Fromn Jalopnik: "How The Ruins Of Detroit Are A Warning For America"

**Whitehouse** · February-02-13, 10:41 AM

How The Ruins Of Detroit Are A Warning For America

Charlie LeDuff

I REACHED DOWN the pant cuff with the eraser end of my pencil and poked it. Frozen solid. But definitely human.
"Goddamn."
I took a deep breath through my cigarette. I didn't want to use my nose. It was late January, the air scorching cold. The snow was falling sideways as it usually did in Detroit this time of year. The dead man was encased in at least four feet of ice at the bottom of a defunct elevator shaft in an abandoned building. But still, there was no telling what the stink might be like.

In most cities, a death scene like this would be considered remarkable, mind-blowing, horrifying. But not here. Something had happened in Detroit while I was away.

First words from an op-ed by Charlie LeDuff and no doubt this was a discription of that unfortunate homeless guy that was found in the Roosevelt Building near MCS, or a story quite like it, and which photo was etched in my memory. And I don't want to see it again....

This story evolves into a journalist returning to his roots, the land he grew up from. And how Detroit was abandoned by America, until 2008, when the big three went to Washington to beg for support. And suddenly he's in the epicenter of a story where he sees journalists from all over the world decending onto his city, all of whome come to the the conclusion that Detroit is a mess.

And it is awful here, there is no other way to say it. But I believe that Detroit is America's city. It was the vanguard of our way up, just as it is the vanguard of our way down. And one hopes the vanguard of our way up again. Detroit is Pax Americana. The birthplace of mass production, the automobile, the cement road, the refrigerator, frozen peas, high-paid blue-collar jobs, home ownership and credit on a mass scale. America's way of life was built here.

A very sobering story and the writer comes to this conclusion.

At the end of the day, the Detroiter may be the most important American there is because no one knows better than he that we're all standing at the edge of the shaft.

Link.

**mwilbert** · February-02-13, 10:46 AM

No doubt in some ways the fates of Detroit and of the US are related, but until two-thirds of the population of the US starts leaving, I don't really think the condition of the city proper is a good analog for the nation as a whole, now or in the future.

**Danny** · February-02-13, 10:49 AM

The ruins of Detroit s is a start for ruins of America. When government and people don't cooperate it's over.

**JAYCR** · February-02-13, 02:31 PM

Maybe LeDuff should move into town and put his money where his mouth is..

**iheartthed** · February-02-13, 02:43 PM

Originally Posted by mwilbert

No doubt in some ways the fates of Detroit and of the US are related, but until two-thirds of the population of the US starts leaving, I don't really think the condition of the city proper is a good analog for the nation as a whole, now or in the future.

IAWTC. I think the prophesying that Detroit is America's future has become just a means to make Detroit feel better about its own situation. America as a whole has demonstrated its ability to adapt to changing times far better than Detroit itself. That's the key to staying relevant.

**coracle** · February-02-13, 03:40 PM

Detroit is not representative of America as a whole. It's a unique case.
A Minority is the controlling majority, and still has need to be treated as a Minority; but the numerical minority is not large enough to finance the services for the whole, so they leave and the effects grow. [[Catch 22)
Let's hope America is Detroit's future.