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by PatientTrades 3120 days ago
> anti intellectual voter base will destroy the advancement opportunity of the middle class

Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, etc. Most of the failing inner cities with bad schools and high crime rates have been run by democrats for decades. If anything, it is the far left that should realize that their policies to do not work long term.

3 comments

Um, to counter one example... Maryland actually tops US News and World Reports' high school rankings overall. [1] Their city public schools were recognized for improvement by the US Department of Education for a number of years. [2] I'm sure there are problematic areas, but it seems bad practice to go after the entire Baltimore public school system over this -- on the whole, my impression is that it seems pretty decent.

The Atlantic article reflected concerns about Midwest research spending. Since the Midwest has states that are both Democrat dominated and Republican dominated in politics, I'm not sure you can actually draw any partisan conclusions from that article.

(There is a political divide on research spending opinion per surveys [3], but even here, most Republicans either support increased scientific research spending, or keeping it at the same levels.)

[1] https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/articles/... [2] https://www.ed.gov/labor-management-collaboration/conference... [3] http://www.people-press.org/2017/04/24/how-republicans-and-d...

Did you notice how all of your examples happen to be Rust Belt cities? Also note that you didn't mention San Francisco, Seattle, New York or Los Angeles which have all been run by Democrats for decades. Is it possible that the economics have more of an impact than the politics? Meanwhile, according to this analysis, 3 of the 6 best public high schools in the country are Chicago Public Schools.

https://www.niche.com/k12/search/best-public-high-schools/

> didn't mention San Francisco, Seattle, New York or Los Angeles which have all been run by Democrats for decades.

Are you really citing SF, New York, and Los Angeles as success stories. Those areas have some of the highest rates of homelessness in the US. In addition to the run away costs of living in those cities, they are certainly not models for success. Those examples don't help your argument...

I am citing them as places that are not "failing inner cities with bad schools and high crime rates have been run by democrats for decades." as OP claimed. Chicago doesn't fall into that category either, but that is a discussion for another day. Bringing up cost-of-living or homelessness is simply moving the goalposts from the original claim.

The focus of my post was that it seems clear that economics is what forced those cities to crash. Look at Rust Belt cities (Milwaukee, Cleveland, Baltimore, Detroit, Buffalo, Gary) and you will find significant population decline and high crime rates. Trying to make it a political discussion brings in personal bias.

> The focus of my post was that it seems clear that economics is what forced those cities to crash.

Economic policies from politicians influence economics. If policies are bad for business, jobs will leave, crime will rise and populations will decline. Economics don't happen in a vacuum. Most if not all of those declining cities have been consistently run by democrats

>Most if not all of those declining cities have been consistently run by democrats

And so have most of the growing, thriving cities. Individual cities have very little say in global economic shifts. We are seeing this same story play out in Republican-controlled rural areas.

First some jobs leave (outsource or automation), then laborforce participation declines, next we see drug use increase, which makes more people unemployable, as a result employers leave the area and more jobs are lost. Then you go back to step 1 and re-run.

Trying to cast everything in a partisan light may be blinding you to the similarities.

Baltimore is Rust Belt?
It is certainly debatable, some lists include it and some don't. Baltimore is not in the traditional industrial heartland or even the Midwest, but it's economic makeup in the mid-20th century is very similar to traditional Rust Belt cities (large ports, metal production, manufacturing).

includes - https://www.thoughtco.com/rust-belt-industrial-heartland-of-...

doesn't include - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_Belt

> Most of the failing inner cities with bad schools and high crime rates have been run by democrats for decades.

So have the successful, thriving cities.

Seriously. Everyone knows what the difference is but they're too afraid to say it.
Name one?