How to destroy a city

By Tom Quiner

Hiroshima was reduced to rubble in an instant.

The year was 1945. America dropped an atomic bomb on this proud city, leading to the death of 60,000 people and the destruction of the city’s infrastructure.

The devastating impact of the weapon led to the immediate end of the Pacific War, concluding World War II.

When you look at the photos of Hiroshima in the aftermath of the bombing, your first reaction might be that this city will never rise again.

You would be wrong.

Today, Hiroshima is a thriving, beautiful city. It’s population has grown from about 380,000 in 1945 to nearly 1.2 million today. The city has flourished under capitalism and is devoid of a welfare system.

Detroit was reduced to rubble more slowly than Hiroshima.

Unlike Hiroshima, Detroit’s population has declined precipitously, from 1.7 million in 1960 to a little more than 700,000 today. The city has been controlled politically by the Democratic Party since January 2nd, 1962, when Jerome Cavanaugh was sworn in as mayor. Democrats have controlled the mayorship ever since.

With no meaningful political opposition, they have been able to implement a specific agenda to improve their city. Their agenda includes high tax policies against upper income earners, most of whom are caucasian; political favoritism toward African-Americans; pandering to unions; harassment of business owners.

How has their agenda worked? You be the judge. Whites fled the city in search of a more favorable tax environment. Whites accounted for 70% of the population in 1960, but only 8% today.

Forbe’s Magazine calls it one of the most dangerous cities in the nation. Most homicide victims there are black, and 95% of the time, the murderer is black.

Their schools are abysmal.

Their working class neighborhoods are slowly but surely being reduced to rubble.

Detroit is the anti-Hiroshima. Where Hiroshima was built by the free-enterprise system, a system once embraced by Detroit, the city made the choice to embrace political cronyism that stifled the therapeutic effects of true capitalism.

Some are going to blame Detroit’s fall on the decline of the auto industry. A blogger who grew up there (agconservative) disagrees:

“If you read today’s various reports about the population loss they focus on the struggles of the auto industry and Detroiter’s moving to the suburbs. However, these things are just empty excuses that are ignoring the real causes. If people were just moving to the suburb then why is the whole state’s population in decline? And the auto industry has only declined recently, so what can explain a population decline that goes back almost 60 years?”

The approach implemented by Democrats in Detroit clearly hasn’t worked. What is disturbing is that President Obama is attempting to roll out the same agenda at a national level.

How do you destroy a city? Just follow the Detroit model.

How do you destroy a nation? Just follow the Detroit model.

A city may be able to survive an A-bomb blast. It’s much tougher to crawl out from under the rubble of liberalism.