Life in "Progress" City

From the Queen City of Cincinnati, who hasn't had a conservative in city government since Boss Cox ruled the land.......

Yvette Hooten sits on the bed and stretches.

She rolls onto her son’s pillow and inhales deeply before she cries.

And then, she prays herself to sleep hoping that one day, just one time, her son’s face and his words will come to her in her dreams.

They haven’t.

In fact, she said she hasn’t dreamed in the 5½ months since her son, Mark Hooten, 16, was shot to death on a South Cumminsville street by two men who police say gunned him down and raced off.

Hooten said she always worried about her son’s safety.

For good reason.

Young and old, black men have been killing other black men at a record-setting pace since Cincinnati’s homicide rate jumped from 32 a year in 1999 to 60 in 2009.

Of Cincinnati’s 60 homicide victims in 2009, all but five were are black. Most of the killings involved drugs or retribution.

Here's a link to the map where these murders took place. You probably couldn't find a McCain voter in these neighborhoods with X-ray vision.

Is that a coincidence?

A few weeks ago, a family friend questioned me about this series. He told me that he thought it was unfair for me to characterize these cities as "progressive".

Him I think it's a little unfair to blame democratic policies on the decline of cities.

Me Then can you explain to me how it is that every thing democrats run is an absolute shit hole?

Him Well, the unfortunate thing is that democrats are burdened by addressing the needs of the underclass.

Me And you don't think that democratic policies are responsible for creating that underclass.

Him No

Me Let me ask you this question. This underclass you speak of. How did they get there?

Him Lack of education, job opportunities, teen age pregnancy, crime etc.

Me Would you agree that many of these people have a history of making poor choices in their lives?

Him Yes, except that many of their choices are a result of bad opportunities. Don't have a job, get pregnant.

Me OK, so let's assume that these people make a lot of bad choices in their lives. Would you not agree that continuing to vote for a political party who policies continue to give them bad opportunities is a bad choice in and of itself?

I mean let's face it. This is a chicken/egg problem. Did liberal politicians build an infrastructure that created our American underclass or does our underclass (already known for horrible decisions) vote for politicians to keep these horrible institutions shitty? In essence, voting for their enabler?

It reminds me of the infamous Charles Barkley quote "poor people have been voting for democrats for 50 years and they're still poor"

Either way, that's not exactly a ringing endorsement of liberal politics.