George Will on Detroit’s Cultural Collapse.

George Will On ABC: “Cultural Collapse,” “Unwed Mothers,” “Voting For Incompetents” Bankrupted Detroit. By Evan McMurry. Mediaite, July 28, 2013. Video at YouTube.

George Will: Detroit doesn’t have a fiscal problem, but a “cultural collapse.” By Jeff Poor. The Daily Caller, July 28, 2013.

The Left’s Evolving Blame Game on Detroit. By Seth Mandel. Commentary, July 29, 2013.

Note to Paul Krugman: It Took More Than Markets to Ruin Detroit. By Walter Russell Mead. Via Meadia, July 23, 2013.

This Week Transcript. ABC News, July 28, 2013.

GEORGE WILL: You can’t solve their problems, because their problems are cultural. You have a city, 139 square miles, you can graze cattle in vast portions of it, dangerous herds of feral dogs roam in there. 3 percent of fourth graders reading at the national math standards, 47 percent of Detroit residents are functionally illiterate, 79 percent of Detroit children are born to unmarried mothers. They don’t have a fiscal problem, Steve, they have a cultural collapse.

 

KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL: I find that really insulting to the people of Detroit. I think there is a serious discussion about the future of cities in a time of deindustrialization. But in many ways, Detroit has been a victim of market forces, and I think that what Steve said is so critical, that retirees and workers should not bear this. And this story should not be hijacked as one of about greedy, fiscal, public unions.

 

WILL: But Steve said he . . .

 

VANDEN HEUVEL: And fiscally responsibility.

 

WILL: But Steve said in his op-ed was the people of Detroit are no more to blame than the victims of Hurricane Sandy, because apart from voting, he said. Well, what did they vote for, for 60 years of incompetence, malcontents, and in some cases criminals.

 

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: OK, let’s (inaudible) get the last word.

 

STEVE RATTNER: So that’s fine. And so what do you want to do, do you want to leave them sitting in exactly the situation you just described, or in the spirit of America trying to help people who are less fortunate, whether their victims of natural disasters or their own ignorance or whatever, do you want to reach out and try to help them and try to reinvent Detroit for not a lot of money. We’re talking about a couple billion dollars here, this is small potatoes in the great scheme of life, or else you have your scenario, just leave them all sit with feral dogs for the rest of their lives.

 

VANDEN HEUVEL: Hobbesian anarchy.