Senate Debates Ruin-Porn Legislation

Apparently there is yet another photographer who has figured out how to profit from Detroit’s misery (Ruins Of a Once-Great City). Such portfolios have become so ubiquitous that a term has been coined to describe it’s titillating nature: “ruin-porn."  I don’t mind: Detroit is certainly fair game in the commerce of “decay as art.”  Additionally, I welcome any and all attention that is drawn to it’s shambles. Not so people can wallow in horror and disgust, but so they can begin to comprehend the consequences of our insanely suicidal social policies.

 

Bar in abandoned Vanity Ballroom: Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, and Duke Ellington frequented this venue in it’s heyday.

But even with all the imaging, outsiders don’t really seem to understand the magnitude of the death and destruction here. It’s a bit like what happened in Iran following the corrupt re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Everybody seemed to be aware of the fact that untoward activities were unfolding, but except for a few unsettling images broadcast via Twitter, there wasn’t any real coverage. And no response to the distress calls from the Iranian people. It feels a bit like that here, too. Photographers keep showing up and taking pictures that people can emote over for a few minutes, and then they go about their business. But keep ignoring the path our country is on and soon you, too, will have no business to go back to.

Lee Plaza Ballroom

If you can’t make it to the Yancey Richardson Gallery in New York to view Andrew Moore’s show, behold here a taste of what the Great Society has wrought on a once prosperous and proud city.

 

Organ screen, abandoned United Artists theatre

Get up close and take a look into the abyss that 40 years of elite liberal East Coast driven social policies have created.

 Abandoned Ford River Rouge Plant, once a mighty symbol of American industrial prowess

And spare me the litany of other factors that contributed to Detroit’s decline; they contributed, they didn’t create. Only government policies that suck the souls of its citizens dry of any personal responsibility and self-respect can so effectively kill the motivation, drive and ambition of people. Only multiple generations of people born into the entitlement mentality of government provision and care can kill the soul of the people, and with them their city.

And don’t even think about calling me a racist. The only racists in this game are the effetes who somehow decided decades ago that perfectly capable men, women and children of color could not make their way in the world with out the helping hand of government. If that is not prima facie racism, I don’t know what is. And you can throw into that same vat the black race-hustlers who have amassed personal fortunes and huge power bases by ensuring that this system remains in place. They sicken me. They are the traitors to their race, not the conservative minded blacks who expect more from themselves than that.

While the Senate “debates” America’s economic future tonight and our President continues to dither over sending the support our troops need in a war terrorists are waging on us whether we care to participate or not, our city continues to atrophy into the ash heap of history. Detroit may just be beyond redemption. The rest of the country is still our call.

 

Technorati Tags: urban decline,ruin porn,racism

Why Detroit Still Matters

Good news Detroit: We’re #1 again! In a head-to-head contest with real contenders like Chicago, New York, Cleveland (At Least We’re Not Detroit!) and Atlanta, Detroit once again grabbed victory through the misery of defeat. Numero uno on Forbes Most Miserable City in America.  Heady stuff for a city on the verge of insolvency and far beyond societal breakdown.

Much should be made of the fact that Detroit, along with the other top-10 miserable winners, is reaping the fruits of decades of liberal husbandry. Unfortunately all that carefully cultivated fruit has been left to ferment on the ground.

Oddly, few people in the media seen interested in discussing this ‘as ye sow so shall ye reap’ phenomenon. Even though the evidence in Detroit’s case is quite staggering, as I’ve recounted before (here, here and here).

  Democrats care about the environment

Take Charlie LeDuff  for example, who has just published a book called Detroit: an American Autopsy.   When asked about the connection between liberal Democratic policies and Detroit’s collapse on Fox last week, he deftly glossed over it by responding that Detroit’s last Republican mayor also went to jail for corruption.

Interesting, but just for the record, Detroit’s last Republican mayor left office in 1962, pre-Great Society. And he was convicted 7 years after leaving office not for “corruption” but rather tax evasion - a felony that barely raises an eyebrow in Congressional races anymore. Still, better to smear the Republicans of the distant past than acknowledge the shenanigans of more recent Democratic scoundrels.

Ex-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his father, on trial.

Charlie is a street wise and at times entertaining local news reporter with impeccable journalistic creds. Still, he’s not ready for prime time, unless you’re looking for another talking head capable of spinning an artful dodge of  the inconvenient truths that plague liberal politics.

And not to disparage Charlie’s intellect – which I’m sure is awesome because he has degrees from two very prestigious universities - but anyone stupid enough to be “urinating in the dark” in Detroit isn’t exactly the sharpest utensil in the drawer.  Unfortunately, in a knife fight with Steve Doocy even a spoon wins.

So here’s Charlie’s conclusion: While Detroit probably was done in by corrupt politicians, it doesn’t matter whether or not they were Democrats or Republicans (again, for the record, they were Democrats, exclusively, from 1962 on) because everyone in the country is corrupt: “This is a national sickness. We’re just corrupt cheaters. That’s what we do now.”

It looks like the stay-at-home “independent” non-voters have found their spokesman in Charlie - it doesn’t matter who you vote for – you’re gonna get screwed, man! 

Because of his excellent education (which may or may not have been made possible in part due to his Ojibway heritage)  I’m sure Charlie is aware of the fact that one of the founding principles of this great country is that it was to be a nation of laws, not men. I wonder what he thinks that means, though, and if he even finds it to be relevant anymore? Because to glibly disregard the bad ideas and political corruption that brought Detroit to its knees strikes me as a very cynical view of not just human nature but the entire concept of “a nation of laws.” It seems as if he might be acknowledging, if not actually condoning, the ruling class’ ability to play by their own rules. 

If the governing elite - “our betters” - are not required, or even expected, to obey the laws implemented to guard against the very type of personal corruption that has ruled Detroit for decades, how can we expect them to uphold other rules of law? What’s to prevent them from circumventing or disregarding legal restrictions on their inherent power? Or the Constitution?

Indeed: who’s watching the watchers?

Shrugging your shoulders at corruption seems a slippery slope. But what if resistance is futile? What if we all adopt Charlie’s attitude of concerned resignation? What if we accept the premise that all politicians are bad, and there is clearly nothing to be done about it so you might as well just go about your business?

Choosing the path of least resistance has led Detroit to insolvency. The State of Michigan is about to appoint an Emergency Financial Manager to take over the City’s financial affairs. Imagine what would become of America if the rest of the country adopted the attitude of the citizens in America’s most miserable city.

Imagine what would happen if everyone just looked the other way when leaders make a mockery of their fiduciary responsibilities to the citizenry;

Democrats care about jobs

if they continued to allow the ruling class to violate the laws they swore to uphold, or reinterpret them to their own purpose.

Forward!

Thankfully, you don’t even have to imagine. All you have to do is look at Detroit.

Detroit: We had to destroy it in order to save it.

Keep spending recklessly, without considering the long term effect of huge deficits.

Detroit: the urban frontier of homesteading; and recycling

Keep ignoring the basic laws of economics at your own peril.

Keep out: no business welcome here

Keep flouting the rule of law.

The halls of justice are empty

What you will be left with is exactly what we have in Detroit. The artists call it “ruin porn.”

To the untrained eye, it just looks like decay.

 

But you probably don’t think it could happen “here” do you?

Neither did the citizens of Detroit, 50 years ago.

Michigan Central Station, located in the heart of Detroit, then and now:

Democrats stand for progress

Most of us can’t do great things, but all of us can do something. Do something. If you don’t, you, or your children, will wake up one day on the other side, staring into the abyss that was once a great civilization.

In Detroit, God has left the building.

This is Dewey, from Detroit; reminding you that we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

God helps those who help themselves.

Cross posted on RedState and Patriot Action Network

Linked By: Legal Insurrection and Legal Insurrection, and  Maggie’s Farm, and American Digest, and  Cardigan @ iOwnTheWorld, and daily timewaster, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!