If you want to see the poster child for the failure of American liberalism, look no further than Detroit.
Motor city was once a hub of the American economy. It was a poster child for American economic dominance. Today, it is a ghost town. In the last decade, a quarter of the population has left. Parts of the city are simply uninhabited. Wild life is moving back into quarters of the city where people have fled. One of the hottest tickets in Detroit, perhaps the only hot ticket, is something called Urban Exploring. This is where intrepid souls venture into the wreckage that used to be Detroit in its heyday. These buildings they go into include the old train station, old schools and hospitals.
The Democrat Mayor of what is left of Detroit and the Republican Governor of Michigan are currently in a fight. Detroit has an economy that makes the Greek economy look like it was run by Dave Ramsey.
Mayor Dave Bing does not want the State to take over Detroit. The Republican Governor of Michigan Rich Snyder wants to do that because Detroit has been so badly managed.
Since the 1960’s Detroit has had its hand out for every Federal Government handout that has come down the pike. The result has been the total destruction of what was once one of the most prosperous cities in America.
By fighting the Governor on the take over, Mayor Bing wants to perpetuate the failure that has been Detroit for the last fifty years. Detroit has not had a Republican Mayor in 51 years. One Democrat after another has raided the city coffers and bankrupted the city.
Unfortunately, Governor Snyder wants to perpetuate failure too.
It is time to admit the truth.
Detroit is dead. Let’s pull the plug on Detroit and let it die.
Michigan needs to revoke the charter for the City of Detroit and let it pass into history, with other dead cities, like Pompeii. Similar to Pompeii, Detroit has been buried by an avalanche of progressive volcanic ash.
As Detroit dies, we need to be warned that it is but the canary in the mineshaft.
Every city has the same problems Detroit has. Perhaps not to the same degree but every city does.
Every major city relies of federal grants and other tax dollar bailouts to keep the city afloat. Liberal Democrats, who keep promising greater benefits to the core constituencies that keep them in power, run every one of these major American cities.
Many cities have already driven away a significant portion of their tax base by constantly increasing the taxes the city imposes.
One of the ways we can cut Federal Spending is by cutting these block grants and other transfers to the cities. Cities need to be able to run on their own tax revenues and not have bailouts from the government.
The problem with bailouts is that they never work. All they do is mask the problem and allow the politicians who caused the problems to escape the responsibility of fixing them.
It is time we the people started saying no to the incompetent city hall politicians who believe the city treasury exists only to serve their reelection needs. It is time we stop feeding failure.
Let Detroit die.
Something will replace it. Something better. Something that will work and will not cost the taxpayers millions or even billions of dollars.
Let Detroit stand as a warning for everything that is wrong with liberalism.
Let Detroit’s epitaph be, “Created by the free market. Destroyed by liberals.”
Tags: Detroit, economic, failure, liberalism
Permalink Reply by Dennis Donner on 100% agree
Permalink Reply by Kristin Fecteau on My parents grew up there and moved to Alabama the year before I was born. That was certainly a "strange land" for those Yankees to venture into, but thank God they did, or I would not be the person I am today. It is utter destruction in what used to be a thriving and wonderful place, according to my parents.
Permalink Reply by Thomas Angle on Alabama, I love that state.
Permalink Reply by Judson Phillips on Roll Tide.
Isn't the South just grand? I've always questioned that if the north is so wonderful, why then, do they come here (south) to retire? I've never heard, ever, anybody say "We're moving to Cleveland to retire ! !" I don't mind anybody moving here, this is America. What I do mind is bring down your insidious, progressive reasoning that turned your hometown into the s*#t holes they are and then, try to push that same ol' crap on us that turned your city into a rat infested cesspool. We don't want it. If that's what you want, stay where you are. If that's what we want, we'd be moving to Detroit...... and I'm not moving anytime soon :) Roll Tide, Go Big Orange, War Eagle, LSU Tigers, Gator Chomp, Gamecocks, UK, Bulldogs, Razorbacks, Ol' Miss, Miss. St. Bulldogs and Vandy. My my my.... I sure do love it here ;)
Permalink Reply by Gianni P on The South doesn't have to 'rise again' -- it already has.
(and I'm originally from Deep Blue Jersey)
Permalink Reply by Dennis L on Detroit is the prime example of what unchecked liberalism has done to a once grand and prosperous city. Detroit has been transformed into a rat infested high crime rat hole. Let's all thank a liberal Washington establishment that buys votes with the promise of more handouts.
Detroit is now the capitol of Washington's new plantation for liberal votes. The people that live there in poverty, crime, drugs and filth have no jobs, little family structure, have no opportunity and no hope. Too many of them have allowed themselves to be transformed into a city population that is lazy, has no incentive to work and those who just want to have sex all day like animals. I blame the people of Detroit, (many of them good people BTW) for allowing their lives to be taken over by government. Liberalism has been a disgusting way to enslave people. The sad part is that many people don't see it but its been highly successful at its intended purpose. .
Permalink Reply by Brenda Choate on Until every city, large or small, get a handle on the unions for public workers this will continue to be a problem. I am not saying that these employees do not deserve a fair wage, compariable to their civilian counterparts, but the benefit and refirement packages are far in excess of what they need be.
Government bloc grants only serve to provide monies for pet projects that city managers want. Everyone, regardless of their income pay sales taxes to the city. Others pay city, county, and state taxes via a combination of taxes and fees. Most pay state income tax.
Yes, there are some projects that incur a larger debt and generally when this happens the city will have a bond inititive to handle these. Our infrastructure's decay is not because of insufficient funds, it is because the money is diverted from those accounts to service other debts.
JFK cautioned against public employee unions as being a conflict of interest.
Under his successor, LBJ, they were instituted.
Permalink Reply by Peter D Sowatskey on Tearing down the abandoned buildings would make a good 'make work' project for the unemployed and prisoners.
I live in Beaver County PA. When the steel mills shut down in the 80s we lost about half of our population.
The Democratic leaders wouldn't even think of trying something new, personal experience, presented project--get lost.
When it's dead, bury it. We didn't here. So what recovery there was took many times longer than needed.
Peter Sowatskey Amazon.com:Greener Green
Why is it you can go city to city and see the failed Democratic liberal policies that continue to fail and plaque those living in the inner cities of Detroit, Buffalo, Philadelphia etc etc etc., the list goes on and on with no end in sight!
Permalink Reply by USARogue on Alas Judson, once again you speak the truth.
I grew up in Detroit and have seen its inevitable collapse. Detroit, as any urban center in the world, has been ravaged by Liberalism/Progressivism and it has no solution for its demise. Henry Ford had a vision of a nation with vast mass production factories in which the workers were paid well enough to keep the economy vibrant. His vision is indeed coming true. Unfortunately it is coming true in China, South Korea, India, Brazil and Canada. Since the days of Coleman Young and his "anti-suburbanite" ramblings, to our most recent embarrassment Kwame Kilpatrick, many of us have seen and predicted the current decay of one of the greatest examples of capitalism.
We have gone from Motown to a Ghost town because of corruption, lack of vision and an uneducated electorate that has become indoctrinated by entitlements. Yes, much of it is to blame on our Mayors, City Councils and Governors, but just as much must be blamed on the populace. When Detroit was the Capitol of Capitalism no one addressed the main problem, education. As a result we not only have an economic collapse, we have an illiterate collective enslaved to social and economic justice that will never succeed. Even our iconic Motown music has fled to the West Coast.
Once a thriving metropolitan behemoth of 1.9 million hard working Americans, today it slowly sinks into oblivion with barely 700,000 despondent and desperate Americans asking, what happened? The most productive day in Detroit is “Devil's Night” when arsons, and those seeking their last few dollars from insurance fraud, burn down what is left of once majestic homes and ornate buildings. The colossal remnant of the century old Packard factory stands broken and forgotten, too expensive to demolish, too forgotten to worry about.
As this once grand and proud city falls, its only hope has become the always predictable failure, casinos. ‘God bless Detroit’, says one billboard along I-75, just beside another offering the alternative solution, liquor. The Renaissance Center, once the vision of a resurgent Detroit, strains under the weight of insolvency as GM is its only tenant. A monorail called the "People Mugger Mover" circles the Riverfront empty, going from nowhere to no place. The last step on our tour of melancholy is the once bustling majestic Michigan Central Railroad Station. Through it came everyone from businessmen hurriedly wanting to sign contracts for wealth and prosperity to Southern Blacks seeking the American Dream. Today it is surrounded by razor-wire, its grand arrival hall a shadowy chilly tomb littered with used contraceptives and drug paraphernalia.
As the sun sets over Detroit you realize it's time to leave, soon it won't be safe to be here. This applies for today and the future. Just along Jefferson Drive stands "The Fist", the monument commemorating Joe Louis, the adopted son of Detroit, and the "Spirit of Detroit" statue. They are but mere memories of what has become a soulless city. This once magnificent city stood for American exceptionalism, today its most significant statistic is whether it is in the top-three running for "Murder Capitol" of the country.
As the Supremes used to sing "My World Is Empty Without You", Detroit is empty. Empty of leadership. Empty of vision. Empty of American exceptionalism. As a result a small part of the world is now empty also. What was once a symbol, is now a humiliation.
God Bless America and Detroit, you may be our only hope.
© 2013 Created by Judson Phillips.
