Progressivism claims to represent the interests of ordinary people through mandated government programs and regulations. But facts tell a different story. Where progressives govern they rarely represent the interests of ordinary people, and it’s not progress.
USA Today in 2019 listed America’s 25 most dangerous cities. Twenty-three have progressive mayors. Many are the cities having violent riots and destruction. Many have frequent murders and shootings even of children, like Chicago, Birmingham and Atlanta.
Mayor Bottoms of Atlanta said you can’t blame a police officer for the murder of a child recently. Instead she blamed President Trump. But Trump has only been in office for a few years and this climate of violence in our cities has been happening for decades.
In Chicago, 40,000 murders occurred over the last 63 years (Chicago Tribune, Jan. 23, 2020). Over the June 20 weekend, 104 were shot, 14 fatally. Their progressive mayor had no words to describe what happened, but she had no trouble maligning anyone reopening salons or businesses. Since deaths at the hands of police several years back, violent crime has increased in the top two on the list, Baltimore and St Louis. Those cities also are seeing a decline in population.
This destruction comes with an enormous price. What is happening in these cities is actually the suspension of civilization. The grim reality of mob rule is replacing order as anarchists believe their violence is better than the police brutality they protest. And in terms of dollars, the progressive governor of Minnesota wants a $500 million federal bailout from all of us. What will others want?
The grim path of progressivism is marked by incompetence, graffiti on abandoned store fronts, filth, skyrocketing drug addiction, homeless tents, riots and looting, shootings and murders, burned buildings, manic lunatics screaming profanities and throwing explosives at police, high taxes, threats, toppled monuments and intimidation of ordinary citizens these progressives say they champion. And they want us to pretend all of this is normal. Unbelievably we’ve seen some making excuses for it.
Joe Biden says if elected president, “he won’t just rebuild the nation, we’ll transform it.” Democrats rejected Bolshevik Bernie in the primaries. So is the “we” in the tweet the Marxist squad and others who will be pulling old Joe’s strings?
Will this transformation they threaten take America further down that grim path of progressivism?
Ralph Miller