Dakota Beacon

“Democrats are committed to curbing the effects of climate change, protecting America’s natural resources, and ensuring the quality of our air, water, and land for current and future generations.” This from the Democrat National Committee statement at Democrats.org. They promise to save the planet but these liberals can’t save the cities, over which they rule, from the decay and squalor so evident to any observer. Demise of their cities is the consequence of liberalism writ large.

--SEATTLE experienced 108 years of liberal domination.

“Seattle has endured a steady expansion of homelessness, addiction, mental illness, crime, and street disorder. But the…political and cultural elite…has enforced a strict taboo on declaring the obvious: something is terribly wrong in the Emerald City. Last [March], veteran Seattle reporter Eric Jonson of KOMO [produced] a shocking, hour-long documentary called ‘Seattle Is Dying,’ which revealed how the city has allowed a small subset of…population – drug-addicted and mentally ill criminals – to wreak havoc.” City Journal, 4/2/2019

“People come here because it’s called ‘Free-attle’ and they believe if they come here they will get free food, free medial treatment, free mental health treatment, a free tent, free clothes, and will be free of prosecution for just about everything, and they’re right. It didn’t used to be that way. Law enforcement officers used to be able to enforce the laws.” Seattle Is Dying, YouTube, 3/19/2019

--CHICAGO: Democrats have ruled this city for 88 years, long enough to refine city government corruption to an art form.

“Another summer in…Chicago starts… [and] 52 people were shot, 10 fatally in street violence. On Memorial Day it was 30 shot with five killed. Yet, the violence in Chicago gets ignored…Chicago’s [Democrat] political class is clueless on how to reduce the senseless killing…Chicago has some of the most restrictive gun ownership laws in America, yet the violence persists.” David Clarke, retired Milwaukee sheriff, Townhall, 6/10/2019

“According to a new report from the University of Illinois at Chicago, the most corrupt city in the United States is Chicago…Looking at [public] conviction numbers between 1976 and 2017, Chicago had the most at 1,731…The latest culprit was [Alderman] Edward Burke, who was charged with…attempted extortion in January for trying to use his power on City Council to drum up business for his private law firm. He served on the City Council for 50 years.” Fortune, 2/12/2019

“Putting corrupt Chicago aldermen in prison has done little to deter other City Council members from trying to use their office to enrich themselves — so why keep doing it? That’s the…argument…in a court filing seeking to spare [Alderman Willie] Cochran of prison for his fraud conviction...’Since sending the previous aldermen to jail has not done anything to curb Chicago’s tidal wave of aldermanic corruption cases, there is no reason to think that sending Mr. Cochran to jail will,’ Cochran’s lawyer…wrote in a sentencing memo.” Chicago Tribune, 6/7/2019

--PORTLAND has been under Democrat domination for 63 years and fares no better than Seattle or Chicago. Headline from The Oregonian, 6/11/2019: “Portland Has a Plan for Its Human Poop Problem.” Yup, and it goes like this. “$316. That’s the average amount Portland taxpayers shell out each time a crew is dispatched to clean up human waste from city streets, sidewalks, or parks...” That happens at least 450 times per week in response to complaints.

Daryl Turner, Portland Police Association president puts it this way, “Our city has become a cesspool. Livability that once made Portland a unique and vibrant city is now replaced with human feces in businesses’ doorways…and on our streets. Aggressive panhandlers block the sidewalks, storefronts…discouraging people from enjoying our city.” E-newsletter, KPTV.com, 7/16/2018

--DETROIT under Democrat rule for 57 years and counting. Here is a classic tale. “[M]ore that 40 public and private officials [are] charged as part of a federal investigation into public corruption in metro Detroit. The charges range from extortion and money laundering to bribery and conspiracy to distribute drugs.” Detroit Metro Times, 3/6/2019

“[A]fter disgraced former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced to 28 years in prison for racketeering, bribery, extortion, and tax crimes in October 2013…the FBI assembled the Detroit…Corruption Task Force…[and] declared war on corruption, saying it had become a ‘generational, systemic part of the culture’ of southeast Michigan.” Detroit Metro Times, 3/6/2019

--BALTIMORE 52 years under Democrat rule. “The grinding, depressing reality of Baltimore – the insane gun violence, four consecutive years of 300-plus homicides. It’s the dreary, suffocating cloud that hovers over everything…something big is broken and beyond the repair of the current leadership…in this deep-blue city.” The Baltimore Sun, 1/1/2019

The beat goes on. Other cities capitulate under Democrat rule. The same record of documented squalor is found in San Francisco, 55 years; New York City, 18 years; Los Angeles, 18 years. It’s the same song, second verse.

Racism and capitalism cannot be blamed for the metropolitan decay. Socialist thinking and corruption of liberal Democrat city councils top the list of causes.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).