Where's the alternative?

Most people know that Michigan is a blue (leftist) state. That's because Detroit and Flint were strong union towns and key players in the motor capital of the world. Detroit is no longer the motor king of the nation and unions have been losing members. No matter how bad things get though I don't see Detroit ever becoming a conservative, free market loving city anytime soon.

Detroit has two major newspapers; the Detroit Free Press (Freep), a far leftist paper that champions government control over everything, and the Detroit News which prints editorials by some conservative and  Republican pundits, It prides itself on being a voice of political moderation. While it believes some government control over our lives is good, it resists the idea of having more of this goodness.

It is no surprise then that the News is the smaller paper. So Detroit doesn't have a major paper that advocates for capitalist free markets. More people are attracted to the Freep because it is more consistent in its advocacy of controlled markets. Even though the Freep's principles are wrong, people find it more appealing because it doesn't compromise on its collectivist principles. Point is, the News only occasionally provides a contrast to the leftist Freep.

For example, on Thursday July 21 of the Republican National Convention, the News's bold headline reads "Discord takes center stage." It referred to Ted Cruz's speech in which he did not endorse Donald Trump. OK, fine with me. But I wondered how consistent the News would be on the same day of the Democrat National Convention.

I watched that convention too and in my opinion there was much more discord going on at the DNC than the RNC. On Tuesday of the convention about 1000 Bernie Sanders supporters walked out leaving the DNC leadership to resort to rent a crowd. It was reported that the DNC was paying $50 per person to fill the vacant seats and applaud the various speakers.

So what were the bold headlines of the Thursday Detroit News? "Trump spurs outrage with Russia plea." No mention of filling empty seats with rent a crowd. So Detroiters really don't have a balance between the Freep's leftist attacks on Trump and Republicans in general.

You could say that the pundits at the Freep want the government to have ever tighter leashes around our necks. The News just wants us to have longer or looser or more reasonable ones. In Detroit's media there are no voices challenging the need for leashes. There is no chance of even a discussion of a Sandy Springs alternative. That's the Georgia city that privatized everything except police and fire and it is prospering. Detroit desperately need to follow that alternative.

Can good intentions lead to places other than hell?

I posted this over at the New Clarion earlier this year. It was about the claim that Trump should be president because he means well.

"Then an image popped into my mind: Inspector Clouseau.

"Yes, the fictional character inspector Jacques Clouseau, the French police detective from the Pink Panther movies. The inspector was portrayed as very loyal to France, meant no harm to others, fully devoted to nabbing bad guys, but very inept and clumsy in doing so. Through a series of comedic missteps, some of which were slapstick like tripping over something and falling down, he would nevertheless, accidently, bumblingly, stumble upon the identity of the correct villain. What a guy!

Then I shuddered. Is the United States about to be led by a modern day Clouseau, someone who means well but has no clear clue (pun intended) on how to do it? Will we survive his stumbles and missteps?

You know, I really need to take a break from politics. Strange things are happening to my mind.

(PS, I think Peter Sellers excelled in that role.)"

After rereading the above, another thought occurred to me. What if inspector Clouseau decided to run for president of France? What would his inept, bumbling nature make his campaign speeches sound like? I decided--Donald Trump.

Sigh. Although lighthearted, this is not a joyous picture I paint. I find myself longing for some comforting signs, signs other than just 'he means well.' There's about 98 days to the election so I'll just keep on looking for those signs. Again, sigh.