness, and racial justice are surely some of the ingredients of a healthy Marxism" he wrote.  According to Paul Kengor, Grove City College professor and expert in communism and progressivism,  Buttigieg was among a group of leftist professors who focused on injecting Marxism into the wider culture.<ref>https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/pete-buttigiegs-father-was-a-marxist-professor-who-lauded-the-communist-manifesto</ref> The senior Buttigieg wrote that he found Marx's description of emancipation as the eradication of humans' alienation from each other and  their  alienation  from  their  own  productive  and  creative  activity  to be "compelling." And that to reach this  ''kind of freedom'', "the many forms of oppressive structural relations must be confronted  and altered and, just as important, the constitution of social agents cannot be limited to the liberal language of rights."<ref>Is the struggle for human rights a struggle for emancipation? Neve Gordon, Jacinda Swanson, & Joseph A. Buttigieg, Rethinking Marxism: A Journal of Economics, Culture & Society, 12 January 2013 [http://www.bgu.ac.il/~ngordon/Marx%20Article.pdf]</ref>

An only child, Buttigieg had always been close with his father, Joseph Buttigieg, a University of Notre Dame professor who passed away in 2019.  The senior Buttigieg had a profound impact on "Mayor Pete." <ref>https://www.marieclaire.com/politics/a26867874/joseph-buttigieg-pete-buttigieg-father/</ref> Joseph Buttigieg supported a revised version of Marxism that dispensed with some of the more doctrinaire theories of  Marx and Engel's, yet he was clearly Marxist. “Equity, environmental consciousness, and racial justice are surely some of the ingredients of a healthy Marxism" he wrote.  According to Paul Kengor, Grove City College professor and expert in communism and progressivism,  Buttigieg was among a group of leftist professors who focused on injecting Marxism into the wider culture.<ref>https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/pete-buttigiegs-father-was-a-marxist-professor-who-lauded-the-communist-manifesto</ref> The senior Buttigieg wrote that he found Marx's description of emancipation as the eradication of humans' alienation from each other and  their  alienation  from  their  own  productive  and  creative  activity  to be "compelling." And that to reach this  ''kind of freedom'', "the many forms of oppressive structural relations must be confronted  and altered and, just as important, the constitution of social agents cannot be limited to the liberal language of rights."<ref>Is the struggle for human rights a struggle for emancipation? Neve Gordon, Jacinda Swanson, & Joseph A. Buttigieg, Rethinking Marxism: A Journal of Economics, Culture & Society, 12 January 2013 [http://www.bgu.ac.il/~ngordon/Marx%20Article.pdf]</ref>

   

   

Buttigieg obtained a [[Rhodes Scholarship]] which enabled him to enter Oxford, where he says he found that supply and demand cannot be expected to deliver fair prices or efficient outcomes in many situations. Buttigieg graduated with the highest grade possible.   

Buttigieg obtained a [[Rhodes Scholarship]] which enabled him to enter Oxford, where he says he found that supply and demand cannot be expected to deliver fair prices or efficient outcomes in many situations. Buttigieg graduated with the highest grade possible.   

 

Once out of college, Buttigieg did research and press work for John Kerry's presidential campaign.  In 2007 Buttigieg was employed at McKinsey & Company in Chicago, where he realized that "despite all my education, I felt ignorant about how the private sector really worked." Buttigieg ran for Indiana state treasurer in 2010, though at $68,772 per year he says it paid less than half of what he already was making. In 2009 and 2010 Buttigieg openly advocated support for the auto-industry bailout, but lost the election for state treasurer to the incumbent treasurer Richard Mourdock, who opposed the bailout.  

Once out of college, Buttigieg did research and press work for John Kerry's presidential campaign.  In 2007 Buttigieg was employed at McKinsey & Company in Chicago, where he realized that "despite all my education, I felt ignorant about how the private sector really worked." Buttigieg ran for Indiana state treasurer in 2010, though at $68,772 per year he says it paid less than half of what he already was making. In 2009 and 2010 Buttigieg openly advocated support for the auto-industry bailout, but lost the election for state treasurer to the incumbent treasurer Richard Mourdock, who opposed the bailout.  

Buttigieg's next step on the political ladder was that of being elected mayor of heavily Democratic South Bend, Indiana, in which [[single party control|every mayor since 1972]] has been a Democrat. Buttigieg won 80% with a total turnout of 8,000 in a city of 100,000. Buttigieg has overseen rising crime, homelessness, and drug use. Violent crimes are three times higher in the Democratic stronghold of South Bend than in the rest of Indiana, and property crimes five times higher.<ref>https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/in/south-bend/crime</ref>

Buttigieg's next step on the political ladder was that of being elected mayor of heavily Democratic South Bend, Indiana, in which [[single party control|every mayor since 1972]] has been a Democrat. Buttigieg won 80% with a total turnout of 8,000 in a city of 100,000. Despite this majority vote, Buttigieg has overseen rising crime, homelessness, and drug use. South Bend is among the 3% most violent cities in America, and is among the highest 30 cities for top murder rates, and with violent crimes being three times higher than in the rest of Indiana, while property crimes are five times higher.  Overall South Bend is  safer than just 3% of U.S. cities.<ref>[https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/in/south-bend/crime Location Inc®,  South Bend, IN Crime Rates] Accessed  07/06/19</ref>  In 2015 South Bend had a murder rate that ranked it the 29th-worst among the 300 American cities with 100,000 people or more.<ref>https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/03/pete-buttigieg-biography-views-democratic-presidential-candidate/</ref>

As mayor he received praise from the ''Washington Post'' (which focused on him being a mayor who while serving six-month deployment to Afghanistan as a naval reservist),  for his plan on dealing with 1,000 vacant lots and abandoned buildings in 1,000 days. However, he also faced much criticism for handling a scandal (which developed shortly after his election) regarding illegal recordings by the police department of allegedly racist statements by certain officers against the black police chief, and which ended up involving the FBI. This resulted in an ongoing legal fight that has been the longest-running and most expensive one the city history, costing taxpayers more than $2 million thus far. South Bend had a murder rate in 2015 that ranked it the 29th-worst among the 300 American cities with 100,000 people or more.  

Nonetheless, as mayor he received praise from the very liberal ''Washington Post'' (which focused on him being a mayor who while serving six-month deployment to Afghanistan as a naval reservist),  for his plan on dealing with 1,000 vacant lots and abandoned buildings in 1,000 days. However, he also faced much criticism for handling a scandal (which developed shortly after his election) regarding illegal recordings by the police department of allegedly racist statements by certain officers against the black police chief, and which ended up involving the FBI. This resulted in an ongoing legal fight that has been the longest-running and most expensive one the city history, costing taxpayers more than $2 million thus far. .  

In April of 2019, ''[[The Guardian]]'' wrote about Buttigieg and South Bend, Indiana:

In April of 2019, ''[[The Guardian]]'' wrote about Buttigieg and South Bend, Indiana: