By Michael Schaus
Monday, May, 2014
Between Friday night, and Sunday evening, 28 people had
been shot in Rahm Emanuel’s gun control utopia (Chicago). Which, unbelievably,
shows an improvement over the previous weekend, which tacked on more than 40
gunshot victims to the city’s climbing statistics. And, heck, with the CPD’s
recent scandal surrounding how they classify various crimes, it almost makes
you wonder if these numbers are more “ballpark” figures than actual stats.
It would be easy to begin writing an article aimed at the
abject failure of gun control. But, truthfully, Chicago’s failure goes far
deeper than misguided (Bloomberg approved) regulation schemes. Since the days
of Bill Thompson came to an end (nearly 80 years ago) the Democrats have had a
monopoly on efforts to fix violence, gang activity, and inequality in the Windy
City. And if you’re thinking, “It doesn’t seem to be working”… Well, you’d be
right.
Even Chicago’s Police Superintendent seems to understand
this (to an extent). Of course, being the good progressive that he is, he
glossed right over the primary culprits for Chicago’s woes and instead focused
on disarming the law-abiding citizens he has sworn to protect. Via WGN radio:
It’s going to take a while to fix poverty and the breakup of the family unit, and education and jobs. But we can do something about gun laws today and we’re just not doing it.
Right… Because that’s the problem with Chicago: Too
little gun control. I mean, heck, it hasn’t exactly worked out that well so
far, but why not double down? Right? The fact is, the failure of Liberalism has
brought the city to its current state of deterioration. The Chicago model of
unconstitutional restrictions on keeping and bearing arms has done little more
than add fuel to the fire. Politicians, meanwhile, have been more than happy to
ignore the easily identifiable, but politically tricky, origins of gang
violence, and criminal activity.
Despite embracing the union-lead concept of public
education, nearly 80 percent of the city's 8th graders aren’t proficient in
reading and writing. And while schools are going without heat, electricity, or
(in some cases) adequate security, teachers make a salary that is more than
$10,000 higher than the median Chicago household's income. Being one of the
best funded education systems in America, it borders on audacious absurdity
when the unions start crying about not having enough resources. Especially when
you consider the way Democrats are on course to spend the city into being the
next Detroit.
Of course, all that tax revenue and debt was being used
for a good cause, right? Wasn’t that deficit spending, borrowing, and begging
from the State and Federal Government (as well as the general public) supposed
to help fund anti-poverty programs, and create “shovel ready” jobs? Because, if
that was the case, it seems kinda curious that Chicago has some uncomfortably
high poverty rates when compared to other large US Cities. This almost seems
like a silly thing to ask, but: Hey Democrats, maybe we could try something
new?
With an education system that has utterly failed inner
city youth, and anti-poverty programs that have done little more than spur an
exodus of private capital, it’s unsurprising to see violence sweep areas of
Chicago like an epidemic... Especially when the “progressives” downtown have
managed to disarm most of the remaining law-abiding citizens.
The lesson of Chicago is rather simple: Progressivism
can’t provide for the poor. Progressivism can’t provide the masses with quality
education, healthcare, or housing. And, Progressivism can’t keep its people
safe. While Democrats have taxed, spent, and regulated with relative impunity,
Chicago continues to suffer misery and inequality on scales rarely matched by
other US cities.
Chicago Democrat politicians continue to repackage, and
resell, to the city’s voters the very policy proposals that helped create their
current plight. I often say that Progressives haven’t had a new idea in roughly
100 years (seriously: Healthcare, tax hikes, deficit spending… it’s all been
tried), and Chicago is a prime example of progressive monopoly in government.
Each new administration promised its citizens the same policies as the previous
administration, with “new and improved” projected results.
The only thing closer to Einstein’s definition of
insanity, was America’s decision to elect a politician from that city to be
President of the United States… Twice.
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