Again and Again

As I have questioned many times before: 

“Do liberals, leftists, and those Democrats in charge purposely do things that they know will inevitably end up hurting the little guy? … or are they  dumb? … or perhaps just plain incompetent? “Albert Einstein pointed out that the definition of insanity is repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting a different result, but here in California that’s basically what happens over and over and over. Again and again!

For example: 

The increased gasoline tax that hurts the little guys the most, specifically those that cannot afford to buy the expensive electric cars or even the newer cars with better mpg.

The increased minimum wage and the so-called Covid heroes pay that have caused grocery stores as well as mom & pop restaurants to close in the poorer areas of these liberal towns and cities. However, keep in mind that California does not have a monopoly on this form of insanity. I recently read a few things out of Chicago papers concerning the “peaceful protests” that occurred there last May-June. For those not familiar with Chicago, the mayor, Lori Lightfoot, is a liberal Democrat and it appears that she could not have handled these “peaceful protests” any worse than she did. (Incompetent? Dumb? Or purposely hurting the little guy?)

As Stephen Miller(Townhall) recently pointed out … “we should have learned from the last episode of urban rioting during the late 1960s, the devastating adverse effects from rage and lawlessness are long-lasting and borne mostly by minorities, immigrant communities and the poor.”

He continues:

“Amazingly, the media had rarely investigated what really happened last summer when criminal gangs seized control of cities under the guise of racial justice. The politicians cynically celebrated the violent protests as “mostly peaceful” and gave cover to the assailants by glorifying them as “social justice warriors.”

Thankfully, four reporters at the Chicago Tribune have investigated what really happened in the once great “city that works” and the devastating effects that still are felt. It’s harrowing and Pulitzer-worthy material.” (FYI : one has to pay to be a subscriber to the Tribune in order to read online anything it publishes.)

The following is from an editorial in the Chicago Sun Times:

“Mostly, the Tribune investigation documented what we knew but needed to be reminded about: the hardships of business owners, even now, who were helpless in trying to stop the breaking and entering, the theft, the destruction of their livelihoods — and many in neighborhoods already struggling with abandonment.

‘I thought, ‘I’m a Black-owned business, they’re not going to bother me,’ Roseland pharmacy owner Howard Bolling told the Tribune.

He was wrong. Looters on May 31, 2020, descended on his South Michigan Avenue store and stole nearly all of his supply of prescriptions and medications.

Some of the businesses ruined — many on the South and West sides still boarded up, abandoned and showing signs of damage — won’t be coming back. What began as legitimate protest over the police murder of George Floyd ended with what is likely to be permanent economic loss to struggling areas of Chicago.”

(For those of you not familiar with Chicago, the South and West sides are the predominantly black areas of the city.)

The Sun Times editorial continues:

“Ariel Atkins was the Black Lives Matter Chicago organizer who encouraged the looting in August as it unfolded, saying: “I don’t care if somebody decides to loot a Gucci or a Macy’s or a Nike store because that makes sure that person eats. That makes sure that person has clothes. That is reparations. Anything they want to take, take it because these businesses have insurance.”

She was as wrong then as she is today.

In a June 2020 op-ed from Chicago-based journalist Mark Guarino after he watched a West Side Dollar Tree being looted and burned, he wrote:

“Looting is a destroyer in these neighborhoods. I agree that Gucci can rebuild. And Gucci customers can move on. But you know who can’t? Jerry Winfrey, 54, the caretaker for his mother. The Dollar Tree looting and fire now means he has nowhere to buy groceries. He has no car. The nearest Jewel might as well be on Mars. ‘Can’t go to the grocery store no more,’ he says. With Dollar Tree gone, ‘it’s gonna be rough. It’s a tragedy. It’s horrible, destroying things we need,’ he says.

You know who agrees? Tamara Collins, 34, who worked as the manager of the Dollar Tree for three years. Tonight she’s jobless.” 

“Throughout last summer, the entire Chicago region was put in harm’s way. Failures were too many to count. Those failures, the violence, won’t ever be forgotten, particularly by families in neighborhoods that came under siege, particularly by small businesspeople who saw years of entrepreneurial hard work and dreams crumble.”

The pattern is repeated again and again, and to me the major question continues to be, “Is it done on purpose?”

6/27/21