If you want to know where the progressive road to progress ends, come to Detroit.
In 1950, Detroit was the wealthiest city in America by per capita income. It had a Republican mayor, and the GOP ran the city until 1962.
For the past half century Detroit has been governed by Democrats and has become, in the words of the Bay Area Center for Voting Research, “the most liberal city in America.”
Motown bought the fully-loaded version of the progressive sedan: taxes that redistribute income from businesses to bureaucrats, a living wage that is higher than the federal minimum, and municipal employee unions that make sure that the public using public services comes second to their members.
Today, Detroit is on the verge of a Chapter 9 filing, the bankruptcy forum for municipalities that live beyond their means. With $20 billion in long-term liabilities it can’t pay, the Motor City would be the biggest bankruptcy case in history.
In a country where a 3.9 percent difference in the popular vote in a presidential election is considered a landslide, the overwhelming majority of the mayors and city council members of bankrupt cities are Democrats, as in Detroit.
As the Four Tops would say, it’s the same old song.
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonherald.com ...
