The American Spectator

Reader Mail

p> URBAN RUINS br> Re: Conor Fiedersdorf's The Wealth of Baltimore : /p>

Anyone who watches The Wire and thinks it is even remotely about the failures of capitalism is either utterly naive or willfully ignorant, and this would includes the show's creator, David Simon.

Like Simon (and, as much as I hate to admit it, Nancy Pelosi), I am a native of Baltimore, as are my parents, and their parents before them. As such, I feel uniquely qualified to comment on the city's current status. Put simply, it's a mess. Despite its much heralded "revival" (often ballyhooed by the renewal of Inner Harbor), the city has been utterly mismanaged since the late 1960s. The city government is bloated, inefficient, and dominated by cronyism and an unhealthy dose of racial politics. The poor keep getting poorer, crime keeps getting worse (exemplified by the city's newest nickname "Body-more"), the schools are a disaster, and the affluent keep fleeing to the surrounding counties.

In short, Baltimore's decay is a classic example of "urban renewal," leftist, socialist policies promoted by Liberals for the last 45 years. This is not surprising, however, since Baltimore is a one-party city in a one-party state. Maryland is nothing more than another impoverished, northeastern fiefdom of the Democrat party, and until this death-grip is loosened, the city will continue its downward spiral.

p>Capitalism, indeed. br> -- Gavin Valle br> Peapack, New Jersey /p> p> Conor Friedersdorf does your readers a service in providing a concise, well-written introduction to one of the greatest shows on American television. The Wire accurately depicts the problems of the modern American city, but it is up to today's citizens (and maybe a few dedicated viewers) to debate their policy implications -- or whether we should just change the channel.

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