Of the 22 cities that have experienced the most horrific riots and destruction of property, all but two are run by Democratic governments. Is it surprising that those with Democrat-led municipalities are overwhelmingly being looted and burned? Liberty Nation reports consistently on what is going on as radical activists hijack the peaceful protests by those outraged, as we all are, over the murder of unarmed George Floyd by Minneapolis rogue police.
We have witnessed, as former mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, recently put it on Fox News, "days of lawlessness with very little interruption by the police." He suggests the problem is "weak, incompetent progressive Democrats who have their heads in the clouds."
According to Twin Cities Business, an affordable housing project under construction in one area of Minneapolis was set afire, causing an estimated of $30 million worth of destruction. Mind you, this housing is for the very people the Minneapolis municipal government is supposed to be helping. In Democrat-led Oakland, CA, Jon Dougherty reports in Business & Politics that looters brazenly stole 70 luxury automobiles – worth millions of dollars – from a dealership and there was no report of law enforcement intervention. The cost of the destroyed police cars, public buildings, businesses large and small, and private property across America is incalculable. One simply needs to watch one of the television news channels covering the riots to get a sense of the magnitude of the destruction. But it’s not just property. At this writing 12 people have lost their lives in violence associated with the current rioting. According to the municipal web pages of the cities involved, of the nine cities in which deaths have occurred all but two have Democrat leadership.
Why is it that so many Democrat mayors seem to completely misread and misunderstand the world of looters and arsonists and subject their communities to fiery destruction and violence? The website Inside Scoop Politics believes it has an answer: weak leadership. While the Democrats ardently proclaim that their party is against inequality, civil unrest over racial injustice seems to occur frequently under Dems' watch. And by some perverse logic, the more the Democrats-in-charge face riots and upheaval over racial issues, the more they are returned to office. It is the point made by the author of the Inside Scoop Politics article “Are Democrat-Run Cities Prone to Police Violence and Riots?” As the author explains, “Democrats typically benefit from these riots, politically, as they tend to run back to their claims of racial inequality. It’s starting to look like the firefighter who starts a fire to then be praised for putting it out.”
Here’s another example of the illogic that prevails in Democrat-run cities: The website Western Journal titled an article "Minneapolis PD Fails to Arrest 'Protestors' as City Asks Rioters to Social Distance." So, let's get this straight. Rioters can throw Molotov cocktails and burn banks, police cruisers, and post offices as long as they adhere to social distancing? Criminals and thugs can destroy stores, from corporate behemoths to mom-and-pops, as long as they stay six feet from each other?
The article by C. Douglas Golden goes on to offer an important peek into the Dems' worldview as he quotes the Democratic mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey:
"What we've seen over the last two days and the emotion-ridden conflict over last night is the result of so much built-up anger and sadness, anger and sadness that has been ingrained in our black community, not just because of five minutes of horror, but 400 years."
Well, for the last 38 of those 400 years, Minneapolis has been under Democratic governance. So why didn’t leadership do something constructive to alleviate the problem he described? Two reasons come to mind:
Democratic leadership didn't recognize it as a problem, or
Democrats recognized the problem but were too weak and incompetent to solve it, echoing Giuliani.
Let's look at Chicago, another bastion of progressive, liberal thinking. CBS affiliate WBBM reported that the Chicago police officers have been ordered to "no longer use force to disperse large gatherings." This order likely originated with Democrat Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who just a few weeks ago told Chicagoans to stay in their homes – or else. Now we know what the "or else" means: unless you are participating in a riot.
In so many large cities across America, progressive liberals have been given multiple chances to prove worthy of public trust. However, the sheer magnitude of the number of Dem-governed cities affected by civil unrest is statistically significant enough to prompt the question: Can Democrats govern on any level?
The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliation.
~
Read more from Dave Patterson.
