The Trump administration's decision to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago is a bad idea whose time has come. It is the only option available that can force the development of a debate among Chicago and Illinois residents as to the root causes of epidemic crime in their area, which would be the first step towards correcting the situation.
One of the most difficult things to do when reaching for policy solutions to very difficult social, political, and economic problems is to trace things back to their point of origin. Reducing the level of violent crime in Chicago is a perfect example. As is the case almost everywhere else, the social and economic marginalization of large segments of Chicago's poorer population has left them alienated from society in general and thus prone to the kind of criminal activity that now runs rampant in the city. But what we are really looking for here is an answer to the question of what created that alienation.
The marginalization of so many of the disadvantaged in Chicago has some origin in national economic and political trends, but most of the rest of the country has found a way to compensate in the enactment of policies and practices that preserve enough social and economic opportunity for their citizens to hold violent crime within manageable levels. But in Illinois and Chicago, as is the case in much of the rest of Progressive America, state and local governments are failing miserably. They have taxed at extraordinary levels, destroying economic productivity in the process. Taxes of all kinds are exceptionally high--especially employer mandates, the biggest jobs killers of all--and their property tax rates rank second only to New Jersey. But even with all this revenue public indebtedness continues to climb at alarming rates at the same time as rates of out-migration rise, leaving fewer and fewer Illinoisans to pay a growing fiscal burden. Illinois has $144 Billion in unfunded pension debt, just to cite one liability that exposes the expansion of public sector workers in the state. No local economy can thrive and prosper in a state with these demands placed on its citizens and private business enterprise.
The reaction the Trump administration has undertaken, which is to strengthen the police authority immediately, does not directly address the underlying problems of progressive governance in either Illinois in general or Chicago in particular that are destroying state and local government fiscal health and, in turn, the local economy's capacity to provide the resources necessary to correct the problems. As the Chicago Tribune, hardly a bastion of right-wing sentiment, has shown in numerous investigative articles and opinion pieces over the past several years, the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago are functionally bankrupt. Progressive policies are not only destroying local life, but also the means to repair the damage done.
So how does one solve such a nightmare? The answer can only be through a reversal of and/or retreat from progressive policies. And there are only two possible paths by which this can be effected. One, already argued in this article, is for outsiders to remain detached and do nothing until the locals finally realize they need an ideological correction and then elect new leaders. And this truly is the more democratic solution, because it directly associates the eventual outcome with the expression of the people's will. But the other, and I believe preferable, solution is to engage not only those who govern, but actually live in Chicago and elsewhere in Illinois through the deployment of the National Guard to force a meaningful debate on not only crime but its root causes in the errors of progressive governance.
In the end, Trump's decision to send in the National Guard will result in an ideological struggle on the merits of progressive policies that must be conducted in full view of everyone affected. No one will believe that a change of course is desirable until they first see that it is possible. That is a fight we must make.
I understand your position, and respectfully disagree. The people who vote these Democrats into office are the result of decades of one party rule, the indoctrination the Democrats always include into their corruption, and an education system intentionally (by the self-same Democrats) that is incapable by design. If the people in these cities don't know any better AND have no way to know better, isn't the right thing to bring them the benefits of peace and safety?
Stabilizing these cities isn't the be all, it's only a start. But it's a start, and a chance for some young inner city resident to live long enough to make a difference.
Fundamentally your argument is that self-government cannot work. My view is that I agree, but it’s what we’re stuck with. If you’ve not read Hoppe… Democracy, the God the Failed, I recommend it.
I agree that self-government as it is presently practiced, cannot work. The violation of the Constitution by the government with no watchdog willing to bite means we aren't self-governed, we're ruled by oligarchs. I advocate an Article V Constitutional Convention, with repeal of the 17th Amendment, and amendments that will force balanced budgets, make any law that violates enumerated powers null and void, which require congress to actually pass a budget with no allowance for a CR, that fines congress folks who vote to shut the government down $10,000/day, that does not pay back pay to staff that do not work during a shutdown, and that has a mandatory fund created to pay all required federal employees on time for at least 60 days.
There are probably more things I could plug in, but I believe the message is clear - the government is broken. The government will not fix itself. Our Constitution has an option we can use to fix the government. If the options we have don't work, unfortunately im my opinion, we are either done as a country, or there will be a kinetic attempt at a fix that may flush the whole experiment down the drain.
The Trump administration's decision to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago is a bad idea whose time has come. It is the only option available that can force the development of a debate among Chicago and Illinois residents as to the root causes of epidemic crime in their area, which would be the first step towards correcting the situation.
One of the most difficult things to do when reaching for policy solutions to very difficult social, political, and economic problems is to trace things back to their point of origin. Reducing the level of violent crime in Chicago is a perfect example. As is the case almost everywhere else, the social and economic marginalization of large segments of Chicago's poorer population has left them alienated from society in general and thus prone to the kind of criminal activity that now runs rampant in the city. But what we are really looking for here is an answer to the question of what created that alienation.
The marginalization of so many of the disadvantaged in Chicago has some origin in national economic and political trends, but most of the rest of the country has found a way to compensate in the enactment of policies and practices that preserve enough social and economic opportunity for their citizens to hold violent crime within manageable levels. But in Illinois and Chicago, as is the case in much of the rest of Progressive America, state and local governments are failing miserably. They have taxed at extraordinary levels, destroying economic productivity in the process. Taxes of all kinds are exceptionally high--especially employer mandates, the biggest jobs killers of all--and their property tax rates rank second only to New Jersey. But even with all this revenue public indebtedness continues to climb at alarming rates at the same time as rates of out-migration rise, leaving fewer and fewer Illinoisans to pay a growing fiscal burden. Illinois has $144 Billion in unfunded pension debt, just to cite one liability that exposes the expansion of public sector workers in the state. No local economy can thrive and prosper in a state with these demands placed on its citizens and private business enterprise.
The reaction the Trump administration has undertaken, which is to strengthen the police authority immediately, does not directly address the underlying problems of progressive governance in either Illinois in general or Chicago in particular that are destroying state and local government fiscal health and, in turn, the local economy's capacity to provide the resources necessary to correct the problems. As the Chicago Tribune, hardly a bastion of right-wing sentiment, has shown in numerous investigative articles and opinion pieces over the past several years, the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago are functionally bankrupt. Progressive policies are not only destroying local life, but also the means to repair the damage done.
So how does one solve such a nightmare? The answer can only be through a reversal of and/or retreat from progressive policies. And there are only two possible paths by which this can be effected. One, already argued in this article, is for outsiders to remain detached and do nothing until the locals finally realize they need an ideological correction and then elect new leaders. And this truly is the more democratic solution, because it directly associates the eventual outcome with the expression of the people's will. But the other, and I believe preferable, solution is to engage not only those who govern, but actually live in Chicago and elsewhere in Illinois through the deployment of the National Guard to force a meaningful debate on not only crime but its root causes in the errors of progressive governance.
In the end, Trump's decision to send in the National Guard will result in an ideological struggle on the merits of progressive policies that must be conducted in full view of everyone affected. No one will believe that a change of course is desirable until they first see that it is possible. That is a fight we must make.
I understand your position, and respectfully disagree. The people who vote these Democrats into office are the result of decades of one party rule, the indoctrination the Democrats always include into their corruption, and an education system intentionally (by the self-same Democrats) that is incapable by design. If the people in these cities don't know any better AND have no way to know better, isn't the right thing to bring them the benefits of peace and safety?
Stabilizing these cities isn't the be all, it's only a start. But it's a start, and a chance for some young inner city resident to live long enough to make a difference.
Fundamentally your argument is that self-government cannot work. My view is that I agree, but it’s what we’re stuck with. If you’ve not read Hoppe… Democracy, the God the Failed, I recommend it.
I agree that self-government as it is presently practiced, cannot work. The violation of the Constitution by the government with no watchdog willing to bite means we aren't self-governed, we're ruled by oligarchs. I advocate an Article V Constitutional Convention, with repeal of the 17th Amendment, and amendments that will force balanced budgets, make any law that violates enumerated powers null and void, which require congress to actually pass a budget with no allowance for a CR, that fines congress folks who vote to shut the government down $10,000/day, that does not pay back pay to staff that do not work during a shutdown, and that has a mandatory fund created to pay all required federal employees on time for at least 60 days.
There are probably more things I could plug in, but I believe the message is clear - the government is broken. The government will not fix itself. Our Constitution has an option we can use to fix the government. If the options we have don't work, unfortunately im my opinion, we are either done as a country, or there will be a kinetic attempt at a fix that may flush the whole experiment down the drain.