Is This the Future of America (Detroit)?
by Steven CrowderI know that some of you may think that the last thing Detroit needs is another hit piece. Granted, some could consider this video as THE hit piece. Detroit however, can serve as a valuable lesson to the rest of the country. It has been the perfect laboratory for leftist policies at work. The more you examine the policies of Detroit’s politicians, the more strikingly similar to this administration they become. The results… are shocking. Notice how I added the “…” for dramatic effect? I’m thoughtful like that.
WARNING: Not for the squeamish.
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Big Hollywood, Michael Chavez and DNC DUDES, Mr. Pink. Mr. Pink said: Is This the Future of America (Detroit)? http://tinyurl.com/ygy9mst [...]
I suspect this is the fate of a lot of America if Obama gets his way, its too bad the useful idiot foot soldiers of the left refuse to see what Obama and company has in store for them.
We could take 1/2 the country and wall the other half off and just give it to the left, they could have the best bits who cares, within about a year they would be eating each other and trying to get in like bunch of cuban refugees.
Steven,
I was born and raised in Detroit.
However, as Lily Tomlin once said, I left Detroit when I found out where I was!
Your report almost made me weep.
The tragedy of Detroit is actually the inevitability of Obama's intent, with Michael Moore's support. Their policies will turn all of America into Detroit.
Thank you for showing where the Progressive "Transformation" will lead.
God bless,
Michael
Good job, Steve. Keep it up. Show them where the Obamian Dream leads….
I can picture Detroit being a very vibrant and beautiful city in a great location. It's very sad to see what is so blatantly obvious that what leftists touch, turns to crap. It's very easy to do so when it's someone else's money. Nearly 30% unemployment there and they're still waiting for Obama to open up his stash and give it to the little people. Hope and change.
"A few houses still stood within the skeleton of what had once been an industrial town. Everything that could move, had moved away; but some human beings had remained. The empty structures were vertical rubble; they had been eaten, not by time, but by men: boards torn out at random, missing patches of roofs, holes left in gutted cellars. It looked as if blind hands had seized whatever fitted the need of the moment, with no concept of remaining in existence the next morning. The inhabited houses were scattered at random among the ruins; the smoke of their chimneys was the only movement visible in town." — Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, 1957
It is so sad and depressing to see what has happened to a once great city like Detroit. It was never perfect but it was vibrant and alive. It must also be said that one of the reasons that so many factories were closed/relocated is because of all the red tape and expense of trying to build a new factory in Detroit/Michigan. If the State and City had been more friendly to business the Auto makers would have gladly built in Detroit/Michigan where the workers were located. Instead due to high costs and regulations they built the new factories in places where new workers had to be trained.
Nuke em from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.
I think a full length feature documentary on this topic is in order. You can also visit the cities of Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Paterson NJ. All testaments of the failed "progressive" policy. This is what happens when people lose or never understand what it means to provide for yourself.
Include Milwaukee, WI to the list.
I had heard bits and pieces about the tragedy that is Detroit, but I had no idea things were that bad there.
Pennington: These are the Hartz Mountains of Asia. A terrain so rugged, so treacherous, no country will claim it.
Asquith: Worse then Detroit?
Pennington: I'm afraid so.
Kentucky Fried Movie, 1977 — that's right folks, Detroit was a joke that far back.
Thank you, Steven for doing this. I grew up in the "Detroit area" (technically Grosse Pointe – I know, I know, NOT the same). We lived a block away from the Detroit border, and even 20-30 years ago, you could tell the difference just driving down Mack Avenue – looking left was G.P., looking right, definitely Detroit!
We used to get our bikes stolen right out of our garage, and had to be careful on bike rides not to go alone, or you might have gotten pushed off your bike by a gang to steal your bike. We went to our Grandma's house to trick-or-treat because it just wasn't safe to do it at our own house!
It truly makes me cry to see this and its just awful to see it in person when we go back to visit. Hopefully more people will realize the reason why Detroit is such a horrible place to be from this. Meanwhile, we live near the Twin Cities in MN, which are sanctuary cities and have the highest population of Somalis outside of Somalia…getting scary here, too.
Thank you again, Steven, and God bless you and what you do
DETROIT? Dude, sure you aren't in Beruit?
go back to huffpo, you ignorant liberal troll.
Evidently it's the America we are going to get if Obama and his Czars are not stopped.
Many of the most admirable Americans are black. Allen West, Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell and Clarence Thomas are examples. Cease your collectivist racism.
I fled the Metro Detroit area a few months ago. As enlightening as this piece is, it doesn't catch a fraction of the truly depressing and disgraceful essence of this fallen, once-great city. It has to be seen and experienced to be believed. That beng said, this nonetheless should be required viewing for all the starry-eyed liberals out there, dreaming of the golden future they can build by "stealing from the rich and giving to the poor." I have preached the despicable "Gospel of According to Detroit" ever since my "escape." Sadly, too few take me seriously. They think I'm exaggerating, or merely a racist, or maybe a little bit of both. I only wish that were the case.
You're either a mono-tooth idjut, or a moby. Get lost.
"Detroit however, can serve as a valuable lesson to the rest of the country. It has been the perfect laboratory for leftist policies at work."
This a true statement. But Detroit didn't become the focus of so much leftist do-gooder attention until decidedly AFTER the civil rights movement, the Vietnam war, etc. How did Detroit come to be " the perfect laboratory" as our author says?
Hmmmm, no concern there. Move along folks. Nothing to see here but a laboratory for leftist policies.
After all… anyone besides "the leftists" stopped caring about Detroit decades prior.
all anomalies. i am speaking of the masses. put on your PC blinders if you must
They're just going to call you names. Most people still aren't ready to discuss this.
Everyone, call me names instead of Matt. Please just answer this one question –
Where in the world (or history) have blacks created a sustainable and admirable society?
Let the flames commence -
i love Lt. Col. Allen West by the way and would vote for him in a heartbeat. he is DEFINATELY an anomaly. if many more men were like Col. West then things would be different indeed. its their degenerate culture i despise. research racial differences in IQ and you'll have a lead on the likely cause of their plight.
fantastic piece. lots of good shock value, for sure. look at the bright side – once liberalism fully destroys an area, we can get some cheap real estate! well – that is if we have any money left to buy it.
i don't know what to say anymore. look at the people that shaped and molded obama – it's very clear that this guy not only wants to 'fundamentally transform the United States Of America', but that it is his birthright to do so.
You don't think this could not happen in Chicago or Philly or name your city, of course it could.
It will if the people running those cities don't quit using them for their personal ATM machines
or are not held accountable..
The UAW is certainly part of the problem but its the people that lived in the city over the past
50 years that bear the brunt of the blame. Their elected representitives would embezzle, be involved in
dishonest transactions get caught and then be reelected to do it all over again.
These citizens of Detroit are as guilty of destroying the city as anyone.
Wow Crowder, best thing you have ever done. It's just heartbreaking to think that this is what we are all in for. Every city in the U.S. will look like this in 20 years (or less) if Obama gets his way. Health care first. It has started.
Great job Steven. I'm a Detroit native, and it rips me up to see the state of things there now. While I was in school, I moonlighted for a computer consultant. He gave me a job which involved going into a fairly depressed part of Detroit at the time, though not a stark as the places you showed. I installed a computer in the home of an elderly black couple. All the homes on their street where in poor repair, if not abandoned, with windows broken and festoon with graffiti, save theirs. Their home was beautiful. Even the heavy bars on the windows and doors didn't distract too much from its appearance. The owners were gracious, asking on several occasions if I cared for anything to eat or drink. I left fearful for their safety. I was fairly apolitical at the time, but I see them now as a last vestige of what was good about Detroit, before the rise of leftism destroyed it.
A few years after that encounter, I was in an unfamiliar part of Detroit, looking for a pawn shop reputed to have interesting photographic gear. As I left the pawn shop, a pickup full of young men pulled up to the intersection I had to cross, to get back to my car. I started to cross the street in front of them, and the driver honked the trucks horn, with he and several of his passengers making threatening gestures. I gathered they did not care for the fact I, a pedestrian, walked in front of them, while they were stopped at the light. The driver turned at the intersection to follow me, and did so for about half a block, keeping pace with my stride. Then, on of the young men in the bed of the truck jumped out and started walking next to me, very closely. At this point, I was convinced my life was nearing its end. The young man started talking to me about respect, and how if I knew what was good for me, I'd never vote for anyone other than Democrats. He then jumped into the truck, and they sped off. It was a formative moment for me. My father, of blessed memory, was a man with many faults, but I am grateful for his lesson of not indulging in the intellectual laziness of racism to explain the world around me. I realize those young men menaced me not because they were black, but almost certainly because I am white (there were plenty of other pedestrians, all black, present). It made me think about what would motivate them to menace me like that, and why it became an opportunity for them to make a political point.
I think that was the start of my trip to conservatism. No doubt some leftists will attribute this to nascent racism on my part, but I beg to differ. The encounter was racially charged, but I was on the receiving end of the animus. Something in the environment these young men grew up in validated their behavior. I didn't understand it at the time, but I think I do now.
But Steven, you’re attempting to look for positive results in liberal policy. It’s never about results, it’s about intentions, their big caring hearts, their love of the little man, (like the farmers in the San Joaquin Valley). The problem with Detroit, they didn’t spend enough money, if they could have only screwed business a little more, they could step down from say, …Beirut to Afghanistan. The second a people start believing in a free lunch, you’re at the end of that society. We have much work to do America, 2010!
Yes, why would you keep voting for the same evil folks who have been kicking you in the groin for decades and expecting you to say, "Please sir, may I have another?" and yet that's what the electorate does, year in year out, city after decaying city (I live in Los Angeles).
Perhaps we should return to the time when only property owners could vote.
CD I don’t know why I’m bothering because I know your looking for a rise. But if you’re gonna troll get your facts straight. The Civil Rights act of ’64, the liberal mayor ’61, the civil rights movement was in it’s Zenith, king was assassinated in ’68, do you remember the riots around the country. The final pullout of Vietnam was ’75. My employer in the early ‘70s was a Detroit refugee, and he, and his colleagues also from Detroit, described Detroit as a shithole then 35 or so years ago. Detroit is a once great city devoured by a parasitic class the UAW/Democrats, they loved the city to death.
I had some family members that voted for this jugeared socialist schmuck, which made me question whether we were actually related by blood. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to a momentary lapse of reason, with painful consequences. They're ashamed of their vote and made it clear it will not happen again.
"It’s never about results, it’s about intentions, their big caring hearts, their love of the little man…"
Ain't that the truth. I have many people in my family who are leftists simply because it feels good. For so many, leftism is a crutch people use to avoid confronting the ugly reality that life is not fair. They buoy themselves with a cocoon of self-righteousness, looking down upon those who believe in such base concepts as markets and merit.
In a casual conversation with my brother-in-law, I was served a massive sh*t sandwich by his wife simply for having the temerity to assert that the market dictates oil prices; complete with shouting, screaming, and expressions of labored contempt for my burdensome company for the past two decades.
Wow. Just wow.
Ancient Egypt comes to mind. This is the society that excelled in everything from astronomy to architecture. Note the Pyramids still stand while the Coliseum is in ruins.
So, let's not make this a Black thing. Detroit's decline is due to Modern Liberal policies on all levels (education, business, judiciary, etc.) instead of skin color.
I'm not sure why you are bothering either. People disagree with me all the time but they don't comment because its something else entirely to muster up a contrary point.
I don't see anything in your comment that disproves mine exactly, and you are certainly not citing anything to back up Chowderhead's claim that Detroit's ills are the fault of "leftist policies".
Come on folks, am I really the only one here that is willing to suggest or imagine the possibility that RACE has something to do with Detroit's problems? (Or do you all really have your heads buried that deeply in your own piles of manure to conceive it?)
I agree with most of your statement…However, the San Joaquin Valley problem stems from the radical environmentalists from the San Fransico area who would rather save a guppy (but thats not the real reason) that flourishes all over the country than to preserve America's food supply…I'm sure that when the farms there are gone the land will make nice areas to set up the solar panels that will be installed by Pelosi's and others husbands and politcal contributors…
You certainly don't need a recount of California's problems.
The Austrian may not call himself a lib Democrat but he sure functions like one.
Michigan and California two of the greatest states in prosperity we've had for the past century
and look what they have done to them. Yet deny they have a problem that can't be solved by
more spending. I can't believe this isn't bizarro world.
Great, great piece. The best part, of course, being the facts against progressive/union policies. But at >$70/ hour, I can see why unions are such a nice racket for those involved.
Scrutiny is the enemy of the left, that’s one of the reasons they’re in such a hurry. Liberalism is a mental disorder, there is no arguing with a sick mind!
Good point Dewey! Are you a politician? If not, you should consider a career change the Gubmit is hiring. LOL! The net result of the liberal policy, the people get harmed.
[...] Steven Crowder takes audienes on a tour of Detroit, a place which he describes as the perfect example of liberal policy consistently implemented. One commenter says, “look at the bright side – once liberalism fully destroys an area, we can get some cheap real estate! well – that is if we have any money left to buy it”. [...]
Hopefully later that day that inbred animal was hit by a bus.
If my memory serves me, that's when Dagny is driving to find the owners of 20th Century Motors, and she finds the 2 children of the man who founded it.
Nice to know I was'nt the only one having a JOHN GALT moment as I was watching that video.
Merry Christmas
CD, my goodness, …righteous indignation, race baiting, calling names. There’s no need to back up Stevens piece, it speaks for itself. Liberals ruin any host they attach to, sucking the life from the very being that it needs for their paltry existence.
CD we’ve known each other for a while via BH, get rid of the Matt Daymun avatar, most people think Team America, point and laugh. I know you think it angers everyone, it doesn’t.
We have a situation like that in the Bronx where the Mayor wanted to redelop the old abandoned Armory into a Mall and the City Council and the Retail Workers Union were demanding something called a "Living Wage" and a major say in the types of stores and the hiring practices of such stores. The real Estate company that was going to build the Mall backed out of the deal with those demands.
The Bronx Borough President was bragging about what a great thing he did, not making people on welfare and unemployed kids in the Bronx take these paltry little minimum wage jobs.
Interviews with the people of the neighborhood said they would have been happy with any job.
Did I mention that the Bronx has the highest unemployment rate of NYC?
Way to go Rueben Diaz and all City Council memebers who voted against the Mall!/Sarc off
In a related incident also in the Bronx, the Union at the Stella D'Oro cookie factory drove the owners to sell the company and the new owners moved the operation to Ohio. So now that's 2 employment oppurtunities gone from an area that desperately needs jobs.
Love those Unions!
Detroit moved to the beautiful mostly conservative suburbs. In fact Oakland County (a county right outside Detroit City) has been run by a populist conservative for at least 20 years and Oakland County has traditionally been one of the top richest counties in the country.
It's amazing the juxtaposition between Democrat/Liberal Detroit and Conservtive Oakland County. I think that just about says it all about which ideology wins over the long run.
Detroit is a sad, sad shell of its former self. The rest of the state hangs its head in shame of it. The sad part is, the squalor has crept out of the city and moved to other areas. Many people left Detroit and headed north to Flint. As more and more of the gangs and other waste products moved to Flint, its citizens moved north to Saginaw. Flint looks just like Detroit now, only on a smaller scale. Now Saginaw is falling apart. Many have given up. Many have moved out of state.
Now try this on for size – we…need…jobs. Plain and simple. Consumer's Energy has had plans in place for years to build a coal-fired plant in Bay City. This would bring HUNDREDS of much-needed jobs to the area. However, the liberal environmentalists are blocking its progress. It's sickening!
My dad was a GM man. He's still hopelessly brainwashed by the UAW into believing the lies they spew. He was promised a retirement and insurance until he dies. Now, his retirement has taken a hit and they are losing parts of their insurance coverage as well. He trusted them to take care of him, and they're breaking that promise. It amazes me that he continues to defend them, even as everything he worked for is being taken from him. He has no other retirement savings. He's now having to sell off some of the family farm just to make sure they'll be okay. He always told my siblings and I to "go to school, get a good education, and get a job with a company that offers a pension…they'll take care of you." Well, I'm glad I learned that the only person you can trust to "take care of you" is you. I'll happily help out someone in need, but I am SICK of handing over my money to someone who sells drugs out of their home and collects a government check!
Take a looks at marriage and out of wedlock births prior to the Democrat Party usupation of the black community. The leftist thought (if one wants to call it that) believes in a paternalistic order of mediocrity. FDR brought blacks into his party with the understanding that their communities would be taken care of. The addition into the Republican Party of Southern Democrats helped to reinforce the notion that being on the right in America meant one had to associate with racists and segregationists. Thus blacks in this country felt duty bound to a political party. They have been suckered for the past 50 years.The problem is one of ideas. It has never been a problem of the amount of melanin contained in ones skin.
Steven it looks like you found Drexyls pimphouse in True Romance.
About those Egyptians . . .The word “Copts” doesn’t ring a big bell for many ears.
Follow the link to see video clip explaining who the Copts really are. ( full explanation- too long for comment)
actaully, as a child, I got Detroit and Beirut confused.
Me too, me too!
Stephen, you're a brilliant filmmaker. Just had to say it. You're brilliant.
I am sorry, but I am obliged to respond to this. However, I will not bash you over the head with the "racist" label- at least not TOO much-, because I believe you deserve an earnest response.
"blacks don't create they destroy."
To a good extent, yes. Just like the rest of humanity. But need I remind you that you and I (barring the idea that you are an alien) both exist BECAUSE, at the dawn of human history, our ancestors from Africa rose above their "state of nature", created the tools to escape, and then spread to dominate over the globe? If that is not an act of creation, I don't know WHAT is.
"this is why you see such utter destruction in detroit."
Sorry, but I would scratch that up to a lethal cockade of entitlement mentality, failed Liberal plans, racial tribalism (which is hardly something restricted to Blacks), and just plain bad luck (that their city was hinged to an industry that the global market has hammered brutally).
Go South in California and you can see the EXACT same result, in spite of the fact that there is barely a black face to be seen outside of the bad caricatures of comics. Does this mean that Hispanics are similarly disabled? And if so, how does this explain the results of regions like Spain, Portugal, and even Colombia and Chile?
And what about Asians, who have been slitting each others throats for millennium and have shown no sign of stopping? Did the VERY REAL fanaticism and tribalism of the Japanese Empire or Communist China render those nations unable to preform?
And what of the Arabs? Their culture and region are often used as THE poster child for the devastating effects of tribal conflicts within a society, and yet those very same tribalistic groups managed to conquer much of the known world AND HOLD IT for centuries.
And what about WHITES? Yes, WHITES. The history books of Europe are filled to the brim with records of unproductive tribal feuds, balkanization (Medieval Germany, Balkans, Italy, etc), ethnic fanacism, slavery, and wasteful battles. Until a century ago, the racial identity of a person on the Rhine (French V German) was very much a matter of life or death. The main reason the whites are viewed as the founders of the modern world is because with p a i n f u l s l o w n e s s a combination of solid leadership and new developments meant that the top dogs slowly annexed the patchwork of feuding principalities and antagonistic duchies into a few large empires, not entirely unlike some of the empires that popped up in Africa (if you know where to look).
Say what you will, but the European expansion DID interrupt this process of consolidation, but even then it didn't necessarily have to be a negative force on the development of Africa- indeed, as we have seen, much of what Africa has FOR it they owe to the Imperiaists-, but I will concede that it is truly baffling why Africa has remained so undeveloped in so many ways. The Imperialistic interlude can explain some things, but I believe it is largely a crutch used to excuse away more modern failings. That being said, I am still not willing to ascribe it to it being "'cause their black" and more due to the fact that many modern attempts to impose order have prolonged the agony. If there were a body similar to, say, the UN mandating ceasefires during the bloody period of Medieval consolidation, I would naturally expect it to have dragged on even longer than it did. In short, it is a mixture of premodern society and modern outside influences that has created the Africa we know.
This does not mean it is because of any uniquely susceptible traits of the Blacks to this chaos, however. Examining Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, or even Latin America yields plenty of examples with similar results, albeit on a smaller scale.
"they are incapable of rising above the tribalism you see in africa."
Perhaps, but is that a uniquely Black phenomenon, as we have seen in Yugoslavia, in the Caucasus, and even in premodern Europe and Asia?
"do you see anything resembling the cities of say Greece or Rome of a thousand years ago in Africa or any other city or country where there are majority or near majority blacks?"
Honestly, yes. You are forgetting the fact that Greece and Rome have long been sanitized in the rearview mirror, and their many genuine developments have glossed over the tribalism, the factional unrest, and the feudal bloodshed that often engulfed them. Don't believe me? Look at ruins or recreations of classical Roman or Greek slums. The reason we do not see Africa having developments similar to those in Greece and Rome is because they are even more chaotic than Greece or Rome, a development I believe can be ascribed to the development of modern transportation (sorry, but if you gave the feuding Greek or early Latin citystates modern movement devices such as trucks and the bare necessity to sustain them over a long period of time, I believe that the picture would have been fairly similar).
"no you don't and never will."
I am…. skeptical of that to say the least. Africa is not incapable of producing genius, and if it were to gain a modern day Napoleon or even a Lee Kwan Yew, I believe the results would be quite dramatic.
"they have only made it to the point they have through integration with others"
To an extent yes, but you are forgetting that Blacks were the "founders" of the human race, and that we are ultimately the product of their progression throughout the world coupled with a few mutations. Or, in other words, we have only made it to the point we have because of their (and our) distant ancestors.
"and unfortunately that integration costs many of us with our lives and soon our country."
Not convinced. Certainly, tribal bloodshed is an issue, and Black gangs and groups have a role in it, but to lay the blame only on Blacks in disingenuous to say the least and ignores the fact that "our country" certainly has more pressing issues than ethnic tribalism at home that would destroy it far before ethnic feuds do.
That is unreal – written in 1957!
The results… are shocking. Notice how I added the “…” for dramatic effect? I’m thoughtful like that.
Well, ellipses ARE a writer's best friend!
Seriously, this was heartbreaking. I was expecting Crowder humor and got a frightening slap of reality. Living in Los Angeles, the idea of a once great and model city going to hell hits close to home. If it can happen to Detroit…
So pretty much, what everyone is saying is "everyone's a little [BLEEP]ed up." Hell, what else is new?
The San Joaquin Valley wasteland here in California right now is Detroit and the liberals caused it… over a minnow. BTW I bet they propose a windfarm and boxer, pelosi or feinstein are secret investors. First they need to get cheap land
I despise public education and teachers' unions. And if we are ever going to straighten out the mess, we have got to realize that merit pay for teachers is NOT the solution. Ther results which a teacher gets with regard to student tests is absolutely dependent upon the students she is given. Of course, the best teachers ought to be given the worst students, because they need help the most. But if that is done, a poorer teacher with gifted students can be expected to have better results than the good teacher with poor students. Another concern is most administrators are liberal. The liberal administrators are going to be sure that the conservative teachers get the worst pupils, so that they will never be able to receive merit raises.
correlation does not imply causation. Of course, when you snake around the obvious: Poverty, Racism, Retributive Community Abandonment… then I suppose you have to grasp at a few straws huh?
Democrats and Republicans both appealed to blacks since they had votes to win. And blacks, just like everyone, chose the party that made the better case that they'd serve their interests. If anyone is condescending and paternalistic…its someone suggesting that black have ever had a serious choice of options as voters in this country.
Blacks weren't "suckered" into any "notion" or felt "duty bound". Just because a person has a certain color of skin… that doesn't make them stupid. Sorry to have to tell you that.
Steven, I love your work. What a brilliant, graphic representation of socialistic policy outcomes. People, its time to wake up! Also, how is it possible for someone like the great Rep.Thaddeus McCotter to come from that hell hole area.
And of course, the most obvious example is New Orleans – though I'm happy to report that Katrina largely destroyed the grossly inefficient and corrupt leftist local government, allowing cracks that the private sector has grown through like weeds. There is a rising class of entrepreneurs who have gained a foothold in the city and are slowly bringing it back.
One key element has been education. The hurricane destroyed the worst school system in the country, and New Orleans had no choice but to go to a charter school model – and in less than four years the improvement has been breathtaking. This is a completely unsung success story that national media really should (yeah, I know) take note of.
This isn't about blacks, it's about reds. The unfortunate truth is there is too much overlap between the two, but race really isn't the issue.
Rather than creating an environment where individuals can succeed and then stepping out of the way, this administration and congress feel the need to make everyone in the U.S. as equally miserable as they have made the people of Detroit. It is well beyond the time for us to take what the progressives are doing to our country very personally. What they are doing is akin to entering our homes and violating our families. Even worse, they are violating our children's futures. We must run these progressives out of office. So also must we remove the milk toast politicians who say they oppose the progressives but sit with an air of moderation about them and do nothing.
We are proud that you hail from Detroit; while many know that Detroit is the birthplace of Madonna and Flint the "home" of Michael Moore (both came from wealthy suburbs), I always think of you, Edward Hermann and some of the great conservative writers such as Michael Barone, Jay Nordlinger and John J Miller and am thankful that out area offered some real talent to the world.
I was born in raised in the post- Cavannaugh Detroit. I still visit, but only in the company of my retired cop dad and current cop brother, who are both armed (as I now am).
Heading there tomorrow; a drive along I-75 and the Southfield Freeway are very depressing—I am thankful that family awaits, but wish they were able to escape, as I have.
Thaddeus McCotter got a Catholic school education at Detroit Catholic Central—-which moved from Detroit in 1977, and now is located in Wixom, Michigan—home of a closed Ford auto plant as well.
The Christian kingdom of Ethiopia wasn't half bad until it became overrun by Arab slave-traders and, later, jackbooted Italian fascists.
Ancient Egyptians were not black/Negroid,though some of the Negroid race were part of the empire. .
I haven't heard anything like that anywhere. Thanks for sharing. It stands to reason that is what would happen. It's real easy to see what shouldn't be rebuilt when it's gone. And it's interesting to see the free market take hold and prove the conservative point.
I gotta find a link, but I read an article not too long ago about all the massive failures of "progressive" policies in San Francisco. Same idea as Detroit– lots of money thrown at the city through government entitlement and zero positive results.
That's funny. I left Michigan as soon as I could after learning where I was, too. And I was over in the GR area. Not anywhere near as bad as Detroit. Unfortunately it took about six more years before I tried then escaped college and headed west.
I agree with you. It's all part of the plan. See? It worked in Detroit, it's working in Chicago, and some other areas of the country are coming along. But they have their proof of concept and now they're going full throttle to get as much done nationally before we can stop them.
Thanks for your words Michael.
fantastic exposé!
Wellington Webb of Denver and Tom Bradley of LA ran somewhat technocratic governments that were relatively uncorrupt and efficient, but that was with a Black minority.
It is true that Black Majority US Cities with Black political leaders are not known for either efficiency or low corruption. The "best" is probably Ray Nagin in New Orleans, less corrupt than the Morial Administration. For whatever reason, Black Majority voters do not demand and in fact, tolerate, corrupt and inept leaders like: Kwame Fitzpatrick, Marion Berry, and the like.
My own guess is that the high level of illegitimacy (approaching 90% in the urban core and 70% nationwide according to Juan Williams of NPR) creates a single-mother society devoid of middle class striving, fear of corruption, and upward mobility. Moreover, middle class Black voters tend not to fight corruption but flee it — witness the Black exodus from LA's historic Black areas to Riverside county.
Serial, "soft" polygamy/matriarchy is powerful, can run on forever, but accomplishes little but poverty and violence. The sort of Victorian "soft" patriarchy with rules, boundaries, limitations, and demands for good governance is hard, only the Anglosphere really adopted it, it can fall apart quickly (see Greece/Rome), and requires high-trust mono-ethnic states.
Blacks are not going anywhere, but they are according the US Census Bureau only 12.5% of the population and according the WSJ only 40% are middle class. I suspect telling ourselves lies (as in the constant commercials showing middle class Blacks as about 85% of the population) does a disservice to the collapse of Black Majority Cities (Baltimore, Detroit, DC, Gary, etc.) as opposed to corrupt but functioning non-Black Majority and leadership cities (Atlanta, Chicago) and yuppie/poor people playgrounds (San Francisco, New York) versus White Middle Class dominated Sun Belt/Mountain West cities: Salt Lake City, Boise, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Denver (as noted, briefly with a Black Mayor).
Having lived in New Orleans briefly, and seen the shadow of long-gone Black benevolent societies, I suspect the collapse of the middle class family in Black America explains the collapse of Detroit. Which as the same factors work (just more slowly) on Whites and Hispanics, is of pressing concern. After all, Blacks from 1900-1975 created collectively a music fully the equal in artistic mastery, emotional expression and evocation, and sophistication, to that of German music from Bach to Mozart to Beethoven. Now we have Snoop Dogg and P Diddy.
After all, MoTown used to be home of Hollywood's soundtrack, music so powerful that forty-fifty years later it is still used in nearly every movie! Ann Coulter is right, single mothers collectively create disaster.
My old home town of Youngstown, Ohio is in nearly the same shape, and for the same reasons – greedy steel unions and overregulation that drove the steel industry right out of business. To be fair, the business owners failed to reinvest in modern equipment when they were rolling in profits in the 50's and 60's, and the Japanese were producing better steel before 1970. (E.g. the sheet metal was more consistent, so it would bend more consistently to make identical fenders and panels.) I think that management with a long-term view to survival could have kept it going starting in about 1960, but I wasn't there and I don't know how hard the unions were bargaining at that time. Emissions trapping (electrostatic filtering) that was required starting about 1970 cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and helped drive them out of business by 1980. Youngstown Sheet and Tube, once a flagship company, was sold to Lykes Bros of Texas about then, and one day a big long string of trucks showed up and carted away whatever equipment still had any value. Sad to see, but a product of greed, regulation and disinterested management, and I can't blame any one segment. On the plus side, the houses are only gray now because they haven't been painted, not because of the smoke. And the Mahoning River now looks like you could drink it.
I thought to myself, in few short years, that's Anywhere USA. When the socialist progressives are through it, this whole country will look like this.
average medin price of a house in Detroit..$5,700.00 (fifty-seven hundred dollars) That say's all that needs to be said about Detroit.
Steven is a 50 watt bulb in a 100 watt bulb world.
Anyone taken in by this propaganda needs a check-up from the neck up.
His 1 + 1 = boat
math is pathetically transparent. Detroit is a tragedy. Steven using it for his
own glorification is shameful.
Next thing you know, he'll be making a video glorifying the days of free-market
cheap child labor. Ahh … the good old days.
Wow, everyone's comments have been very thoughtful without name calling and personal attacks. Better yet, I even learned a few things.
I think there are some well educated people on this thread. I do not mean to come across as snarky, but this may come across that way, hopefully not.
I don't think my question was answered, but maybe I should be more clear.
At this point in history and over the last 100 years, has there been any evidence that blacks don't require a large amount of outside assistance to be successful as a group?
What responsibility does the average white have in regards to the average black?
Finally, Should the Europeans have left the blacks alone to develop at their own pace?
You miss the point. It has nothing to do with the color of skin, and everything to do with the opportunity to use God-Given talent to better onself.
Rising taxes to fund Big Government and rising prices to fund Big Labor don't create, they destroy; the color at fault here is Red, Left-Wing Red.
Leftist Moby-Trolls like you will never admit this to yourselves. Of course, your post here can be quoted as "evidence" against Conservatives, while in reality your need to create propaganda material by attempting to bait people is typical Alinksy-like false moral high ground that justifies nothing except maybe your own view of yourself.
When you can't disagree using facts, then by all means attack the individual that you disagree with. In your Leftist World that is respected, and to those of us with Critical Thinking Skills it is a sure sign of where you were indoctrinated.
Leftism is the intellectual equivalent of masturbation.
There's your corrupt socialist toilet. Makes you just salivate for single payer government
sponsored health care, most likely provided at locations at least as clean as your local post office or
one of the "clinics" shown here.
Lame Stream Media couldn't see a great story like this, even if it fell on them.
Maybe the LSM will start reaching for "the bar" that Crowder raises, instead of
the bar down the street.
Very well said whiskey, and Ann Coulter IS usually right……..but where would we be without rap and hip-hop?
If blacks don't have any opportunities to better themselves, why do they dominate in professional sports?
Might there be general differences in the God-Given talents of different human groups?
Lastly, if Detroit was populated mostly by Swedes, do think those leftist policies would have destroyed it, or would it look more like – Stockholm?
look i'm sorry to have to speak the truth but, blacks don't create they destroy. this is why you see such utter destruction in detroit. they are incapable of rising above the tribalism you see in africa. do you see anything resembling the cities of say Greece or Rome of a thousand years ago in Africa or any other city or country where there are majority or near majority blacks? no you don't and never will. they have only made it to the point they have through integration with others and unfortunately that integration costs many of us with our lives and soon our country.
I was just asking myself………."does he KNOW that that's Matt Damon on there?"
Steven:
Great report. I live in a similar, albeit much smaller city in NC. The predominant industry up until 15 years ago was textiles but those went way south (thank you NAFTA!). But don't worry! The void left by the egress of those textile companies was quickly filled with that super-modern, "progressive" industry of ENTITLEMENTS.
My town and county has become famous (or rather, INFAMOUS) for being one of the surest places in NC to hand out public assistance. I'm a police officer by profession and I would conservatively estimate that a quarter of the people I interview tell me that they are "on disability" or that they don't have a job but they "get a check".
Somewhere along the road of this city's development the compass of the city counsel's political class veered from Center Right to Center Left. The concept of what each citizen can do to help themselves was supplanted with what can the city do for the poor, out of work citizens. The ever increasing liberal make-up of the counsel ensures that free-market solutions are shoved aside in favor of typical "progressive" fixes.
Instead of attractive tax incentives and aggressive recruitment for potential new businesses/industries, this city has instead poured its money "into the communities" (re: more welfare and entitlements). Have a city block that needs rejuvenation? Why try to attract private enterprise that can bring in business dollars and jobs when we can instead increase "community outreach programs" and build more parks and athletic fields for "disenfranchised" youths? Need money to pay for more police officers and/or fire fighters? Let's raise utility rates!
Speaking of "youths", a side benefit of this governmental compassion, as you may have guesses, is an increase of the crime rate. Last year, a colleague and I looked at the crime stats and discovered that the city had a higher murder rate, per capita, than Obamaville (that's Chicago to the ill-informed). Property crimes are epidemic and if you don't want your business getting robbed, stay away!
Needless to say, it's definitely an "adventure" being a cop here.
So, how would the average conservative address these problems? The aforementioned free-market approach, a reduction in entitlements and and aggressive crime reduction program. What does our left-leaning counsel do? ANNEXATION, BABY!!
City officials have used the infuriating NC forced annexation laws (often referred to as "municipal theft") on several occasions when the city finds that its coffers are depleted. Simply put, if you need more money, annex unincorporated areas that are doing well financially. Result? A lot more tax revenue and some very pissed off property owners who, for the most part, explicitly built or purchased their homes and businesses outside urban areas.
So what can we do? I don't know. I just try to keep the honest people left in the city (including my family) safe. I just hope that we don't get to the same level as Detroit. I also fervently pray that our country doesn't turn into a giant Detroit.
[...] Posted by KingShamus on December 22, 2009 A somber edition of “Louder with Crowder”, but still very much worth your time. [...]
Umm, what does Ancient Egypt have to do with blacks?
They were Egyptians. Same people still live there to this day. They're not what comes to mind when you think of Detroit.
It isn't race that destroyed Detroit. It is a culture that destroyed Detroit. A culture of entitlement, violence, and bad attitudes. It is the same culture you find in every large Black urban community. I don't know if America has the will to construct and enforce rules that promote self-reliance, but I do know that entitlments have only exacerbated the problems.
" if I knew what was good for me, I'd never vote for anyone other than Democrats"
Oh come on, you expect us to believe this?
Everything written above, regarding the encounter to which you refer, is true. I'd quote the menacing individual exactly, if I could, but my memory isn't perfect, and being placed in a situation where one is forced to contemplate one's mortality does tend to focus attention on other matters.
I have no expectations of you, one way or the other, dydst. I expect truthfulness from myself, though.
You also need to get some footage of cities that were behind the old Iron Curtain, to show the similarities. I've driven through some of those Communist "paradises" and they looked eerily similar to Detroit.
Ahh, "A Fistful of Yen", the best part of KFM. I'm going to have to watch that again, along with "The Groove Tube".
Gee, you're so funny! Making personal attacks but not disputing anything Steve said. Better luck next time, rookie, back to the minors for you.
As a former police officer from the very south side of Chicago I have seen this before. Go take a walk thru Obama's old hood in Roseland and Riverdale. They look like Detroit. same thing.
Blacks do not create, they destroy. I know of what I speak. I have spent years watching the behavior of these people and 90% of them are animals. Yes there are a small percent that are not like that but the majority are.
They will be the destruction of this country. Mark my words. Civil war is coming. Are you ready?
Hey! I can see my house from here!
Yeah, because Detroit was DANDY before a year ago.
If you live there, then you might remember that Detroit always sucked. ALWAYS.
Detroit was left to ruin long before there was Obama.
AGAIN… all of you people have forgotten that Detroit was in shambles LONG before Obama got into office.
It's been 2 DECADES that Detroit has been rotting.
Truly harrowing stuff… I live in Los Angeles, and I'm seeing our Unions here so "exactly," the same thing with my state — they live well while the rest of us struggle, its only fair afterall.
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