The ruins of Detroit (No place in America better symbolizes the ruination brought by Democrats)

American Thinker ^ | 01/25/2011 | Thomas Lifson

[SeekAndFind]

No place in America better symbolizes the ruination brought by Democrats than Detroit. The city has been run by Democrats for decades, while its economic life has been in thrall to the unions, which drove up wages to unsustainable levels, ruining the American auto industry.

The UK Guardian has published a selection of stunning photographs taken by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre, showing the ruins of once grand buildings in the Motor City. It is heartbreaking to see -- almost as if a war was fought there.

Actually, there was, but it was a political war won by Democrats and unions, with the results starkly obvious to all not blinded by ideology. If President Obama has his way with over-regulation, union bailouts, borrowing and spending, and "spreading the wealth around," he can do for America what the Dems have done for Detroit.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Our Liberal Public Schools system has produced entire generations of these people.

Looking at the 9 Stages of Civilization, (primarily Democracy's) we are between the 8th and 9th stage, somewhere between Complacency and Dependency. The last stage is of course “Tyranny”. The average age of such a civilization is around 200 years. Our age is 235 years.

There is no reversing this process once it hits the 7th stage. (”Apathy”) Even great Civilizations that have lasted for more than 200 years, repeat this process within themselves. (Rome, China, etc,)

[Last Dakotan]

In comparison

Hiroshima 1945

Hiroshima 2010

That we allowed our cities to be destroyed is a national embarrassment.

[Last Dakotan]

Germany is more socialist than the United States. Somehow Germany manages to thrive. Why is that?

Africa isn't thriving.

[fishnsoldier]

Germany does not call themselves a Democratic Republic. That was the name of the former East Germany. Technically Germany is named the Federal Republic of Germany.

[Matchett-PI]

"Typical UK Guardian BS: Cumulatively, the photographs are a powerful and disturbing testament to the glory and the destructive cost of American capitalism"

Correction: Its a powerful and disturbing testament to the glory and the destructive cost of American CRONY capitalism (aka "Government Intervention" in the private business sector")

The only reason nanny-state Socialist countries can afford to spend money on "social programs", is because they are relieved of the responsibility to spend money for their own defense. The American taxpayer provides that umbrella for them.

[Matchett-PI]

Click my screen name and at the top of the page, read this:

In Defense of Capitalism

EXCERPT: “Only capitalism operates on the basis of respect for free, independent, responsible persons. All other systems in varying degrees treat men as less than this. Socialist systems above all treat men as pawns to be moved about by the authorities, or as children to be given what the rulers decide is good for them, or as serfs or slaves. The rulers begin by boasting about their compassion, which in any case is fraudulent, but after a time they drop this pretense which they find unnecessary for the maintenance of power. In all things they act on the presumption that they know best. Therefore they and their systems are morally stunted. Only the free system, the much assailed capitalism, is morally mature.” ~ Dr. Ronald H. Nash

[Last Dakotan]

Cumulatively, the photographs are a powerful and disturbing testament to the glory and the destructive cost of American capitalism

There's all the further you need to read.

[Last Dakotan]

The so called "white flight" from the city centre began in the 1950s and, soon, as Sugrue puts it, "an increasingly black city was surrounded by a ring of communities that were all white". This "white noose", as one contemporary observer referred to it, helped strangle the inner city, both economically and socially, turning it into a series of large ghettos intercut by freeway.

Obviously current Detroit is the fault of white people. /heavy sarc

[gigster]

Detroit was the best place in the world to grow up in during the 50’s and 60’s.
I was on the East-Side, near Detroit City Airport.
It is staggering to go back there and see what the Left has wrought.

[COBOL2Java]

Washington, DC’s Union Station looked pretty much like that before being beautifully refurbished. Of course, that station has the benefit of being on Capitol Hill and on the increasingly popular DC/NY corridor.

Well, it was refurbished as a result of the Union Station Redevelopment Act of 1981, a public-private endeavor signed by Ronald Reagan.

I remember using Union Station in the 70's. It was terrible. Carter had managed some kind of bicentennial development effort, outfitting the Main Hall with a recessed pit to display a slide show presentation. This was officially the PAVE (Primary Audio-Visual Experience), but was sarcastically referred to by us who used the station as "the Pit."

[ßuddaßudd]

Not hardly, there is cash flow here.

[redgolum]

self ping

[TexasRepublic]

The same racist, anti-capitalist spirit that ruined Detroit is now running the White House.

[RC2]

I’ve heard this before, but we can stand up to it and reverse it. The question is who will lead it and when? We can bring this country back, we can bring our big cities back but drastic measures have to be taken. Looking at Detroit, South Central Los Angeles and many other cities, we need to allow our police departments to do their job. But....as I stated earlier, what do we do with the people that continue to destroy these cities? Government housing doesn’t work, we build it, they destroy it. Total welfare doesn’t work, you give these people welfare, as we are today, they abuse it and want more. The only option I can come up with is to fence in these areas and don’t let them out to destroy our other communities. What else can we do in the mean time to save our country? Do we just stand by and allow the ghettos to continue to grow and destroy other areas of our country?

Our politicians are afraid to address the situation and come up with answers.

[PATRIOT1876]

Evidence of a once proud civilization...

[PATRIOT1876]

*Germany is more socialist than the United States. Somehow Germany manages to thrive. Why is that?*

My friend has relatives in Germany. He believes it's because they are more or less an isolationist country. He says there's not so much trade in and out.

I don't know enough about Germany to know if that is accurate, but I do believe that if we didn't have outsourcing Detroit would be in a lot better shape

[PATRIOT1876]

*The only problem I have with your idea is that the ghetto’s will just move to another city and it will start all over again. We need to do something about the people that cause our big cities to get into this condition. That is the big question. What do we do with all these people, people that really don’t care about our country.*

I'd like to see everyone who is “progressive” socialist and Communist move to a “worker's paradise” like Venezuela or Cuba so they can see what they want America to become....just leave them there for 20 or 30 years...

[PATRIOT1876]

*destructive cost of American capitalism?!?!?!*

It should read;
THE DESTRUCTIVE COST OF AMERICAN SOCIALISM

[Major Matt Mason]

Welfare should become a one-way plane ticket for each welfare recipient to the African nation of their choice. Of course, they won't be allowed back in the country once they are gone, and they should have their U.S. citizenship revoked. If they hate it here so much, they can live somewhere else and destroy those countries instead.

Yeah, I know, I'm an extremist. I for one am fed up with the excuses and the BS from this sector of American "society".

[RC2]

Extremist? I don’t think so. What else are we to do if our government won’t take care of the problem? As a kid, I use to ride my bike any place in Los Angeles. Today, as an adult, I wouldn’t even walk in most of the same areas. Look at how many of our police are killed today and by who?