Why do cities like Baltimore and Detroit and keep voting in Dem leaders despite things NEVER getting better?

Question

Baltimore has elected a Democrat since 1967 (Detroit since 1962). Things keep getting worse and worse and worse. The murder rate there keeps rising, it is awful. Yet people keep voting the same incompetent leaders in.

In New York, it was not until a GOP mayor came in that the city was livable and visitable again. I don't support Giuliani in the upcoming election, and I won't vote for him if he gets the GOP nod, but he did great work in NY. You would think cities like Detroit and Baltimore would get a clue.

www.dryflypolitics.com

1. Not all things GOP are good, but you would think the voters would at least try something new. Obviously the old guard isn't working and they aren't voting the right people in.

2. Oakland and LA both suck, especially Oakland, I am from there. Sure the rich areas are fine, but those don't really need as much help as the rest of the city.

Baltimore's last mayor was White, Mayor O'Malley. He was a disaster, yet the MD folks were idiots once again.

Answer 1

This is a question I ask myself regularly. From my perspective, the question should really be why they continue to reelect the same leaders within the same party? Its not so much a question of party, but the willingness of many in these areas to continue electing the same politicians even though conditions continue to get worse.

If they are stuck with the same party, why not elect different people within the party?

Answer 2

I think part of the reason is information. People do not know what government people are doing what.

This can be illustrated in your question, and all save one of the answers. No details, no information, just broad, silly theorizing. We might be begin by asking what one thing Giulani did that these other mayors did not do. I think you will find that crime rates are a function of the economy and opportunity. That is why places like Detroit - which lost its economic base - many people are in a fight just to survive. In Oakland, the economic recovery of the 90's really helped Oakland, now in the downtown area it is really relatively safe. But still, there is less investment in the outlying areas.

Answer 3

I don't believe (in the case of Detroit) that it is a matter of political party. The mayor of Detroit before the current crook was Dennis Archer. Mayor Archer made a sincere and honest effort to improve the city and I believe he was actually getting things moving in that direction. However, the people of Detroit, rather than judge Mayor Archer on his actions, decided to elect a clone of Coleman Young by electing Kwame Kilpatrick, a man big on promise but short on results. In Detroit, all you have to do to become mayor is blame the white man for all the cities problems and then make a bunch of promises that you cannot possibly deliver. Since Mayor Archer was actually gaining the trust of white people and not making vaporous promises, he was obviously not working in the best interest of the city of Detroit.

Answer 4

Can't say for those cities--but under the Democrats, Atlanta has lower crime rates (even with the recent nationwide rise), our downtown and inner city neighborhooods are coming back to life and the streets are getting safe to wlalk. Our biggest problem is keeping the neocons from gutting toe initiatives that are driving this renaissance. When they had control, all we got was high crime, a bunch of skyscrapers nobody wanted, and blighted neighborhoods. And neglet of basic infrastructure that is now costing us billions to fix.

My opinion--maybe some Democratic city administrations dont imporve things. But from what I've seen, whenyou let the Republicans/conservatives in, you can be t things will get worse.

Answer 5

That's a good question, for some reason the large cities that I've lived near seem to lean toward the dems.

Detroit could have Dem roots going back to days of big labor unions.

I recall my dad telling us how the union told him to vote a straight dem ticket. He was told that Reps were against labor and should they happen to win, wages would be cut. In my dad's local, an entry level person was paid X percentage over minimum wage, someone with 6 - 12 months in the local would be paid Y percentage over the entry level person, and so on and so on. It's easy to see how areas with historically large populations of unions would vote for the party who promised increases to minimum wage.

When I lived near Chicago, Dems would stump by telling those in public housing how the Reps would cut benefits, and throw people into the cold (November in IL) streets. Funny, Dems always seems to win by landslides.

In my opinion, if a large group is willing to be "taken care of" by government, successful politicians will certainly pander.

Answer 6

Many Unions in Baltimore that's keeping Democrats in Power. People need to speak to all the unions. It doesn't make sense to me either, every time a Democrat President takes office they try their best to get rid of Unions. Same problem in Michigan.

Answer 7

I would be a little careful about what you throw out there: there are many heavily urbanized cities like Oakland and Los Angeles that have done just fine with Democratic mayors.

Or are you really referring not to Democratic mayors, but black ones?

ADDED RESPONSE:
I was from Oakland, too, and it's come miles from where it was. Jerry Brown has turned that city around. Saying some place "sucks" is not a terribly thoughtful or intelligent (let alone substantive) reply.

Answer 8

It's the liberal approach of "you need us to give you more." The worse things get, the more appealing the concept of liberal ideals becomes. The separation of the two parties comes down to this. Liberalism says: If we are elected, the government will fix your problems. Conservatism says: If we are elected, we will make it easier for you to fix your own problems.

When things are as bleak as they are in areas like Detroit, it's easier to not want to take personal responsibility for the community. Despite the constant and repeated failures of liberalism, it seems the easier route.

Answer 9

I guess you from the philosophy that all things Rebublican are good. Things like Crime Rates dont just drop because of the politcal party thats running the town. They are fixed by active leaders...no matter what position they are in.
GROW UP and vote the right person into office, regardless of what party!!!!

Answer 10

It's because everyone loves a government handout!