Is Detroit Our Starnesville?

By Tom Rhodes, 7/24/2013

Detroit reminds me of a quote from the Grail Knight in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, "He chose poorly." In the movie the evil bastard who "chose poorly" shrivels up and turns to ancient ruins because of his "enlightened" choice, so too has Detroit. Indy who didn't choose poorly did not suffer the same fate. Just like in the movie those who "chose wisely" don't suffer the same fate, nor should they.

Detroit is the manifestation of those who "chose wisely" going Galt. It is precisely the condition and outcome that result from the reality of implementing the utopian ideas of so called progressives. Detroit mirrors Starnesville, a car-manufacturing city that became a ghost town after experimenting with socialism. You can read about it in Ayn Rand's 1957 novel "Atlas Shrugged."

The federal government and tax payers from the other 50 states should under no circumstances bail out Detroit. It should be allowed to go bankrupt. The citizens of Detroit should be allowed to suffer the consequences of their choices: specifically their voting decisions. It is the citizens of Detroit who are at fault for Detroit's demise not the rest of the nation. Every single voter in Detroit who voted for politicians who expanded the government of Detroit is responsible.

Let's hope Detroit isn't the indicator that Starnesville was in the novel. In Atlas Shrugged, the demise and failure of Starnesville was the harbinger of the collapse of the entire society. Detroit and its current bankrupt condition is the direct result of who the people of Detroit elected. Those who were disproportionately taxed and had to pay for the utopian ideas of the elected leaders, when it was obvious that their vote for responsible government and free enterprise were ineffective, voted with their feet; they moved. The auto industry built plants in Kansas, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, etc. they quit building and expanding in Detroit. The empty wasteland of factories in Detroit is evidence of the reality of implementing enlightened ideas of the statist leftists. The voters of these states, who elected people that created laws and an environment more inviting to auto manufactures than Detroit and Michigan did, are not responsible and should not have to bail out the voters who embraced the empty promises of Democrats.

Detroit since 1962 has been run by Democrats. Since then it has made itself uncompetitive with other parts of the USA and the world. The bankruptcy of Detroit is what will happen to the entire country if we continue to elect "progressives." Jobs going overseas are a direct result of the government tyranny and easily predicted (read Atlas Shrugged). Utopian thinking of how things should be; how people should act; and their enlightened redistribution of wealth, is emotional not rational thought. Leftist thinking ignores the history of mankind and the very nature of man. The increase in the size and scope of government and the increase in oppression of productive people is manifesting itself in the actions of people going Galt. Actual participation in the labor force is at historic lows. Expansion of business is at historic lows, hording capital rather than investing is the order of the day. Protecting existing wealth (usually off shore) is now more important than using that wealth industriously.

The entire premise of progressives and their leadership is that they the ruling elite know how things should be, and by virtue of their enlightened understanding they should have the power and authority to determine how property is distributed regardless of any individual's wants, desires, talents, and labor. If they had the power they would control and eliminate the right to travel, and the right to sell and use private property. People exercising these rights, moving and taking their money and stuff with them, has lead to a mass exodus of Detroit. My family escaped Detroit in 1972. Utopian thinking Democrats became a majority in Detroit, elected Detroit's leaders, and chased away all the producers and borrowed and spent Detroit into bankruptcy. Let them suffer the consequences of their choices and actions, and let it be a model to every city and voter what happens when you elect big union progressive Democrats and let them implement their "progressive" plans.

The result of the implementation of Democrat's policies is clear. In half a century it turned Detroit from arguably the most industrious city in the world with the highest wages, into a third world hellhole where less than half the population is self supporting. Starnesville was the harbinger of the collapse of society in Atlas Shrugged, is Detroit our Starnesville?