The Patriot Post® · No, More Democrat 'Leadership' Is Not What Baltimore Needs

Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) pontificated on the Baltimore rioting and what she believes is contributing to poverty and, ultimately, violent behavior among minorities. Fox News anchor Chris Wallace brought up the city’s excessive crime rates, high unemployment and stunning student illiteracy and wondered if liberal policies are to blame since Baltimore has been under Democrat leadership for five consecutive decades. “No, I think it’s been unevenly spread,” Edwards responded. “I mean I would say, for example with our schools, just prior to the Freddie Gray incident, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was actually prevailing upon our Republican governor to release money for school funding.” When host Chris Wallace pointed out that “Baltimore spends the third highest amount per capita on its public schools,” Edwards rebutted, “There’s uneven spending in the public schools.”

But if the solution is simply to invest more money, how do Democrats explain the city’s past spending? Baltimore threw more money at the problem, courtesy of Barack Obama, and it failed spectacularly. According to The Washington Free Beacon, “Baltimore received over $1.8 billion from President Barack Obama’s stimulus law, including $467.1 million to invest in education and $26.5 million for crime prevention. President Obama claimed last Tuesday that if the Republican-controlled Congress would implement his policies to make ‘massive investments in urban communities,’ they could ‘make a difference right now’ in the city, currently in upheaval following the death of Freddie Gray.” What we need is less government and more parental involvement. No amount of funding can fill the void left by dysfunctional, single-parent families. And that’s why liberal policies, well-intentioned as they may be, are to blame for urban unrest.