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Road to Urban Despair Paved by Democrats
Townhall.com ^ | August 23, 2016 | John Kass

Posted on 08/23/2016 9:33:52 AM PDT by Kaslin

Riots broke out in Milwaukee the other day, and before that in other cities, each erupting with familiar sights: fire and pain, anger and looting.

It will likely happen again in some other urban area, perhaps after a black man is killed by a police officer, whether the shooting is justified or unjustified. Was the victim a known criminal pointing a gun at a cop? Or not? These are reasons, but reasons really don't matter now, do they?

The fire is the thing. The anger is the thing.

And all we're doing now is waiting for the next one.

Our media high priests -- the guardians of the political establishment -- come to us with reasoned explanations for the urban tinderbox. They tell us of hopelessness and despair. But they ignore the one thing that binds them all, the one inconvenient truth of things.

We know that institutions have broken down. Generations of black families have been shattered by the welfare state.

We've created government systems that maintain human beings in poverty and ignorance so that politicians can count on their votes.

And that is a crime against morality.

You know this. There are schools that don't work and haven't for decades, schools where teachers are overwhelmed, where children arrive thoroughly unprepared, where too many parents are indifferent.

Political corruption is an epidemic, a hidden tax upon urban economic wastelands, where there are no jobs for people who aren't trained and educated for work.

During a riot, when businesses begin to burn and rocks are thrown and guns are fired, political actors in those little boxes on TV begin to bark in cliches.

They use words like "empowerment" and "investment" and "social infrastructure" and "social justice."

Blame is assessed and pressed like hot iron into the flanks of the rich, or of "corporations" and others with means, a moronic and frightening misunderstanding of how jobs are created. It is as if "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" has become economic policy.

And by such logic all we must do is lower the rich into a giant cauldron, add salt and bay leaves and boil them down for soup to soothe the neighborhoods on fire.

And while we're at it, why not find that magical unlimited federal checkbook and a committee of the best and the brightest to guide us?

But we've already had government run by the best and the brightest. And we've spent trillions of dollars in America's war on poverty.

And just what has been accomplished? The crime statistics tell you. The jobless numbers tell you. The graduation rates tell you. Open your eyes and see the despair.

What isn't discussed enough when riots happen and neighborhoods burn is the one thing most common to all these decaying urban tinderboxes.

They're run by Democrats.

Baltimore is a Democratic city, Milwaukee is a Democratic city, Chicago, Detroit, and on and on.

This is a most inconvenient truth. This is what binds them.

For decade after decade, Democrats have controlled policy and politics in the broken cities. This is the proof of Democratic success.

The broken schools have been run by Democrats for decades. The broken institutions are run by Democrats.

The political corruption in these cities is Democratic corruption, where government is the hammer used to beat others into forking over their cash.

The corruption tax presses down upon the economic wastelands, where there are no jobs to be had.

Urban school systems remain broken for students and families. Yet they feed the bureaucrats and the vendors who sell goods and services to education bureaucrats.

And the well-fed know what they're supposed to do on Election Day: Vote Democratic.

Big-city school bureaucrats are political creatures, loyal to their sponsors in the statehouse or at your City Hall. The teachers unions, by definition, are about protecting their members. Everybody's covered but the desperate.

And the kids? They don't have a union. They can't vote. They don't write campaign checks to politicians.

Those who suffer the most from broken urban policy are those who are told that Democrats are the only ones who can protect them.

Protect them from what? Poverty, violence, joblessness and bad schools? All that has been provided.

Those who push broken government programs and liberal policy aren't evil people. Most intended to work for the good.

But they made a terrible mistake in thinking that the strong arm of government is the answer. It isn't. It never was.

Are there alternatives to the crushing cynicism of the Democratic welfare state? Yes. Liberty is the answer, not some politician using government to "empower" people. Growth is the answer, not government control.

People need hope. And meaningful work -- which doesn't mean waltzing around with a clipboard on some government payroll -- is essential for self-respect.

So here are some alternatives:

Radically cut taxes and change workers' compensation and other anti-business laws in urban areas to promote business job growth.

And support true school choice -- meaning vouchers -- so impoverished minority students aren't deprived of a future.

Democrat bosses, the trial lawyers and public unions hate such ideas. But then, they're the muscle of Democratic politics.

That strong arm of government helps politicians to maintain power and control.

But as we've seen, the strong arm of government can also pave the road to hell.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: demonrats; riots

1 posted on 08/23/2016 9:33:52 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

“Baltimore is a Democratic city, Milwaukee is a Democratic city, Chicago, Detroit, and on and on.”

It’s worse than that, they are all Black DemoRat-run and they have been for half a century or more. And each of them “turned the corner” to become insolvent, murderous $hit holes with the election of their first Black mayors. Chicago is a special case. Don’t know why they haven’t had a Black mayor yet, but the do have a Capo.


2 posted on 08/23/2016 9:39:46 AM PDT by vette6387
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To: Kaslin

The majority of dems are like battered spouses. They thrive on misery and abuse.

These people are literally afraid of taking their own future into their own hands.


3 posted on 08/23/2016 9:49:28 AM PDT by factoryrat (We are the producers, the creators. Grow it, mine it, build it.)
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To: Kaslin
the strong arm of government can also pave the road to hell.

The road is for the other guy. The only indication of success for the bureaucrats is making sure the politicians get reelected. Term limits would throw a monkey wrench into the political machinery. Could Trump be the wrench company's delivery boy?

4 posted on 08/23/2016 9:52:28 AM PDT by immadashell (Save Innocent Lives - ban gun free zones)
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To: immadashell

Hmm, who knows? I guess we’ll find out.


5 posted on 08/23/2016 9:59:12 AM PDT by Kaslin (He neededAwesomeOf the ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: vette6387

“Chicago is a special case. Don’t know why they haven’t had a Black mayor yet...”

We’ve actually had two. Harold Washington, and his short-lived successor, Eugene Sawyer.


6 posted on 08/23/2016 10:03:19 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: Kaslin
I think the author is being too harsh here. Democratic rule in these urban toilets is usually a symptom of the problem, not the cause.

I would make the case that urban life in general is highly dysfunctional, and breeds the kind of cultural rot that turns these cities into Democratic strongholds.

7 posted on 08/23/2016 10:20:39 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("Sometimes I feel like I've been tied to the whipping post.")
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To: Kaslin

“Broken cities”


8 posted on 08/23/2016 10:37:33 AM PDT by junta ("Peace is a racket", testimony from crime boss Barrack Hussein Obama.)
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To: Boogieman; vette6387

Harold Washington in Chicago was an early David Axelrod creation, along with Deval Patrick in Massachusetts and, of course, Obama.


9 posted on 08/23/2016 10:57:12 AM PDT by Paine in the Neck ( Socialism consumes EVERYTHING!)
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To: Kaslin
But they made a terrible mistake in thinking that the strong arm of government is the answer. It isn't. It never was.

Are there alternatives to the crushing cynicism of the Democratic welfare state? Yes. Liberty is the answer, not some politician using government to "empower" people. Growth is the answer, not government control.

The libtard religion of the worship of big government and the culture of dependency that it produces is the cause of the problem of crime and unemployment. The values of rationality that libtards despise are the solution.

10 posted on 08/23/2016 11:32:09 AM PDT by mjp ((pro-{God, reality, reason, egoism, individualism, natural rights, limited government, capitalism}))
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To: Alberta's Child
It is a sort of chicken-or-the-egg kind of thing. One reason cities tend to be dysfunctional and degenerate is that they attract the dysfunctional and degenerate migrant-- the down-and-outer, the drifter, the criminal looking for new turf--and those opportunists who prey upon them.

Cities are crowds of strangers, providing the atomization that allows predators to flourish in anonymity.

The Democrat machines recognize this, and join the hunt, casting their welfare bait among the would-be victims, who then become their lawful prey.

11 posted on 08/23/2016 6:07:06 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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